Fashion Design and Merchandising
By: Georgia Thomas
Fashion Merchandising and Design
If are in the fashion field, specifically a designer or merchandiser, that means you are the buyer of clothing for stores to sell in store or designing clothes for events or designing clothes for celebrities, personal shopping, and more. Fashion designers or merchandisers normally work as fashion buyers, retail store managers, fashion directors, textile merchandisers, designers, merchandise display artists. They can work long hours or weekends because you are rewarded with working in the glamorous fashion world. You are required to have an incredible amount of creativity. They can also work in a department store or clothing outlets. The years of college all vary on what you are studying and how many schools you go to. You are often required to have a bachelor’s degree in fashion merchandising. You will have to study fashion marketing, retail marketing and promotion, fashion buying, retail management, or textile design production. Some good job skills you need are creativity, the ability to be open-minded and flexible to change, and the ability to work long hours or weeekends.
Information About The Career
The job outlook for the fashion industry is pretty good. It is expected to grow by 17%. The average salary for fashion designers and merchandisers ranges from $52,901-145, 960. You can work in retail stores, disadvantages are working long hours and working from home on the weekends. You are probably going to have to travel a lot if you become something really big in the fashion world which is an upside to me. The fashion world is always changing so you have to be very flexible. An average day in the life of a fashion desginer or merchandiser varies from styling a fashion event to giving a seminar on desgining to your fellow peers.
Stacy London / The Truth About Style - Book Trailer
Career Connections
I got the chance to email a fashion designer named Jenny Applegate about my career. She said that fashion design is "more than just clothes and fashion". She loves seeing a client after they are satisfied. Everyday is different for a fashion designer, which seems perfect for me because I love change and changing up your work environment. Getting your name out is important and marketing you name is "never an ending process". I think that is the most important part about being anyone successful is getting your name out.
"To see a client "light up" when looking in the mirror when viewing his or her self in a different way is the best part of my job. " -Jenny Applegate
High School Preparation
Leyden has many oppurtunities and classes to take advantage of now. Some courses are Fashion Merchandising, Fashion Design, and Sports and Entertainment Marketing. A few clubs could be FCCLA or Fashion Club, which can help sprout my creativity and help me in becoming a merchandiser/designer. A possible experience that could help a high school student like me who is interested in fashion now would be working at a store to get experience for being a store managers or a store buyer.You could be a cashier or someone who works on the floor at a clothing store like Forever 21 Nordstrom, Pacsun, Tilly’s.
References
A reference is someone who can help you when applying for a job, to give good feedback on your personality and how you are in the work area. My three references are:
Mrs.Stolarsky- English Teacher
Mr. Chris Rouvas- Cheer Coach
- Mrs. Karcz- Math Teacher
I chose these references because I have good relationships with these references and I think they would say true and nice things about me. My cheer coach gets to see me everytday out of a classroom in an environment where we have to work together, so he knows how I work with a team and how I am outside of the classroom.
Post Secondary Plans
After high school, my career contact reccommended that I attend a business school first and major in Business because it is helpful in the fashion industry ot have a business background. However, after I attend a regular college for business, I want to attend a school like Parsons or FIT to get a degree in Fashion Design and Merchandising. I would like to get an internship with a big company when I am in my senior year of college so I can have my name out in the fahsion world and people can start to get to know who I am. There are many available internships. An example would be a Merchandising Intern at a store or fashion brand.
To Learn More About Fashion Design and Merchandising:
Reflection
I learned a lot from this assignment. I learned that you should probably get a degree in business before you start fashion design. I also learned that you can never market your name enough and there is always a chance to get your name out there. I got so much out of this because I talked to a real fashion designer and I think talking to her gave me confidence to try new things in life and most importantly not be afraid to be creative and show my creative side.