Jobs in the fashion industry

I have been researching into jobs within the fashion industry and what is expected of the person in the job etc.

Ive been looking into the jobs that i personally am interested in doing when i leave uni i first looked into costume designer for film, television and theatre,


Costume designer: Job description and activities

A costume designer is responsible for the design, creation and purchase of costumes and accessories worn in television, film and theatre productions.
Typical work activities include:

liaising with the director and lighting and scenic/set designers about creative concepts,

establishing the look and feel of the production and its characters, deciding what each character wishes to convey through his/her clothing (time period, setting, status/social class, age, geographic region, etc.);

using the Internet and libraries to conduct in-depth research into the setting/period of the production to ensure costumes are authentic to the specific time;

utilising a good knowledge of costume/theatre/art/political/social history;

reading scripts;

sketching designs by hand and sometimes using computer programs such as Photo shop or computer-aided design (CAD);

working closely with the costume supervisor.

When working on a mid or large-scale production, the costume supervisor, wardrobe manager and other members of the team will be responsible for the actual physical realisation (buying or making) of costumes. However, when working on a small-scale, fringe or low-budget production, the costume designer may also be responsible for the following work activities:
managing the costume budget;
taking actors' measurements for garments and accessories, such as wigs, shoes and hats;
shopping at fabric, craft, charity and clothes shops;
drafting and cutting out patterns;
studying textiles, dyeing fabric, painting and sewing;
distressing costumes, using a range of materials;
arranging costume fittings, dressing actors, helping with difficult costumes, making alterations as necessary;
cleaning and repairing costumes.

A costume designer is something i am really interested in pursuing, for my work experience i have emailed a majority of theaters but no one has got back to me and this tells me this is a very hard business to get into especially if you don't really have any experience within a theatre department.

Wedding Dress Designer

I would also love to be a wedding dress designer/maker but then this is also a very competitive business and you need to build yourself a reputation to be known to people etc. this is something i am very passionate about i did my school work experience in a wedding dress shop and i loved it. this is a career path i am definitely considering.

After working in the 3rd years fashion show last year i really considered about been in event management for fashion shows. i thoroughly enjoyed working behind with the stress and adrenaline back stage.
i have looked into what it takes to be part of event management,

Event Management
Job description
Event organisers are responsible for the production of events from conception through to completion. Events can include:

■exhibitions and fairs;
■festivals;
■conferences;
■promotions and product launches;
■fundraising and social events.
They work in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors and can work for event management companies, in-house for an organisation or freelance.

The role of event organiser is hands-on and often involves working as part of a team. Event organisers must be able to complete a wide range of activities requiring clear communication, excellent organisational skills and attention to detail. They must work well under pressure, ensuring the smooth and efficient running of an event.

Typical work activities
The role of event organiser varies depending on the organisation and type of event involved. Typical activities include:

■researching markets to identify opportunities for events;
■liaising with clients to ascertain their precise event requirements;
■producing detailed proposals for events (e.g. time lines, venues, suppliers, legal obligations, staffing and budgets);
■agreeing to and managing a budget;
■securing and booking a suitable venue or location;
■ensuring insurance, legal, health and safety obligations are adhered to;
■coordinating venue management, caterers, stand designers, contractors and equipment hire;
■organising facilities for car parking, traffic control, security, first aid, hospitality and the media;
■identifying and securing speakers or special guests;
■planning room layouts and the entertainment programme, scheduling workshops and demonstrations;
■coordinating staffing requirements and staff briefings;
■selling sponsorship/stand/exhibition space to potential exhibitors/partners;
■preparing delegate packs and papers;
■liaising with marketing and PR colleagues to promote the event;
■liaising with clients and designers to create a brand for the event and organising the production of tickets, posters, catalogues and sales brochures;
■coordinating suppliers, handling client queries and troubleshooting on the day of the event to ensure that all runs smoothly;
■overseeing the dismantling and removal of the event and clearing the venue efficiently;
■post-event evaluation (including data entry and analysis and producing reports for event stakeholders).

I'm not entirely sure what i want to do when i leave uni. i don't really know what my strengths are yet so i don't know what ill be good at.
these jobs are what i am considering and have a Passion for so hopefully if i push myself i will end somewhere within one of these jobs.

Researching Work Placements

I have been constantly emailing, sending CV's and writing letters to people regarding work experience and it is so frustrating when no one gets back to you. i wish they would just tell me they don't want me and then i would know rather just not getting back at all.
I've wrote to bridal shops, fashion show event organisers, theatres and play houses and only about 2 people have wrote back.

