Fashion Director /Coordinator

[Ieva]

I've been doing a little research, and I have become curious about Fashion Directors and what exactly they do.

So what does a fashion director do? She makes a lot of the fashion and story decisions with the magazine editor, suggests the photographer and models she thinks best for a task, then during the sitting becomes a combination of producer, tour director, muse and collaborator. It is her job to see that the photographer expresses the magazine's fashion ideas, fools the reader into thinking they are new, and makes the clothes, no matter how hard to wear, not only acceptable but delicious.

*nytimes.com

Is there anything else Fashion Directors take part in? What are the requirements/education need to become one? What subjects should one focus on if they are aiming for this career?

 

[BetteT]

Seems to me that it's about the same thing as a Fashion Editor or an Art Director .... different names for similar responsibilities ... depending on who you are working for.

I don't really know for sure ... since I've never worked in publishing. Anyone?

 

[rangerrick14]

I found this from a website called www.fashion_school.org

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Job Description: Fashion Coordinators also called fashion directors are responsible for creating a unified look and feel across all fashion divisions of a department store, design house, or fashion magazine. They are constantly monitoring industry publications and talking to designers in order to understand industry trends. Fashion coordinators then share their analyses with their retail salespeople and/or editors to guide them in making recommendations to customers, and with their buyers to guide them in making inventory purchases. Long hours and frequent travel are part of the job.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Salary Range: $40,000 to $100,000
Fashion Coordinators for smaller companies may receive between $40,000 to $60,000
Fashion Coordinators for larger companies receive up to $100,000+[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Outlook: Fair to Great. As this is a very high-level position, there are only a limited number of Fashion Coordinator positions available. However, these are available in a myriad of areas such as media (e.g. fashion magazines), design houses and department stores.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Qualifications:
Education – a minimum of a 4-yr bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design or Fashion Merchandising is required.
Experience – Extensive experience in the Fashion industry
Personal Characteristics/Skills – Knowledge and understanding of fashion trends; in-depth understanding of consumer behavior; great networking skills; excellent understanding of fashion (e.g. fabrics, colors, styles, cuts, etc.); great organizational skills; excellent communication and presentation skills.[/FONT]

my notes: ( you don't just come out of school and become a director, like an editor or creative director most fashion directors work in a fashion house and or magizine starting from the ground up, you are usually going to be a lower level person etc. personal assistant. As you prove yourself at various tasks and and move up positions and through different jobs in the industry and you make a name for yourself and usually you work directly under the previouse director have worked with them; they leave the job and you might get moved up because you qualify and the boss trusts you.

 

[softgrey]

it means something different in a retail context than it does in an editorial context...

i thought i wanted to be fashion director of a magazine...
but i think i'd rather be fashion director in a retail environment actually...
i think it's an interesting challenge...

and it combines both creative and business skills...
which i think is cool...

 

[KhaoticKharma]

I am interested in this as well... does a fashion director come up with the concepts of an editorial at a magazine, is it the editor, or do they usually collaborate?

I would think that the busy editor would leave the grassroots work to the underlings, so the fashion director would come up with the concept, models, photographer, location, and clothing, and the editor would just approve it.

 

[Lena]

I am interested in this as well... does a fashion director come up with the concepts of an editorial at a magazine, is it the editor, or do they usually collaborate?

I would think that the busy editor would leave the grassroots work to the underlings, so the fashion director would come up with the concept, models, photographer, location, and clothing, and the editor would just approve it.

both in magazines and retail, the 'fashion concept' is what the fashion director is all about.
this is the person responsible for the 'production' of the project, both on the creative and on the 'on the stand' product.
the fashion director is basically a 'head' stylist or a fashion consultant, or -even better- a combination of both.

career wise, the role of the fashion director in the business has been hit hard by the recent 'chain' of consumer crises which is making industrialists flipping out
in fashion magazines or deparetment stores, fashion directors have nothing to fear, plently of career opportunities there and an insatiable need for 'younger and fresher visions'.

 

[BetteT]

Time to revive this thread, since it came up in a thread about Emmanualle Alt, the Fashion Director at Vogue Paris, and someone asked what her background was an how did she get to be a Fashion Director.

First, regarding Emmanuelle's background, you can see it's all about knowing the right people ... contacts ... and parlaying that into a career as a stylist. She doesn't even have a college education ... but she grew up with the Paris fashion elite.

Emmanuelle Alt has worked as fashion director for Vogue Paris with Carine Roitfeld since 2001; prior to that she was styling editorials for publications like Mixte and 20 Ans, where she spent five years as editor-in-chief.

Alt was educated at Lubeck School, a stylish private Catholic academy in Paris with alumnae such as former first lady Cécilia Sarkozy, Caroline Deroche of Givenchy, Mathilde Agostinelli of Prada, Victoire de Castellane of Dior, Vanessa Seward of Azzaro, and Camille Miceli of Louis Vuitton. This school for 11- to 18-year-olds was founded in 1882 and is run by the Little Sisters of the Assumption. As would be expected, the navy uniforms prompted creative expression through extra efforts with hair and accessories, a natural route to a passion for fashion.

.....

In addition to her work for Vogue Paris, Alt currently helps firms like Isabel Marant, Balmain, and Giuseppe Zanotti create their statement looks. Alt's husband Franck Durand is artistic director for Isabel Marant.

source: iwantobearoitfeld.com via FrenchCactus




I also found this about Nina Garcia, Fashion Director of Marie Claire:

Education: Studied at Boston University; graduated from The Fashion Institute of Technology with a degree in fashion merchandising

source: mediabistro.com



Here's an old Job description from Conde Nast for a job as a Fashion Director in Publishing:

The Fashion Editor works to produce tight, fresh, modern features for the fashion pages. The ideal candidate should have extensive experience managing photo shoots; handling market work; generating current story ideas; and managing stylists and prop-closet inventory. Extensive contacts in the fashion world are essential, as well as the ability to meet tight deadlines.

source: condenast.com




See ... there it is again .... "contacts". You need to know people to be able to reach this level and become a Fashion Director, at least in publishing.


My conclusions from the above:

I would say working as a fashion editor and/or a stylist and possibly a market editor is probably the most likely career path for a magazine Fashion Director. It's experience and contacts that gets you into this arena (editor for a fashion magazine) to start with.

To work for a fashion magazine, it looks like education is not essential, but anything that prepared you for the business of fashion magazines and/or retail (fashion merchandising, fashion marketing, public relations /communications might all work) could be helpful. If you want to become a Fashion Director of a retail chain, a degree in fashion merchandising would be the most important qualification, I would think.

Connections are important in either arena.

 

[TianSoFine]

^Thank you for posting that. For a path like this, would studying fashion styling in university be good for making connections? Or is it better to just start off as an intern right off the bat?

 

[BetteT]

Usually, to become an intern (which is unpaid, most of the time), you probably have to be in school, studying something related. Most companies require that you are doing it for class credits.

If you don't study in a fashion center ... like Paris or New York, it's not likely you will make helpful contacts in the fashion industry. so if you do decide to go to uni ... make it in the right city and where the monied people go.

Most high ranking people in publishing, had a leg up because of family friends and people they grew up with. They rarely start at the bottom ... they are often given opportunities that others would never get. Not to say that it's impossible if you didn't grow up surrounded by wealth and power ... looks like Nina Garcia did it, but Boston U has a lot of monied students and FIT is in NY. They don't say anything about her personal connections ... so possibly she did it via education, then making connections. So it's possible, just more difficult.

 

[TianSoFine]

^Okay, thanks. It seems connections are really important, so sometimes the hard way is the only one.