When you mention clothing and accessories, fashion designing is the only thing that comes to mind. Before selecting a fashion designer, you should be prepared to consider the following:
Sewing Skills
Understanding techniques make your sketching easy. You will also deal with the nature of different fabrics and work with each. The designs inadvertently depend on several such factors. If you carefully observe the work of some designers, there is a signature stitch, style or technique they base their work on. That comes with experience, experiments, research, and a grip on the subject.Â
Creative Designing
Successfully designing garments and creating your collection means bringing many important elements together. Sketching is, of course, the first big thing in this process and the skeleton for building the outfit. Draw a rough sketch first, which is a great way to start. Also, penning down is different from visualising it! It’s the only way you can improvise, so be prepared to sketch and do lots of it.
Choosing the fabric and what you want to make of it is the next big thing. You can be, however, creative and futuristic with patterns and prints, but without the right colours and even the shades; it can all fall flat. Every colour comes in a million shades, and hitting that nail on the head with the exact tone is an art. An eye for detail is what you need. That’s why when you observe any significant collection, you see that the designer takes a theme and extensively plays with each colour and pattern. It’s quite a balancing act.
Deciding A Niche
As a beginner, all fashion enthusiasts want to make haute couture and think that making expensive clothes will get them a breakthrough. However, it is not true and is just the opposite. Plus, there’s a lot more than haute couture; the markets have opened up multifold, and if you are really good, you can open up a whole new dimension. Based on where your interest lies, slowly start thinking of a niche as you progress with your fashion designing course/ internship/ career. After deciding the niche, be ready to set up. Setting up requires funds and online blackjack can be your go to option.
Fashion Merchandising
Another interesting and important aspect of becoming a successful fashion designer is understanding the pricing techniques based on the production cost and overheads involved. Fashion merchandising is a subject that teaches you consumer behaviour, pricing, and the economics of running a profitable fashion business. Passion is one thing, but running a business is a whole new ball game and not everyone’s cup of tea.
Market Analysis and Strategy
Whether you choose to take up fashion designing after your course or take the off-beat route, you need to understand those other necessary peripherals that need honing apart from the craft itself. While designing dresses is one bit, understanding market conditions and having a strategy to launch these are equally important. Knowing the pulse of your market and customers is what takes your business to the next level.
Understanding the Target Audience
Understand the demographics and the target audience. This is something you need to know even before you create your collection. Place yourself in the shoes of your target audience – think about what you would expect from a brand. That’s a great starting point and makes the process less tedious. Working in tandem with underlying factors is what sets you apart. Some of it you learn in theory, while the rest you learn from experience.