I'm not entirely sure what i want to do when i leave uni except that i would definitely like to do something that involves making as i feel I'm not too bad at making. i also really enjoyed working on the fashion show last year so i would like to work within some thing like fashion show event planning but i really don't know.
its so frustrating that nearly everyone has work placements and i don't, its like I'm not as good as everyone else and maybe I've just been emailing the wrong people i don't know.

hopefully i will find something eventually if not then i don't know.

on a lighter note I've been asked to help out at graduate fashion week and that i cant wait for!

I'm really starting to enjoy research practices now i have just finished my half scale toile of a pair of military style trousers with four pockets on the front i need to sew the buttons down the side of the trousers though.

Ive used CAD a lot for this project as i feel i work a lot better on photo shop and my work looks a lot better i feel my skills are improving on photo shop and illustrator a lot more now.

This is my final line up for research practices.

We also have to a statement of intent for this project which is something completely new that we have done and is to do with our 3rd year and final collection as this project is to help us with extended research practises next year which is to do with our final collection.

I don't think i want to use this idea in my final collection i have enjoyed the military side of it with design and make but i think i would like to do something completely different.

As well as doing research practises we had to do our final business presentation for dolly mixture clothing i feel it went really well but I'm so glad its finally over.

business and enterprise as painful as it was taught me a lot about everything you have to take into account in setting up businesses and i don't think in the future i would like to set up my own business, i think i would prefer to work somebody else.

Ive been thinking about the future a lot lately and I'm not entirely sure which route i want to go down when i leave uni, its such a scary thought that we actually have to get a job when we leave. I'm not entirely sure what i want to do either. I'm not that great at anything really its like every ones either good at everything or is really good at one thing and I'm not really that great at anything. after working in the 3rd year fashion show last year i thought about doing some thing like that organising fashion shows and working in them or id really like to work within a theatre costume department i really don't know its such a confusing time right now.

hopefully soon ill figure out what i want to do.

Research Practises

We have now started research practises and were in one day a week, which is a good and bad thing its good because i get quite a bit of free time to do everything i need to do but on the other hand i have less motivation.
it is quite a free project so your free to just go on with your work and work at your own pace and how you choose.
as its mainly research which is 40% of the mark and I'm not very good at research I'm not really enjoying it i am and i aren't its a good project and we get to make a half scale toile for it but i just hate research its like i have all these ideas in my head and i find it hard to put them all down on to paper. I'm doing my research more on photo shop rather than cutting and sticking as i prefer this way of work more . as we have only just started this project there is nothing much else really to say except tomorrow we have our enterprise final presentation and then that's out my life which i cant wait for!

Handing in and a New Project

I got my mark back for my last project were we had to mark a trend book and then do a presentation on our trend to "buyers" of our chosen target market.



In the end i chose to research into the 1950's which then took me into 1950's pin up trends so i called my trend the poster pin up trend. i struggled with this project and got really stressed out about it, i don't think Ive ever been so stressed and i don't know why i don't usually get really stressed out anyways i did enjoy making my trend book after i had to redo it after doing it once after printing out my original version i altered bits of my original trend book and made my own background after having one from google on the original version of my trend book it looked a lot better then my first trend book so I'm glad i re did it.



For our trend books we had to do all our flats in illustrator which at first i absolutely hated and couldn't get them to look right but after a bit of practise i really started to enjoy it and got a bit addicted to it.



We also had to do a presentation on our trend to Gemma and the rest of the class, presentations don't really bother me so i quite enjoyed doing it and didn't really get that nervous.



We also had to do final illustrations of our design development from using the trend book here some of my final illustrations.

I did my final illustrations on illustrator as i think they look better then if i had hand drawn them. for this project i got 65% which i was really happy with i thought i would get a 2:2 for this because my research i didn't think was that great so i was really happy when i got this mark!

We have now started research practices which will eventually lead us on to extended research practices in 3rd year so i have to do well on this one, but i think i will find it quite hard as its all about research and I'm not great at research so I'm really gonna try hard with this project.

As well as doing this i still need to do my critical studies portfolio which i am NOT looking forward to!

