A Peek at a Fashion Designer's Day

Looking Around for Inspiration

A typical day for a fashion designer begins long before she arrives at work. Research to find new fashion trends starts in the community, and she'll have her eyes open and her sketchpad ready as soon as she leaves the house. If she uses public transportation, a bus or train will hold a wealth of fashion information. In a car, she may purposely drive around college campuses or other places where young people gather to spot exciting new trends. Fashion designers follow what is happening in the haute couture world, but what many people may not realize is that designers are also keeping an eye on what is going on in the poorest inner city areas. Huge fashion trends emerge at both ends of the spectrum.

Saving Time with Technology

When she arrives at her desk, a fashion designer may go over her sketches and transfer some of them to her computer using a CAD (computer-aided design) program. She will be able to see her ideas on virtual models, and experiment with various color and fabric possibilities. With the touch of a button, she can see what a garment might look like in red or purple, or perhaps with a different neckline. She can try out different trim and buttons, and see how the garment might look on people with slimmer or fuller body types. Before the computer age, doing all this sketching by hand would have taken her hours.

At this point she may decide to visit textile suppliers to choose the actual fabrics she'd like to use. She'll make note of the fabrics she likes, and perhaps bring back samples. Prototypes will need to be made, but at this early stage, they'll be constructed from less expensive materials.

A Multitasking Professional

A fashion designer may have many projects going on at various stages of production. She may have just completed a prototype for one of her ideas and be trying it on a model to see if the pattern needs any adjustments. Minor changes may have to be made in the fabric, trim, or embellishments. Some of the models she works with are beautiful and glamorous, but others have a more average build and represent the clothing sizes that will be sold in department stores to the public. Many of her ideas will reach the prototype stage, but the firm she works for will make the final decision about which ones will go to market.

Once the decision is made about which garments will be marketed, a fashion designer will have to create samples. Samples differ from prototypes because samples are made from the actual materials that will go to market. From the pattern she has created, the designer constructs these samples and, again, she will work with models and make any final adjustments that are necessary. She has to be careful that the garment not only looks beautiful, but that the construction fits her firm's budget as well.

To become a fashion designer she's had many years of education. She can remember her coursework in sketching, CAD, pattern making, sewing, tailoring, fashion history, and design of many different types of clothing. She even studied human anatomy and psychology. All of this was worthwhile. She was able to create a beautiful portfolio and land the internship that eventually led to her job as a fashion designer - and now all the hard work is worth it when she sees her creation walking down the runway.

The Many Hats of the Fashion Designer

A fashion designer may be an active part of the marketing process for her creations. This may involve attending trade shows where wholesalers and retailers come to find out what they can purchase for mass sale. So part of a designer's day may involve travel around the country or perhaps around the world. At the trade show, she will help showcase her creations, working with models and perspective clients to help ensure the sale of the garments. While at a trade show, she'll not only be selling her work, she'll be continuing to research the latest fashion trends.

Fashion designers must be in constant contact with customers, suppliers, and manufacturers during all stages of the manufacturing process, and they may be anywhere in the world. Sometimes this requires yet more travel on her part and other days she'll be able to accomplish this communication through telephone or e-mail. Her hours will often be long but the work is fun and exciting. She'll probably hang on to her job for a very long time as there is very little turn over in her field.

Eventually the day of a fashion designer comes to a close. She may want to make one last check on one of her creations, which is in the later stages of production. Then she will be on her way home to get a good night's sleep. In the morning there will be a whole new world of fashion trends and ideas, and lots to do in the production process to bring them from just a sketch of an idea to a real garment proudly displayed in a department store window.

View a list of online schools offering fashion design degrees or classes to find a program that's right for you.