Importance of a Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design: Careers & Opportunities

Table of Content:

• Curriculum overview
• Advantages of pursuing a fashion degree
• Career options after completing a fashion degree

A degree in fashion design holds great importance nowadays, especially. Students who study design have a great understanding of various aspects of design, production, marketing, and the business of fashion. There are some reasons why a B.A. in fashion design is important for aspiring designers:

1. The degree builds a great foundation for the aspirants. The course helps students develop technical and innovative skills that help them make a breakthrough in the industry. The course includes computer-aided design, garment design, pattern making, and fashion illustration. The course focuses on practical and theoretical aspects, which help the student gain the right skills and knowledge. Students also understand the fabrics, design principles, etc. needed to create an outstanding ensemble.
2. The course also helps students build a portfolio, mostly through class assignments, internships, or on-the-job training. This way, each designer can stand out by showcasing their uniqueness, which can help them get great employment opportunities or start something of their own.
3. Students who complete the course will also learn about the history of fashion, fashion theory , trend forecasting, and consumer behavior. They can get information about fashion markets and understand consumers better.
4. The course also talks about the business and marketing sides of fashion, which are equally important to running a successful and sustainable business. Students can make a garment, but they should know how to identify a customer and how to push and sell a product to customers.
5. Students also learn about fashion merchandising , brand management, and retail management. In merchandising, they must know what to make, how much to make, and how to sell. In brand development, they understand how to build a brand and how to identify the most suitable customers for one’s brand. In retail management, they understand how to sell a particular product to customers through retail channels.

Curriculum overview

Fashion designers with good knowledge can build good businesses. Another crucial aspect of a B.A. degree in fashion design is necessary to build a good network in the industry. Such connections can help designers gain great exposure in the industry. Students can build good networks through internships, mentors, and events. This helps students, especially, get freelancing projects, internships, and job opportunities. Lastly, getting a degree is crucial in this field, demonstrating the craft, technical skills, creativity, and level of understanding about the subject. In the fashion design curriculum, we discuss the following things:

1. Everything starts with a foundation course, which helps understand the basics of design, colour, colour theory, shapes, forms, materials, and textiles . A student learns about design concepts, the history of art, fluidity, and drape. The idea of a foundation course is to help students create a vision.
2. Then students start to focus on fashion illustration, where they learn how to sketch and illustrate designs. Students learn to develop a sense of personal style.
3. Once the student gets the hang of fashion illustration, he or she is taught about pattern making. Pattern making helps in making a blueprint of a garment; it helps define the fit of the piece.
4. Then a student is taught about draping, which defines how a fabric will flow or behave concerning the fabric involved.
5. More technical aspects of textiles are being taught in class, which focuses on different fabrics, their properties, and their production methods.
6. Students also learn about CAD (computer-aided design) and other software like Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, etc.
7. Once the student gets a little hang of the software, he or she is taught how to assemble a garment and the various sewing techniques involved in making a piece.
8. Understanding the history of fashion is also crucial; it is taught to identify past vs. current trends, styles, and cultural influences. This also gives a fair idea of how fashion has evolved.
9. Another aspect of business and marketing taught to students is to understand customers' choices and the jargon of business and marketing. It focuses on branding and retail management as well.
10. Once the student has a little of all these, a portfolio is developed to showcase the best of the student's work.
11. All of the work done by students is backed by internships to give them a true understanding of how people work in industries. This further provides a chance to get real-world experience and networking opportunities.
12. Expertise is decided after choosing from the various options as per the individual’s liking.
13. And finally, the final work is displayed as a collection, where students can apply all the knowledge and skills they have acquired throughout the course.