On another note i don't have dyslexia just distinctive traits, in other words I'm just a bit ditsy but tell me something i don't know!

new project time

i recently got my mark back for design realisation and i got a 64% which i was pleased with as i did work hard on this project and was really glad to get above a 2.2 for once!

now that design realisation is over we have now started another project applied fashion design which is all about trends and making trend books i have found it quite hard to get into this project and have some inspiration for it i know what i want my trend to be on i just find it hard to get it on to paper and explain it I'm not very good at research and putting it together and interpretation my own images i feel this is something that really lets me down in my final marks.

on Friday i had my dyslexia 3 hour test which was awful, the woman was really patronizing and me feel even more stupider than i did already like she couldn't understand why i can do somethings and not other things and this makes no sense to her i really wanted to tell her I'm not faking it if that what she thinks but i thought there was no point she commented a lot on my hesitation over words and stuff like that which i didn't appreciate and wish she had just kept to herself. but there we go I'm meant to get my results in a few weeks so we'll see what she says about me, that will be interesting.

hopefully ill get more into this project as well soon and understand it more and my research i feel i have all these ideas around my head but i just cant seem to put them all down quick enough and in a way that explains what i want to do. hopefully ill over come this soon enough.

as well as having this 20 credit module i also have to do my critical studies essay which is 2000 words and the whole of critical studies is also 20 credits so i have two 2o credit modules going on at the same time which is really not fun and a lot of work!

on another note RIP McQueen.

handing in of design relisation

today i handed in design realisation even though it was only a 10 credit module i still cried over it as i tend to do over every project when its nearing the end, but once i got over it i was fine.

this is my final garment i made for the project

my inspiration for this jacket was vintage wallpaper, including Laura Ashley vintage prints, spring/summer 2010.2011 and my vintage jacket that i brought in and tried out on different ways on a mannequin,

after trying out my vintage garment in different positions on the mannequin this gave me inspiration for my design development and final jacket design, especially the way the jacket only goes half way down the body as seen in the previous picture this i incorporated into my final garment.

i enjoyed design realisation i didn't find it too stressful as i felt i knew what i needed to do for this project and what was expected from me work wise.

i was really interested in the technical package we had to do for our jacket as Ive never made one before and i found it quite interesting at what i had to put in and how to do flat drawings on illustrator.

we get our brief for our next project in morning which is a 20 credit module and no doubt i will find it quite stressful but hopefully ill enjoy it as well.

design relisation

so we've properly got into design realisation now which is our last proper make before we go into 3rd year and I'm really enjoying it i was a bit apprehensive at first as i wasn't sure what we had to do and what our final outcome would be.
but after working with my vintage garment last week and doing more research Ive really got into it.
today i started working on the pattern for my garment which is my favourite part of any project I'm making a cropped jacket with pieces of jagged fabric layer down from the top of it ill upload pictures soon!

i worked out the basis of my pattern today quite easily with a little bit of help from gemma and Hugo and seam placements but apart from that at the moment its been alright making my pattern i say this now and by next week ill hate it!!!!

but at the moment I'm really enjoying design realisation and i hope my garment works out the way i want it to.

A few photos of inspiration

A few Spring 2010 inspiration photos

John Galliano

Galliano may have been slighty slated for this collection but i dont care i still think its fabulous!

Valentino

A classic collection of sheer nudes and lace neutrals

Christian Dior

A stylish yet classic collection with a trend on lingerie as outerwear rather than under wear

....

So yesterday we all got back our tailoring practises marks and i got 55% and to be honest i was quite disappointed with my mark but i think this is the same within the whole fashion group within both pathways.

I enjoyed this project a lot more than i did the last one we did especially the trip to the west yorkshire playhouse which as you will have seen from a previous post i really loved.

I really did put a lot of effort into this project although at the beginning i did get slighty confused but once we got into it more i really did enjoy it and understood what we working towards.

I do sometimes wonder what im doing with my life and whether im good enough for this at all but i guess we all go through phases like this and i will just have to except this and get on with life and ill try harder and hopefully get a better mark in our next project.

okay rant over...

Christmas is Over...

Ive just got back to Leeds after Christmas although i didn't think i was going to get back with the snow and everything i had to miss work yesterday because i got snowed in, in hull but i didn't mind that much!!

During the Christmas holidays i haven't done as much work as i feel i should have i was working a lot and some of the work we had to do was critical studies writing pieces and to try and find a subject for the essay we have to write, but i find writing and essays sooo hard to do and then i get stressed out and upset that i cant do it that i put it off and off which i really shouldn't do but i just get soo stressed out with myself i think ill have to start going to the student services help that they offer for essays and things so that should help me with writing essays.

During the Christmas holidays i have also been trying to look for work experience for the summer but its really hard to find somewhere at the moment as summer is quite far away and companies want people for now but ill keep looking and hopefully ill be able to find something soon.

For our next project we had to do a shop report on the high street in the Christmas holidays i always enjoy doing shop reports and looking at the different trends that are out but this time because of the sales there wasn't that much new stock in the shops so it was quite hard to look at the new trends but still i managed to do it and enjoyed it as well.

as this is only a 10 credit module i hope it wont be too stressful but quite enjoyable to do as well.

After Christmas I'm ready to get back into the new year and back into uni life!