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| Travel: fashion design schools |
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The beginning of fashion design
Fashion design market
How to design a collection
Fashion Design Schools
Fashion design in the world
Fashion design jobs |
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| The beginning of fashion design |
| Fashion design is the art dedicated to the design of clothing and accessories. Fashion design started in the 19th century with Charles Frederick Worth who was the first taylor to sew a label on the garments realized. |
| Fashion design market |
Haute couture: was the fashion design predominant until the 1950s. haute couture (made to measure in English) is used for clothes created for an individual customer, hand made with extreme attention to details.
Ready to wear: made with extreme attention to details and choice of the fabrics in small quantities to guarantee exclusivity. Collections are presented by fashion houses during the Fashion Week in Paris and Milan twice per year.
Mass market: today the fashion industry is oriented to mass market sales, .producing ready to wear clothes in large quantities, standard sizes, cheap fabrics, and a production technique that must be done by machine. Mass market designers usually adapt the trends introduced by famous fashion houses a season later to be sure that the style was appreciated by their customer base. |
How to design a collection
A collection is carefully planned, all clothes and accessories must have the same guidelines, and must represent the fashion look of the company. A good fashion designer must predict fashion trends, looking at fashion directions of previous seasons, reading fashion magazines, keeping on eye on street styles. A good designer should mix new ideas with what old fashion house customers like. Each collection has a main theme, usually a strong colour, a new kind of fabric, looking at the past. Here is simply steps on how to design a garment:
- the design: there are 3 different ways to realize the basic design: outlining the new idea on piece of paper, drapping some fabrics on a dress stand, or just changing a little previous seasons collection
- the muslin: after a rough paper pattern, or a life size 2D plan of the garment is completed, it will be realized a trial version of the garment, called muslin to see how it fits on a dress stand
- the card pattern: if the muslin match designer expectation, the designer will call a professional pattern maker to complete th work
- the finished dress: a sample is completed using the choosen fabric
Fashion Design Schools
A good fashion design can work as freelance, designing for themselves, and then selling their works to a fashion house or setting up a fashion company, selling garments with their own label.
There are many fashion design schools worldwide:
- College of Art and Design in London
- London College of Fashion
- The Royal College of Arts in London
- Parsons School for Design in New York
- Fashion Institute of Technology in New York
- The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles
- The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- The National Institute of Fashion Technology in India
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Fashion design in the world
Many countries have a own fashion industry, however, only France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and lately the United States of America, and Japan have established valid international fashion houses.
- French fashion design: most French fashion houses are located in Paris, the capital of fashion in the world. French fashion is chic, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Christian Dior represent the most exclusive fashion in the world
- Italian fashion design: Milan is the fashion capital housing the well known Italian designers (Armani, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana), Rome is the house of haute couture and exclusive elegance including Valentino, Fendi, Sarli
- British fashion design: all British fashion houses are based in London. If Paris is known as the capital of fashion for women's garments, London is considered the center fashion for men with its elegant and conservative style
- American fashion design: the majority of fashion houses are in New York, and in Los Angeles. American fashion design is mostly dominated by casual style such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Donna Karan. Lately Anna Sui and Marc Jacobs are creating new trends in fashion world
- Japanese fashion design: Japanese fashion houses are based in Tokyo, but Japanese designers work in Europe. The most known designer is Kenzo
Fashion design jobs
The selection of fabrics, and how to combine proportion and color, is the main job for a fashion designer, here is some jobs related to fashion industry:
- Buyer: places orders of clothes during catwalk presentations for large shops and chain stores
- Dressmaker: specializes in custom made women's clothes, including evening suits and lingerie
- Fashion journalist: writes fashion articles for specialized magazines
- Illustrator: draws clothes for commercial use
- Model: wears clothes at catwalk presentations
- Pattern maker: designs shapes and sizes of a new garment, lately using a computer, in the past by draping muslin on a dress form
- Photographer: takes pictures of the clothes used in magazines or for advertising
- Seamstress: sews seams in a garment shop or work in a factory using a sewing machine
- Stylist: coordinates clothing, accessories, and also jewelry of a collection, photography and catwalk presentations
- Taylor: makes custom designed suits made to the client's measure
- Textile designer: designs fabric weaves and prints for clothes
- Wardrobe consultant: recommends style clothing
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