Fashion designing is not a piece of cake as many think. It is a well-structured profession that needs to be well studied and understood. Being a fashion designer requires you to think out of the box and bring together your vague imaginations to life. The career requires you to push yourself out of your comfort zone to create something mesmerizing, jaw-dropping, and mind-blowing. It, therefore, takes access to the right information, commitment, and hard work to scale through the hurdles and then be a fashion designer.
According to Francesca Sterlacci, a fashion designer is responsible for creating the specific look of an individual garments-including a garment’s shape, color, fabric, trimmings, and other aspects of the whole.
You can deduce at this point that it is a serious profession and there is a rather long and tiring process clothing go through from being fabrics to wearable outfits.
For you to be a fashion designer in Nigeria, you have to:
1. Learn Fashion Designing
Yes. Fashion designing can be taught and learned. I’m sure you already know that by now. The celebrated, popular and affluent fashion designers we have in Nigeria went through the learning process. Fashion designing requires you to learn the various aspects of fashion from sketching designs, pattern drafting, cutting and sewing of fabrics, and fitting.
You can learn fashion designing from various fashion schools littered across the country. Most fashion schools in Nigeria offer a minimum of three months of intensive fashion training to years of study. The classes range from beginners, intermediary and advanced and they have well-detailed course outlines.
Fashion schools in Nigeria are by far more expensive than local tailor shops around. If you are financially pressed, you can start learning from a local tailor shop and then advance your knowledge in a fashion school.
Good news. Some universities in Nigeria offer fashion designing as a degree program so you now have many options.
2. Always research fashion designing
Fashion is unfathomably an adorable art, that is why it is utterly important to study and understand the history of fashion. You should study both fashion designers and their designs. It is a great way to indulge yourself and gather necessary information about your new venture. It also helps to maximize your ideas and creativity so you can put them in appropriate contexts.
Many fashion designers have an online presence for their business, so you can follow their social media handles from time to time.
3. Determine Your Area of Expertise
Being a jack of all trades and master of none is not wise. In fashion design, there are so many divisions and you cannot know everything. Choose your area of expertise judiciously and pursue it professionally while determining a career in fashion designing. Figure out what your area of interest is, whether it is men’s wear, women’s wear, children’s wear, sportswear, or accessory designing, to move progressively towards the business aspect of fashion.
5. Be Business-Oriented
Fashion is an impressive form of art, but it is also a million naira industry. It has been spoken by renowned fashion designers that for them to succeed, they had to understand and learn the business aspect of the fashion industry as well. It helps you to further understand how to run a successful business as you’ll discover new and engrossing ways to promote your brand and make it stand out from the crowd.
Being a fashion designer is an achievable feat. You can decide how far you want to go and it majorly depends on the amount of sacrifice and hard work you are willing to put in.
References
LoveToKnowMedia
Raffles
Featured Image source: The Guardian Nigeria News
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