Fashion the word itself sounds so glamorous doesn’t it? We all know a little or perhaps at least something about the course of fashion designing. We will now discuss the course in more details so that you can understand if you have all that it takes to make it big in the world of fashion designing. This is the subject of discussion in today’s student career guidance series. I hope we will be able to solve all your queries both as a parent and as a student.

The first thing you need to understand is what exactly fashion designing actually is. It is all about designing clothes, jewellery and accessories that are as per fashion and are comfortable. We all have heard and read a lot about it but the exact meaning of the subject might change the way you look at it forever.

It has three main branches and those are garment designing, leather designing, accessory and jewellery designing. All these three together make up fashion designing. As the names suggests garment designing is all about designing clothes. Leather design deals with designing leather accessories. Accessory and garment designing as the name says deals with designing accessories and jeweller that compliment clothes.

You can select any one of them and specialise in it as per your interests. It is not possible to do all at the same time. However, you can definitely pick up one. The fields are vast and exhaustive. They require a lot of hard work and there is a lot of competition out there in this field.

The starting few years in this profession can be a struggle and you might have to live hand to mouth. This is not always true. It depends a lot on your talent and your luck. However, when you make a name for yourself there is hardly anything that can keep you away from success and money. This field can make you popular and rich in no time.

In the initial few years you can work as an apprentice to a well-known fashion designer or a fashion house. You can also be hired by an export house or a garment manufacturer. If you have the money and the talent then you can launch a fashion house or boutique of your own. You can also open a manufacturing unit of your own. The possibilities are many. With leather designing you can join any fashion house that specializes in leather accessories or you can also join a huge brand name like Nike, Reebok, etc.

If your passion lies in jewellery designing then you can either join a jewellery company that hire designers and generally pay them well. The pay only increases with time and years of experience. You can also look at options of growing up in your career as a jewellery designer.

Some people also work as freelancers in jewellery designing. They sell their designs to the jewellery companies and make huge money. You can also start a small time business of your own. It is not necessary that you design only gold and diamond jewellery. You can also specialise in artificial jewellery that is becoming so popular all over the world. The most important reason being that gold jewellery is becoming so expensive and also it is a risk to wear very heavy gold and diamond jewellery.

If you like the joy of creating something then you must definitely try this field. You never know that the designs you create might be the future trend setters. If you are scared of the employment opportunities, then let us assure you that don’t worry. Fashion is a concept or rather it is something that can never go out of fashion.

There will always be people who would like to look trendy and fashionable. In today’s world even children want to wear the latest clothes. You will be surprised that billions worth of money is spent a year by designing companies to design the most comfy clothes for the toddlers. The job opportunities are many not only in India but also all over the world. The best part is that this line of study gives you the power to become a self-employed.

There is a huge demand in designers wear. Even the middle class today wants to own a garment that is exclusive and is meant for them alone. This is exactly why designers are so much in demand and are being hired on such large scale.
There are many colleges that are offering courses in fashion technology. We will now tell you about the top one. The first name is national institute of fashion technology (NIFT).

It is the most trusted name in fashion technology. It has a three years comprehensive program on the subject. The candidates are selected via entrance tests and counselling. The undergraduate course is a diploma program. It also has a two years post graduate diploma program. There is a special one year course on production technology that is mostly for the working professionals to enhance the skills. There are many international colleges that too offer courses on this subject.

The eligibility for any full time fashion designing course in India is that you must have completed 10+2 board exams. You must have got fifty per cent marks at least in these exams. The application form for the entrance exam of NIFT is available online. These forms can be downloaded and you can apply for the test. Once you are selected you can join the college.

The fee is around five and a half thousand rupees for every semester. There are many other colleges in the country offer course on fashion designing. The duration of these courses and the eligibilities are more or less the same for all. There are many institutes that offer six month courses. Even these can be joined just to brush up your skills about the latest technologies. Fashion is an extremely professional industry and one must take it up seriously to make it big in this field.

To be a good fashion designer you must have a creative instinct in you. Fashion designers are born they cannot be made. However, with training your skills can be improved and make to more aware of the technologies that are required to create the latest designs. The second requirement that you must have it to be ready to do hard work, you should be a person who can work in group as well as an individual.

You must be a good listener as you will have to understand the requirement of the customer well as fashion industry is a customer centric industry. The fashion trends keep changing almost every day so you should be a person who can adapt to change. If you cannot then this is not the industry for you. If you have these basic qualities then you must give this profession a serious thought.