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Now
that you have already taken the first step to become a fashion designer, it's
time to keep moving and follow the second step to achieve your dream, and it is
quite simple yet complicated, it is all about developing
your skills, it is simple because if you want to improve on
something you must to practice
it until you master it, and it might be a little bit complicated because
there are so many skills a fashion designer could acquire in order to be
successful.
So, what skills?
A wide range of skills can be
acquired in fashion design, depending on the tasks you want to be involved
in you will need to learn, practice and dominate those certain abilities, I've
separated them here according to the fashion design process steps:
- Creativity. Everyone within the
design-art-innovative sector should practice and improve their creative skills,
everyone is creative, and it is the responsibility of each of us to develop
that creativity, you can do plenty of techniques and activities in
order to improve the flow of your creativity,
such as Brainstorming, 6 Hats, Thought Experiment among others.
- Research and Analysis. This skill is used from the beginning
when looking for the target market, as well as looking for trends, developing
inspiration themes, elements, colors and motifs that you do want in your
collection and also those that you do not want.
- Moodboard, Color and Fabric Palettes
Making. As a fashion
designer you should be capable to summarize
all the research and inspiration into a moodboard, which should speak and make feel what you
want to express in your collection, the color and fabric palettes should
also reflect your inspiratio.
- Synthesis. This is where from your research,
moodboard and palettes, you start to create your ideas, you put all those elements and you
create your own designs.
- Sketching and Drawing. This is a very important skill to
develop because you should be
able to express your ideas and put them into paper, so other people
involved in the process can also work with you seeing what you clearly want.
- Technical Specifications. By
practicing this ability you
will be capable to tell your
suppliers exactly how every
product should be made.
- Pattern Making. For
me, this skill has been the most complicated, nevertheless with practice everything can be
mastered, and in fact, this is a really fun ability because is when you start seeing your ideas
coming into reality.
- Sourcing Materials. Although
a previous research exists, you can always have fun looking for fabrics and trims that
will be in your collection, here you should have a solid knowledge about
materials in order to select
the perfect items, according to your design needs, and also you must consider
the "quality vs
price" duality.
- Garment Construction. This is a vital skill, because is the
one that will help you to have
the finished garment, in many occasions, especially when mass producing you
won't be able to make every single garment, but you definitely should know how
every piece is constructed, this way you will be able to indicate to your
manufacturer what will be needed. Many fashion
designers cut-and-sew only the samples that
must be taken into consideration in the production phase.
Other abilities that can be used within
fashion design, and depending upon the path you choose are:
- Public Relationships. Very
useful if you are looking for a job, and also if you want your own brand, to develop this skill will open
your employment and business possibilities.
- Business. This includes other such as Personal and Resources Admin,
Accounting and Negotiation. At the beginning, it might be necessary to
perform them all by yourself, but later you can delegate them.
It is not necessary to dominate everyone
of them, what I recommend you
is to know them all, know everything about them, specially how can they help
you, practice them, use them and once you know where you want to go, keep
practicing those skills that will help you until you master them.
It might seem a long road, but it is worth it, just make sure you
are having fun and enjoying your
own and special journey to become a fashion designer.
What are the skills you are eager to try
to Become a Fashion Designer?
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