Advantages of pursuing a fashion degree

Once the collection is displayed, that's the final aspect of the course; it depicts that a student is thoroughly prepared for the industry. Every module studied at a college holds special importance for the student's future as a designer. There are not just subjects taught in class that play a crucial role; a skill set is also developed that helps a student become the best of the lot. A degree gives one knowledge, but a lot of skill sets are acquired during the journey of studying the course. Fashion Design is a course where one needs a degree for various reasons:

1. A degree in design provides a structured curriculum that talks about all the aspects of design, for instance, fashion history, trend analysis, design principles, pattern making, textile science, etc. All these subjects help a student tackle all challenges properly, especially when one wishes to start their label.
2. It also helps with the technical and creative aspects. Technical aspects can be like learning about various software, pattern making, sewing machines, textile science, etc. And it also helps with creative aspects by bringing creativity to life in the form of garments.
3. Doing a degree gets you theoretical knowledge backed by professional experience and industry experience through internships, freelancing projects, and collaborations with existing designers.
4. After completing a degree, a student becomes more credible and employable as it shows their commitment to a given field. It also helps in getting a job and can open doors to various prospects.
5. This degree can also help improve critical thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, teamwork, marketing, branding, and entrepreneurship.

Career options after completing a fashion degree

After completing a B.A. in Fashion Design, a student can take various paths in the fashion industry. Some common career options are:

1. Fashion Designer - After completing this course, most people become fashion designers. They usually start working with haute couture designers like Sabyasachi or venture into fashion brands that mostly sell ready-to-wear clothing. Also, fashion design is a vast field, so one can decide their niche after getting to work full-time. Some students can have expertise in womenswear, menswear, kidswear, wedding wear, etc.
2. Fashion Stylist - Students can also work as stylists to create aesthetically appealing outfits or ensembles. These stylists can create stylish clothing for photoshoots, video shoots, fashion shows, or haute couture. They can also work as personal stylists.
3. Fashion Merchandiser - A designer designs a garment, and a merchandiser takes care of the sales part. They focus on pushing and beautifying the product in such a manner that the customer buys it at a given price point.
4. Fashion Buyer - Buyers are people who understand fashion well. Their job is to select and buy products for retail outlets or online platforms after understanding market trends or fashion trends, keeping in mind a brand’s image or identity.
5. Fashion Consultants - They work on the front line of the retail outlet, pushing or recommending the products to the customer to make a final sale.
6. Fashion Illustrator - They specialise in creating designs. They can work directly with designers or e-commerce websites. They use their skills to draw garments and/or accessories, and they collaborate with brands and designers to create designs for online or offline platforms or garments.
7. Entrepreneur - Some graduates also choose to own their fashion brands offline or online. This requires expertise in product design and management skills.
8. E-commerce - With the boom of e-commerce, one can also work with them as a designer. One can design clothes for the private label of a brand. For instance, for brands like Myntra, one can work for their private label, House of Pataudi, HRX, Roadster, etc.

There are more such paths than the ones mentioned above. After completing the degree, one can also become a fashion show coordinator, textile designer, fashion photographer, fashion marketer, fashion digital social media marketing professional, fashion PR, and many more. With new avenues coming in, the fashion industry is constantly evolving as per the changing customer's preferences, innovation, and focus on sustainability.

Sustainable fashion is in demand because of several factors, like climate change or the shrinking of natural resources. Brands and consumers are becoming aware and conscious. Consumers are preferring more environmentally friendly textiles and alternatives that don't impact non-renewable resources as much. People are also focusing on reusing existing garments more to reduce fabric wastage overall. Brands are also focusing on using tech-driven fashion like virtual reality or augmented reality to stop waste through sampling.

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About The Author

Hi! I am Shraddha Kochar, I was born, raised, and have completed my education in Delhi. I have been in the fashion industry for the last 7+ years, with varied experience working in startups, national brands, e-commerce, exports and education secto ... r. I like travelling and exploring places for food. I landed in the education sector very mystically, and since then there is no looking back. I enjoy reading about fashion & lifestyle brands, fiction, fitness, personal finance and philosophy. Keeping in mind the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) , I am trying to become a conscious and aware human.

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