Posts Tagged ‘Fashion Designers’

Fashion Design Sketches – Dos and Don'ts

Fashion design sketches can be a lot of fun, and to many people they look easy. After all, you put together the design, and the pattern maker deals with the details, right? Actually, that’s anything but true. Fashion designers have to pay attention to a lot of information that we don’t necessarily think of when we try on a new pair of jeans. From the cost and complexity of producing the garment to how it’ll fit not just one model, but everyone, there are a lot of concerns designers need to be aware of. Here’s a look at some important things to include and mistakes to avoid when you’re putting together fashion design sketches.

The first thing to think about is who you’re designing for. That means looking at the general demographic that you’ll be selling to, and what company you’re providing work do. There are plenty of small designers who sketch, pattern, and sew their own work, but many more designers who work for big clothing companies like Levi’s and the Gap. There are huge differences in the way you’ll want to produce fashion design sketches for each type of company. A small designers knows what he or she is willing to sew personally, and how much time it will take. A designer for a big house has to be able to put together sketches that will work in assembly line settings, and which won’t cost too much to produce. That’s why we don’t see unusual seaming or creative bias cuts in most ready to wear garments – they’re too expensive to produce.

Fit will be a big deal, too. After all, you’ll design your garments far differently if you’re making them for a slim, athletic teenage market than if you’re creating fashion design sketches geared toward older people, college kids on the go, or working parents. The average build, height, and tastes of your target market will affect how much ease is in the garment (how tightly it fits), how you grade the patterns, and the curve of areas like armholes and pants rises. Those, in turn, affect how you’ll draw the initial sketch. Keep in mind problems that might occur when your garment is called on to fit someone outside your ideal wearer. Sure, most of the purchasers for the garment might be expected to be small and athletic, or have a certain waist-hip ratio, but not all of them will. How will your garments fit them? Certain design features that work well on one figure, like front pleats or empire waists, may be disastrous on another.

Don’t forget to draw all the important seam and construction lines on your fashion design sketch, too. There are far too many designs out there where the seams have been left off entirely! That means that the pattern maker is forced to try to figure out what you meant, and the design is much less likely to be realized the what you want it to be. Be clear and know how the garment will go together, if you want to create fashion design sketches other people can understand.

How to Prepare for a Career in Fashion Design

Every time that a new line of designer clothing makes its debut it means one thing for people looking to enter the field of fashion design and marketing. It means more jobs and more demand for people that have gone through the training that is necessary to work in the field of fashion design. Everyone has ideas that they think would be popularly accepted if they just had the chance to see them produced and marketed. The problem is, that not everyone knows how to go about the process of doing it.

One skill that is important in the field of fashion design is drawing but not just any drawing. Every successful fashion designer has to draw out his or her ideas before they can become reality. Learning to draw fashion designs is different from other types of drawing and there are a lot of books on it that someone can get to learn how to do it. Remember that, you can have all of the wonderful ideas that you want but if you can’t draw them out you won’t be able to communicate them to others.

Learning to sew is another skill that you will need to have if you are thinking of a career in fashion design. Sewing is a craft that you can never stop improving, so a lot of practice goes into becoming not just good at it but great at it. There are now high tech sewing machines that can help you to do great work, so you may want to consider investing in one. All great fashion designers are masters at working with colors and textures and subtle differences in color and texture can make the difference between a good and a great work. Painting and drawing will only help you to become better at working with colors.

Fashion Designers

Each country has its own dedicated team of fashion designers that not only lead the way in that country’s trends, but also influence the rest of the world in their style and way of wearing items. The primary areas of fashion influence are America and Europe, and these translate to the rest of the world. Italian, French, British and American designers are amongst the best in the world, and their designs are copied slavishly by many others. Leading Italian designers include Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Versace, Fendi, Gucci, Prada, Moschino, and Missoni. The Italian designers dominate the field of global fashion, but they are joined by French designers, who are almost as important in their influence. French designers include, Chanel, Dior, Jean Paul Gautier, Givenchy, Hermès, Christian Lacroix, Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton, whose names, along with all the other major designers are known throughout the planet, and whose creations adorn the bodies or arms of every celebrity worldwide. No other creators besides fashion designers attain that level of acknowledgement or fame. Even if you do not know what they have made they are famous merely for influencing the styles of generations and for being the creators of one of the most potent aspects of our time, fashion. American and British designers, although not as famous as their Italian or French counterparts, still achieve a high level of recognition and celebrity. British designers of note include Burberry, Ted Baker, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Julien MacDonald, Zandra Rhodes and Mulberry. Their American equivalents are more renowned, but this may be due to the more widespread influence worldwide of American culture. American designers of importance include, Tommy Hilfiger, Liz Claiborne, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan (DKNY), Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang and Abercrombie and Fitch.

These designers bring out new designs and combinations every season, but they are actually working at the time on clothes for seasons a year or two in advance at any one time. These are closely guarded secrets by the fashion industry, which conveys the power that these individuals and their fashion houses have over society. But it’s not just clothes that designers have control over, but accessories, luggage, makeup, perfume, underwear and most importantly, shoes. These can sometimes be even more prominent than clothes, and footwear designers are among the most highly-paid and most sought-after individuals in the world. A pair of Manolo Blahnik shoes is enough to make even the most put-together woman go a bit crazy! He, along with Jimmy Choo and Gina amongst others, are the designers whose creations can be found pounding, or should that be gracing the pavements of countries worldwide, on the feet of all those with the pocket to afford them. Everyone else just admires them from afar, and has to make do with the high street shoe fashions that are influenced, as high street clothes are, by designers’ styles and designs. The power of the designer is all-encompassing; if they make something fashionable, everyone around the world will be wearing it within a few weeks. Designers know they have this power, and will continue to use it to influence global fashions throughout the eras.