Searching for My Perfect Fashion Career - HELP!!

[_7.]

I known a great school - London College of Fashion ;-)

 

[BetteT]

silvi ... Fashion PR ... or Public Relations is about getting the word out to the public. A publicist often works in many differnt industries at one time ... some companies specialize in a small related group of industies like fashion, health and beauty.

It's not exactly advertising ... more about publicity and finding the places that a designer's name can be inserted so that they start to get noticed. A publicist has a lot of different things they do. They must be able to write interesting copy to send to news agencies and magazines, which hopefully, will get published. They arrange store openings and parties to invite people in the business to see the lines. They get involved in getting invitations out to important people (magazine editors, buyers, stylists) for the fashion shows. They contact stylists and try to place their client's line in magazine editorials on on celebrities. They contact buyers at big stores to introduce them to the lines and to try to convince them to buy. And a lot of other things like this, as well.

I'm not sure what one should study to be a publicist, but probably along the lines of media relations and journalism. Fashion courses don't help ... it's all about communications and skills that can be used in any industry.

 

[gius]

some more.. and a bit less 'popular' hence with more possibilities of finding jobs

*textile designer
*textile engineer
*fashion illustrator
*fashion graphic designer (for t-shirts, logos etc)
*trend consultant
*fashion sourcing
*fashion events organiser (shows etc)

what is textile engineer?? is it someone who finds out new textiles or makes machines to weave fabric?? it's nice to see these listed as less popular. haha, i am already on my way to be the first four on the list

 

[fashionlover]

i dunno how that works in the us but in europe its pretty hard to get a job in the fashion business. you have to have the right connections.its all about connections,ok you definetly need to be talented as well but knowing the right people is important.I know lot of people none of them ever studied anything before and they got into the fashion business because of being pushy and believing in their selfs.I know that sound cheesy und maybe thats only because my country is small just like its fashion business.But for example i contacted the art director who organises the hungarian fashion awards and he employed me,ok i worked hard as hell but that was in may and i started going to all the fashion events and now i have lotsa new friends and met a few really important people and hope to start my carereer as a stylist.You just have to know what you wanna do and fight for it.Life teaches you better.ok of course if you say i did this and that at saint martins or fit or parsons they are very good references -i like to get to all of this places as well and learn as much as i can -im just saying talent ambition and passion for what you are doing is more improtant than a degree

Can you advise how to get the connections needed to enter the fashion world for positions like marketing and business development?

 

[Lena]

first time i was approached and asked to consult in product developement, terend analysis and export strategies was while i was doing fashion journalism.. this big fabric factory needing my help, based on reading my articles in a magazine, ended up working with them for four years during which i got huge amount of work experience which now i share with more clients.
nobody ever asked to see my fashion design/ history of costume diplomas

 

[Ceptuouse]

some more.. and a bit less 'popular' hence with more possibilities of finding jobs

*textile designer
*textile engineer
*fashion illustrator
*fashion graphic designer (for t-shirts, logos etc)
*trend consultant
*fashion sourcing
*fashion events organiser (shows etc)

and always ..the obvious
*hair & make up artist
*fashion photographer

I dont know how easy it is to get these jobs but how about

model agent/booker
casting director
art director

these sound interesting, how would i get into these?

 

[tifa]

i think all the arty fashion careers are very hard to get into...yet i am on the road myself. it is a life of rejection like i imagine all the fashion careers are but worth it if you love it.

 

[Lena]

these sound interesting, how would i get into these?

great choices, most of the fashion fields above have their very own thread discussions floating around the forum JR1

 

[Ceptuouse]

Thanks Lena

 

[Lena]

what is textile engineer?? is it someone who finds out new textiles or makes machines to weave fabric??

excuses for not replying earlier gius..
textile engineer is someone who 'explores' new ways of using the machines, or someone who works on original prototype weaves (etc, creating new coatings or finishings)
usually engineers speecialise in wovens, non wovens or knitted textiles..
its a fantastic and very creative career, one of the best places for this is either in London (royal college of art) or in Antwerp..

to me, thats a true dream career

 

[gius]

Thanks Lena it sounds really interesting. i'm going to try and find out more about different "coatings and finishings." i have noticed some fabrics at shops which always made me wonder how it was made because it looked something unnatural... Maybe this is what it was. As of now, I'm reading about the boom in textiles in the 60's and 70's There are some odd/unique products

 

[taz]

some more.. and a bit less 'popular' hence with more possibilities of finding jobs


*fashion sourcing

what is the scope of work for 'fashion soucing' ?

 

[gius]

Also: Japan seems like another good place to study textiles, with all those experimental designers like Issey Miyake. I saw a video about him, showing his processes and the techniques/experiments he does with textiles, like permanent folding/pleating to make bouncy fabric... There were some giant machines shown in that video.

 

[Lena]

what is the scope of work for 'fashion soucing' ?

sourcing is still booming while western companies continue searching for cheaper manufacturing or ready to buy products in third world countries taz..

one can be sourcing just about anything
from textiles to ready to made garments, to special -amde under contract- orders, bags, shoes, accessories and speciality items.

gius, true Japan is good for fabric engineering/design but there is always something very distinctively 'ethnic' in their work, their idea of fabrics seem very specific and a bit *'restrained'
you need to see their textile collections as opposed to european/american textile collections to see what i mean

*( of course i'm not talking about master Issey Miyake, he's one of the most innovative fabric developers worldwide)

 

[taz]

sourcing is still booming while western companies continue searching for cheaper manufacturing or ready to buy products in third world countries taz..

one can be sourcing just about anything
from textiles to ready to made garments, to special -amde under contract- orders, bags, shoes, accessories and speciality items.

ok...i get it thanks lena,... i thought it was about sourcing for ideas & themes ....there was such a job posted in lvmh site for the house of Givenchy to serch & analys its mines & heritage when Tisci took over the house..by the way ur new avator is cOOl B)

 

[jeweledvixen]

I really love fashion journalism, but I understand the pay is quite low, as you mentioned. What other jobs (in the fashion industry) would you recommend? I'm very passionate about fashion and I can't envision myself doing anything else; yet I also need to be financially secure enough to support myself (not at first of course, I know in virtually every field you have to start somewhere).

 

[fashionistasista]

work in a PR company whose clients are in fashion. you get paid well and you get loads of free stuff. easy.

 

[Cicciolina]

Some people pay out PR saying that's where all the journalists go after they get sick of getting such low pay

Needless to say lifestyle PR is crazy competitive too, and again, all those fashion PR girls from New York are socialites ie see here http://www.observer.com/print/50051/full Actually I'll make a separate thread for this article, it's pretty interesting

 

[fashionistasista]

yeah alot of my friends have jumped ship to PR... i must say its mighty tempting!

thanks for starting up that thread Cicciolina! we really need a fashion PR thread with all this interest

 

[style_star]

Here is the PR thread:
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f90/all-about-pr-public-relations-53326.html