A guide to get a headstart in the Indian Fashion Design Industry
Fashion Designing in India
India is one of the few countries whose clothing industry dates back millennia. Our ancient fashion industry has evolved over thousands of years and even today, our fashion trends our taking on the world with the most stylish fashionistas wearing clothes inspired by our design.
Scope of Fashion Designing in India
The Indian fashion industry is one of the largest in the world. Our expenditure on clothing and footwear contributes around 3.1 trillion rupees. Indian designers and Indian fashion houses are getting bigger by the day as more and more consumers seek stylish apparel for themselves. Some of the popular designers in India are Anita Dongre, Ritu Kumar, Manish Malhotra, Manish Arora, Vikram Phadnis, etc, who form the core of what is defined as fashion while there are a number of e-commerce sites and start ups that have cropped up and brought over another side of fashion discovery and opportunities for Indians, who fancy themselves fashionistas. The horizon of fashion has extended to such a limit in India, that it is no more carved traditionally in a female role. In fact some of the male fashion designers have been rather inspirational, for instance, Vikram Phadnis, during his interview with BananaBandy, where he talks about Fashion for all seasons and his journey in the industry.
Choose a Specialty
Many designers prefer to specialize in one particular field of design rather than attempting to create it all when starting out. Here a few specialties that you can focus in:
Accessory Design
– This is a specialty is all about designing and selling objects that are to be worn in addition to the clothing that people are already wearing. Belts, hats, glasses, purses, and necklaces are all good examples of what an accessory designer would be working with on a daily basis.
Bridal Design
– A Bridal designer is a fashion professional that has a hand in designing and creating wedding dresses for brides to wear during their wedding. And since weddings are such a big deal in a nation like ours, they can also make the dresses for the mother of the bride, the bridesmaids and their accessories.
Costume Design
– Costume designers get to design and create the costumes that you see in movies and television. They have a huge role on film sets as it is their clothing designs, which help an actor look like the character they are portraying.
Fabric Design
– Fabric design also called textile design in some circles, and is a specialty in which the fashion professional will design, create, and possibly sell the materials that another fashion professional would then use for their creations.
Footwear Design
– In this specialty, a fashion professional will design, create, and possible sell the items of clothing that people will put on their feet. Heels, boots, sandals, shoes, ballet shoes, socks, slippers, and anything else you can think of that has to do with a person’s feet all come their purview.
Formal Education in fashion design
To study formally or not to study formally, that is the question. Here’s what Mickey Boardman has to say on the subject:
I learned that college is really about personal growth and development and that in life it sort of doesn’t matter what you’ve studied or what you’re an expert in, you can always try new things and don’t need to feel limited. Unless of course you’re talking about medicine. In which case you really do need to be an official doctor.
There are many different ways to start your career as a fashion designer. Ralph Lauren started his business by selling ties through Bloomingdales while Michael Kors started by retailing his designs from a NY boutique. However, the safest bet is to start a design career is to get a degree from a design school.
Before Applying
Although there are a lot of colleges in India and abroad where you can study fashion designing, only a handful would really push your career. The competition is very high and you will be competing against lakhs of fashion enthusiasts from all across the country for a handful of seats. Most schools require a basic passing percentage in 10+2 and either a written exam to test your aptitude or submission of your portfolio.
A design institute will not teach you how to be creative. It can only teach you how to channel your creativity in the right direction.
Why you should go
The duration of most fashion design courses is usually three to four years. During this time you will learn how to implement your ideas and visions. You will have classes in drawing, studying colours, pattern making, draping, sewing and cutting. One of the most important advantages of studying design in a fashion institute is that these institutes work closely with the industry. The fashion show that takes place at the end of the course is very important. All graduating students get to show their creations here in front of industry veterans who have come scouting for new talents.
Another very important part of curriculum at fashion institutes are the business and marketing modules. As every industry gets more corporate driven than ever, it’s very important for every aspiring designer to be able to manage the business of their brand, negotiate a contract and choose a business partner.
Alternate Paths
Studying in a reputed fashion institute is often expensive. Also, many students feel that they are wasting their time away at institutes which could’ve been spent working and gaining actual industry experience. If you do not wish to invest that much time and money into a fashion institute, then there are other ways worth exploring. You can start by interning at fashion house and work your way up. Many famous designers have started their careers like this only. For instance, Nicolas Ghesquière, currently creative director for the house of Balenciaga owned by the Gucci Group, learned the on-the-job while working for Jean-Paul Gaultier. Usually you apply for an internship at a fashion house by sending them your portfolio after calling and enquiring about opportunities for internships. You can also apply for internship as a fashion stylist. This will not just help you build contacts but also give you an insider’s insight about the business aspect as well.
Here are the top Fashion Institutes in India
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY (NIFT)
Website: http://www.nift.ac.in/
Centres: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Gandhinagar
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DESIGN
Ahmedabad, Bangalore
JD INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY
New Delhi
PEARL ACADEMY OF FASHION (PAF)
New Delhi
APEEJAY INSTITUTE OF DESIGN
New Delhi
Prestigious Institutes Around the World
Academy of Art University
San Francisco
www.academyart.edu/fashion-school
Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
New York
www.fitnyc.edu
Parsons School of Design
New York
www.parsons.edu
Bunka Fashion College
Japan
www.bunka-fc.ac.jp
Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design
London
www.csm.arts.ac.uk
Royal College of Art
London
www.rca.ac.uk
Insitut Francais de la Mode
Paris
www.ifm-paris.com
Ecole de la Cambre de Bruxelles
Belgium
www.lacambre.be
Creating a Fashion Portfolio
The most important aspect to a creative professional is their portfolio. The portfolio tells the viewer what all has the designer created and gives them an idea of the fashion designer’s capabilities. A well designed portfolio with your best work displayed in good fashion (pun intended 😛 ) is an absolute must for any prospective fashion designer.
Social Media
Social media is the biggest tool for any design student. Keep uploading your sketches and works on social media. You will find appreciation for your work here and you can even make a small brand out of yourself and the designs you create through these mediums. Make Instagram and Pinterest your best friends!
Online Portfolio
Online portfolios are the newest and most exciting way to show off your work. While a physical design portfolio is always more pleasing to the eye but when you’re sending endless email attachments or google drive links which the client will have to download; sending them to an online portfolio website which has all your projects neatly displayed with the entire process spent creating them along with appreciations and comments on them from others sounds like a very good idea.
An online portfolio is an absolute must in the digital age. Check out article that we wrote on how to upload great projects and on how to stand out from the crowd, here.
In case of further inspiring yourself and understanding fashion designing related projects, click here.
In fact, you can never be too prepared as in the ocean of fashion design, only the sharks survive!
Images Courtesy: Shivangi Lahoty, Amrita Rastogi
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