Jarrett Evans
Mrs. Johnson
English III – P.7
14 May 2013
Dripping Swag My research paper is over the career of Fashion Design. I chose this topic, because I have always had a desire to one day have my own clothing line and see other people support me by wearing my creations. Also because I like to mix different articles of clothing and create my own unique style to go out and express to the world. This paper will highlight the details about a fashion designer, like what type of education you need, skills required, the work environment, and their salaries. Fashion Design is a career where people express and use their creative ideas to create the best clothing on the market. For many of years the practice of changing the style of clothing has become common around the world. Fashion Designing has been around for many years “People wore garments to help them maintain body temperatures, dress design became a profession around the 1600’s” (“Fashion Designers”). The clothing business really started to escalate when the sewing machine was founded back in the day, designing clothes hasn’t been the same ever since. Education is not heavily looked upon in the field of Fashion Design. One article claims that “You can be successful without going to high school.” (Vogt. Peter). A student who does attend high school should take courses that express creativity like drawing, art, or even computer aided design. This would benefit them and give designers a head start. After graduating students, should attend a good 2-4 year school for fashion design, because companies prefer to hire a fashion designer with a strong 4 year education. (Clark, “Fashion Designers”). Although Fashion Designing doesn’t require much education, it’s always good to have some education, especially coming into a competitive field like fashion design. When people hear the job Fashion Designers, they think about the rich celebrities or huge runway shows in front of big crowds. They think about glamorous dresses and the model like girls posing in front of flashing cameras. But little do they know that not many fashion designers are that successful or get that type of recognition for their work. You have to work hard and work your way up to be a big time designer. “Most fashion designers come out of college and are hired as assistant designers. Assistants must prove their ability before being entrusted with the responsible job of the designer” (“Fashion Designers”). Designers salaries depend on the there work, skill level, and sometimes where they work at. Also the salary money they make depends on the rate the consumer is buying your product. “You can make $200 to $250 a day, but a independent stylist can make even more like $300 to $350 a day which adds up to around 100,000 annually”,( Vogt, Peter. "Fashion Stylist.") . The ones who persevere and are determined to make great clothing are the ones whose clothes are advertised in different stores, worn in runways and are paid big bucks.
Fashion designers have to have a passion for what they do. They can’t just design anything; they have to design something that they know will catch the consumer’s eyes. They make clothing for every gender, every age, and in every color. Designers have to know what the new trends are and they have to know that they change day to day. This is where designers do there research on past and future trends. So every day they have to create new things for the future cause these trends don’t last long. They also create hype for their clothing, which means they have to get people excited for their up and coming products and have everybody talking about the designer’s clothes. Designers put so much work into their clothing. But most people don’t even recognize how much detail or even what kind of material the designer uses to create the article. Often time’s people just buy a certain piece of clothing because it’s what everybody else is wearing and it’s the new fad, they really don’t respect the time and effort the designer has put into the design, even more so they buy them just for the label associated with the article of the clothing. All these things you have to understand and try to master to become successful.
Fashion Designing is a very cutthroat and limited job, so there isn’t much room for new designers to get hired. One article states that, “The fashion design world is highly competitive, so it's somewhat difficult, though certainly not impossible, to break into the field. In general, there are more aspiring fashion designers than there are available jobs in the field”. (Vogt, Peter. "Fashion Designer."). Employment rates are not very high, so you have to be on top of your game. According to (Vogt. Peter “fashion Design”) about 17,000 people worked as Fashion Designers in the United States in 2004, and now today approximately 22,700 fashion designers are employed in the United States. (“Fashion Designers”). So there is not much change in the employment rate over the years.
A person who is willing to work day in and day night and work countless hours can make it in this fierce fashion industry. One who has a creative and intriguing mind, and one who thinks outside of the box is one who can become successful. You have to express your passion and use your culture to design the best clothing on the market. Try and be original don’t imitate someone else’s design let your mind free and create a masterpiece. In this industry there is no relaxing, because everyday there is someone who is working hard to try and take your spot. So you have to stay on top of business and maintain composure in the crazy work environment. If you don’t you can break down and be replaced. Work for today and design for tomorrow.