Put Your Fashion Addiction to Work


If you are creative and have a passion for clothes, you should consider a career in fashion design. It is an opportunity to express yourself through clothes, and have people adopting your great new style ideas. It is also a lucrative career; the median income for salaried fashion designers in 2008 was greater than $60,000.

Why Fashion Design?

Fashion designers have all sorts of different opportunities, from working for large commercial clothing chains to designing their own fashion lines. In fact, many are self-employed. Since it seems that all Americans wear clothes, the fashion industry is not likely to die soon. Fashion design is a field with many options—you might prefer to specialize in footwear or bag design, for example.

Where do I begin?

While you may have lots of great ideas, you need the skills to materialize them. Top fashion design programs will train you to sketch, cut and stitch out your designs for presentation. You can do a two-year associate's degree in fashion design or a four-year bachelor of fine arts at many colleges, universities, and art schools. The degrees are recognized by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Other courses in those degrees include marketing, which can prove extremely useful if you go into business for yourself.

Ben Franklin once said, “Eat to feed thyself, but dress to please others.” If you share this philosophy, then you can start your career in fashion design right away.

Sources

Bureau of Labor Statistics