What Career for Me ... if I Can'tSew/ Make Patterns/Draw, Etc.?

[BetteT]

That is a tough one ... and it's a shame that it's keeping you from your dreams.

The challenges are:

1. Live in the midwest in a non-fashion town so there's no industry nor jaobs in the industry.

2. A job that won't help you get into fashion and it's boring and low pay on top of that.

3. You feel dragged down and disenchanted ... so no longer have any energy to do what it takes to move towards your dream.


Well ... it seems to me that if you really want to work in the fashion world you must summon up that energy and do something ... anything ... to move you towards your goal. As long as you just let things happen to you ... instead of taking the bull by the horns and making things happen, then nothing will ever happen. So I'd consider doing some or all of the following (and it will take guts ... but fashion always does

1. Plan to move to a city where you can possibly work in the fashion industry. (N.Y. or Chicago are probably your best bets.) Perhpas a magazine (even a women's mag that has a fashion section), a PR firm that has fashion clients, a fashion photographer's studio ... you have to be creative here. It would probably mean a menial job .... like data entry, receptionist, mail room clerk but if you work it right, there could be chance for advancement. If you are sharp and impress the powers that be, you could eventualy get into a more interesting job where you would learn a lot about what they do. You probably would not have much access to the creative part of it right away ... but if you are observant and ask a lot of questions (without being a pest), you would learn about who does what and what departments and jobs interest you.

2.Yeah ... moving costs money. So that means you have to live on a very tight budget to save money. And you might have to take a second, part time job. And ... it could take years ... but then if you don't what will you be doing instead? Still working hard but hating it ... but with nothing to look forward to.

3. Or .... consider a home based business ... designing fun things to sell to friends at first, and then perhaps set up an E-Bay or web store. Or if you have the eye, maybe buying vintage and funky things at swap meets and garage sales and reselling them. I know several people that are doing very well that way. You'd have to do a lot of research ... to learn how to deal with sales taxes, shipping, inventrory, etc.

4. If you prefer the ebay thing over moving to a "fashion" city... I'd consider community college. Part time ... just to learn what you need to do to be successful. Not fashion classes ... but business classes and in particular entreprenurial studies, where you learn how to set up and run your own business. If you can learn how to make a profit from doing something you love ... what could be better?

5. If the internet/ebay thing is working then you could set your next goal ... perhaps a small shop in your town, or wholesaling to boutiques across the country.

There is a way out of your predicament ... but only you can decide if you want to sacrifice enough to make it happen. It won't be easy ... and it won't happen overnight ... but you can make it happen.

Cetainly it won't happen at all unless you muster the courage to make a plan, take the necessary steps to prepare yourself and then step out there and do it.

 

[e-v-elina]

drawing, no sewing

hi! i have a question: can i still become a fashion designer even if i can't sew but i can draw/create clothes and stuff?
i really can't sew but i'm very good at drawing and stuff and that's what i wanna do in life. but do i have a future in the fashion industry? is there anything else that i could work with?

thanks in advance

 

[Bershka]

yaaaay!someone with the same problem as mine!! Only for me its more of the good ol' pattern making !

 

[BetteT]

I just merged the last 2 posts into this thread since it's all about the same problem.

 

[SomethingElse]

This article gives some pretty interesting advice about career development. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/main.jhtml?xml=/fashion/2007/06/27/efmower127.xml that might be helpful in broadening one's perspective. There is a great deal more to design than fashion.

... At the last count, a 2003 survey, there were 8,500 designer clothing manufacturing jobs in the UK, of which only a tiny proportion were design posts.

...What had struck me forcibly in the RCA product, environmental, and car design degree shows, rather than the fashion shows, was the vast gulf between the amazing way these graduates are taking on the possibilities of modern living - and what you see from most fashion students.

There was a boy who has, literally, reinvented the wheel (for a fold-up bike). Others were working on "green" cars which doubled as homes, environmental health devices for the time when antibiotics will become useless, and prototype "torches" for parents to look into their children's computers. Mind-blowing.

Contrast the scope of interest of most fashion students. They all want to sell their clothes within the same few square metres of the same floors of Harvey Nichols and Selfridges - the most rarefied and competitive international niche, with whose customers they share no affinity whatever.

If ever a young designer said to me, "I've come up with a new kind of jeans", or, "I'm making the trainers of the future", I'd faint with surprise. That sort of exceptional, out-of-the-box inventiveness is what fashion sorely lacks right now. The kind of intelligence that the industry needs to renew itself.

Does that mean fashion education is an expensive road to unemployment? Of course not - it's just that only really original kids stand a chance. If your child wants to study fashion, run this failsafe home-diagnostics test: has he or she been drawing since birth, dressing dolls, siblings, pets and cutting up your clothes to make things?

These are the characteristics of all the successful designers I've ever interviewed, including Elbaz himself (who dressed up his chess set).

