career as a fashion design..

With the Indian fashion industry unzipped, fashion designers and gurus have a plethora of opportunities showered at them. The onset of the International fashion market in India has gave an impetus to the fashion industry which has emerged as the El Dorado and a career as a fashion designer is like a pot of gold.

Looking for a career as a fashion designer? Let’s take a look.
What exactly is the profile of a fashion designer?
Simply put, it means to make a person look good through his or her clothes. A fashion designer visualizes, plans and implements a dress or attire including its fabric, texture, color code, accessories etc. The design is sketched before the dress is put in for stitching and all nuances like comfort, size, season etc are taken into consideration for the same.

Qualifications required
To start a career as a fashion designer, 2 types of qualifications are required i.e. natural and acquired. Natural skill set would comprise of a decent aesthetic sense, colour coding expertise, good taste and sense of trends and fashion etc. A designer is like a mentor to his or her client and is expected to figure out the customers’ taste, comfort level and preferences. An eye for detail, knowledge of fabrics etc. are also a big plus for those serious about a career as a fashion designer.

The acquired skills would be a qualification from a decent, recognized fashion Institute. One can enroll for either a full-time course or a part time certificate course. Students usually take these up after their 12th year. Not that the courses are not available for graduates or higher qualified people. There are several short-term certificate courses as well offered by the same Institutes for super specialization, on part-time basis. These courses equip one with technical as well as creative thinking skills.

Some of the premier Institutes and examples of courses offered by them are as mentioned below:
·National institute of Fashion Design, which has a presence in Delhi, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and MP.
·National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) located in various cities PAN India.
·Pearl Academy of Fashion in New Delhi
·JD Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai etc.
·National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad etc.
·Sophia Polytechnic, Mumbai

The various types of courses would comprise of Apparel designing, production management, fashion design and clothing technology, fashion merchandising, knitwear design, Textiles and Communication, fashion design domestic retail etc. These vary from 6 months to 3 years depending upon the course and the Institute.

For a successful career a fashion designer, besides a qualification, one needs to have certain aesthetic and practical skills as well such as:
· A good knowledge for fabric textures, keen sense of style and creative bent of colour combinations
·An eye for detail
· A basic drawing and sketching talent to visually depict one’s designs before implementation etc.

How to start off
Proving yourself in the market is the biggest challenge of your career as a fashion designer. There are several ways to get set and go. Here are some tips that might help you:
· Approach various fashion houses with a great portfolio
· Approach garment companies for in-house designing opportunities
· Be creative and experimentative. People nowadays have a penchant for novelty and would love to be exclusive
· Unless you have great networking skills and contacts it is wise not to endeavour by yourself. Start off small; prove your worth and then you can get flying by yourself
· Rejections are a part and parcel of the business, so these shouldn’t dishearten you. Learn from your mistakes and try to improve your drawbacks.
· Follow expert advice from the doyens of fashion. Listen to their interviews, watch the fashion events and lifestyle channels to get an idea of people’s changing tastes and preferences
· Don’t be impulsive and impatient when handling customers. Try to realise their tastes and needs to deliver according to their expectations
·Do your own market surveys, look around in apparel shops and malls to gauge the latest trends
·Be innovative in terms of textile, colours and usage of accessories
·If you are on your own, get a good team of ‘karigars’ or artisans who will actually create your design. An experienced tailor who has experience of stitching fashion clothes is an added advantage
· And lastly, don’t try to be rich from the word go. Start of affordable and once you have proved your worth, your prices can rise accordingly
Thus, a well harmonized sense of fashion and colours topped with good marketing persona can get you places. Fashion designers dictate what’s in and what’s not. They make fashion statements and design lifestyles. A career as a fashion designer is a glamorous and glitzy affair, but equally backbreaking. All in all, if you are ‘cut-out’ for the field then weave your way through and you will surely make it to the top!