When I think about fashion and design related careers its takes me back many decades , to a time when I was making my career choices . My mindset at that time can be best described was confused
The confusion was exactly similar to what I hear from the aspirants now
What are the best colleges ?
What are the average salaries one can expect ?
What career choices will I have ?
Is all fashion about designing ?
How much will it cost ?
My search was simple, I used Google. But looking for answers confused me even further. There was huge amount of information available over net , its was full of facts but did not connect well and missed the most important point that DO I HAVE IT IN ME TO SUCCEED ?
I will be covering all the above answers in the later articles but first want to share few fundamentals that you should consider before making a career choice ,rest of the information is still available all in hundreds of website over net and college prospectus.
- If you have the eye, you have the aptitude
The most important requirement and realization is based on a question ,do you have the eye for the product ?. All careers in any field of designing , merchandising, styling , visual communications , marketing , entrepreneurship etc all have one common factor that’s is all focus on a product. If you feel and believe you can see a product differently, definitely you have it in you . How to go about it will eventually come when you get formal education over time.
Simple ways to realize this is consider few simple traits, like , do you love someones fashion style, appreciated a interiors of you favorite cafe , you love to travel and explore new things , try to dress in a way that expresses your personality , loved the design language of some products , enjoyed online shopping, noticed what brand people are wearing , spend time in instagram searching trends, express your creativity with painting, drawing , writing and in music. If yes you have it in you, all you have to do is channelize your energies in correct direction.
- Fashion is not only limited to designing and designing is not only limited to sketching.
Firstly one of the misnomers which tend to exist is that fashion careers are only about clothes designing, where models and celebrities walk the ramp. This is highly untrue.
Over the last decade fashion careers have taken a different dimension from apparel, product , space and digital design , to fashion styling and journalism, photography and visual communication , product development and merchandising, exports , buying and sourcing , retail ,marketing , E commerce and entrepreneurship etc are some examples of highly lucrative careers available today.
Secondly designing is not about how good can you draw or sketch but is about how good you can express your creativity thinking in your work. What’s required is what you visualize how best you can express it in any medium. Your gifted ability in drawing/sketching does helps but its not the only factor in making you and excellent designer . One fact is that many great designer did not have the exceptional good drawing skills , its is a combination of your creativity, your hard and soft skill that ultimately make you stand out.
- Don’t compare apples to oranges
It’s not engineering its not management so don’t compare on yearly salary. Instead spend your energy in doing research on what all career avenues are available and what fits you best . Another thing which people realize very late in their careers are that you can only excel in jobs/tasks that you love to do.
If you are looking for fashion careers just as a passport to get job , would suggest its not the best idea.So be wise from the very start choose what you are good at , what you like , success will follow.
- Work hard , success does not come easy
Cracking the entrance exam is not easy nor it it tough if you have the required aptitude and desire to make it happen. What is required most is hard work across the spectrum, right from preparing for the examination ,to clearing the entrance, to excelling in your education in the college to finally applying your self to the most in your profession.
Without hard work, success dose not come, even if its experienced by change it is short lived. For sustainable success, work hard , there is no alternative to it .
- Read and read
To get into a fashion or a design college you will have to clear the entrance exam that tests you in different parameters .Reading helps you not only in those related sections but also helps build you communication skills that will help you to perform better in all group discussions and personal interviews. I believe it is the most important make or break factors in clearing the entrance examination.
- One size dose not fit all
There is no common formula that is a best fits for all. Realize you strengths , dwell on your development areas and find your own path to success. All success and failure stories have an underlying situational complexity , which should help guide you but should not be followed blindly.