 

[MUXU]

ok...well...for those who prefer drawing than sewing...becoming a retail designer would be one choice. im working at a retail design company right now and the "designers" here dont sew, they are more like technicians. you would and should know adobe illustrator to create technical drawings.
however..the place im working at (urband behaviour), some designers dont have the time or skill to create technical illustrations, that's what im doing here...creating techincal drawings for them.

thank you for the article Somethingelse!

If ever a young designer said to me, "I've come up with a new kind of jeans", or, "I'm making the trainers of the future", I'd faint with surprise. That sort of exceptional, out-of-the-box inventiveness is what fashion sorely lacks right now. The kind of intelligence that the industry needs to renew itself.

that's what i said to my mother a while ago O_O
i told her what i dont like about current designers and said i want to change fashion, i want to create new cuts and shapes and just crazy things that people still can wear at the end of the day

i guess im one of the lucky ones who actually like everything from sketching, to patterning to cutting to sewing to styling. i like to do everything and willing to learn everything even if i might not like parts of it.
i think the only part i dont like is the bussiness and management side @_@

 

[Mota3089]

I think you just need to sweat it out, because there are many kids who are in fashion schools in your situation but vise versa, hating illustration/drawing, but loving the sewing and pattern part of it. When you attend fashion design school, or major in it at least, you will see that in school, you're either a stronger illustrator or a stronger sewer.
The only reason they say you need to know how to sew and create patterns is because it's easy for someone who doesn't understand garment construction to come up with fantastic ideas, but the problem comes when you try to translate whats on paper to a three dimensional format. Understanding garment construction will only help you out in your illustrations and designs(that's why it's essential).

You are so RIGHT!!

 

[MademoiselleBleu]

I just started a thread about product development and if anyone answers it should be helpful to you. Im exactly like you which is why I didn't go into fashion design. People in product development research trends, forcast sales and a big part of their job is designing. Right now one of my favorite classes in Classification & Line Planning. We research trends, come up with themes and then design a collection (we also have to plan a production callender, do tech packs which I hate, etc). You do flat sketches too using Illustrator (your own designs).

BUT, keep in mind what Im telling you is just from a school perspective, which is why I started a thread about it. Ive heard what you do for your job can different from company to company.

i can't seem to find your thread about product development (its so late well actually early i have yet to go to bed! so its probably right in front of me and i just dont see it but anyways) i'm really interested on the subject and would love to learn more about it. where are you studying if you don't mind me asking? and are you receiving a degree in product development or is it sort of fall under another major?

 

[thwick]

I think you just need to sweat it out, because there are many kids who are in fashion schools in your situation but vise versa, hating illustration/drawing, but loving the sewing and pattern part of it. When you attend fashion design school, or major in it at least, you will see that in school, you're either a stronger illustrator or a stronger sewer.
The only reason they say you need to know how to sew and create patterns is because it's easy for someone who doesn't understand garment construction to come up with fantastic ideas, but the problem comes when you try to translate whats on paper to a three dimensional format. Understanding garment construction will only help you out in your illustrations and designs(that's why it's essential).

Brilliant point.

I myself was an Illustrator/Designer in a school full of Sewers/Pattern Makers. While I stood out in illustration, I really struggled through sewing, but in the end, it was for the best. Understanding the construction of a garment is absolutely essential to any illustrator, designer or not.

 

[BetteT]

i can't seem to find your thread about product development (its so late well actually early i have yet to go to bed! so its probably right in front of me and i just dont see it but anyways) i'm really interested on the subject and would love to learn more about it. where are you studying if you don't mind me asking? and are you receiving a degree in product development or is it sort of fall under another major?

With the advanced search function and typing in "product developement", I found it right here:

http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums...ent-53142.html

 

[MademoiselleBleu]

aw brilliant! thanks so much BetteT

 

[xoxofashionista]

I can understand too. Sewing just doesn't come as naturally as illustration does. If avoidable, I would. However, we must understand that fabric is the basis of fashion design. Understanding fabrics and the way it folds, sews, drapes, and moves gives us valuable knowledge, as designers. This knowledge can only help in showing us the possibilities of designing. You can be like, "oh, i know that chiffon flows like this and works well with this other material so i can design it like this." (vaguely speaking)

 

[Romantic Rebel]

Does that mean fashion education is an expensive road to unemployment? Of course not - it's just that only really original kids stand a chance. If your child wants to study fashion, run this failsafe home-diagnostics test: has he or she been drawing since birth, dressing dolls, siblings, pets and cutting up your clothes to make things?

LOL. These of applies to me.
I would secretly play with my older sisters dolls and paper dolls and dress them with differently clothes.
I also like to seeing all the clothes in my mother's wardrobe when I was a kid. Haha. The only problem is they are starting to notice that someone is playing the dolls and checking out their clothes so I stopped it.