Can Fashion Be Your Career?

By David Dee

Do you enjoy wearing the latest clothing styles? Do you like spending hours browsing through some of the trendiest boutiques and shops, trying on the newest style?

If you do, perhaps you can turn your love of fashion and style into a fun, interesting career by starting and completing a fashion degree. A fashion degree can lead to an exciting and sometimes even glamorous career with the possibility of good money and long-term job security.

Where Does Someone Earn a Fashion Degree?

Fashion is not one of the most available education options. Most schools do not offer a degree program in it. But there are some two- and four-year degree programs available at a few schools, and you may even be able to enroll in online classes in order to work around your busy schedule. Typical training programs in fashion may include courses such as:

• Fashion history

• Sewing and tailoring

• Fabrics and textiles

• Colors

• Patterns

Most students find that taking courses in business, merchandising and marketing will also help with a career in this area, especially if you expect to work in the business side or management in the future. And if you are attracted to one particular field within fashion, such as menswear or athletic wear, you may have the opportunity to enroll in additional classes that focus on that area. And it always helps to work in an apprentice program with a fashion designer or a design house while attending school because it will greatly improve your employment possibilities after graduation.

Fashion Careers

Many graduates find jobs in big cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Miami, but you can find job opportunities all around the country. If you like the retail side of the business, you might want to work at a regional or national clothing company or you might want to get started at a small, independent clothing boutique. Getting an entry-level position at a large clothing manufacturer may lead to becoming involved with the design or production of clothing that is sold in their stores. Large retailers often run their own in-house design departments with fashion designers employed on their staffs.

Fashion graduates may enjoy working for theater groups or movie companies where clothing with historical accuracy needs to be designed and produced. And many students consider the ultimate positions to be in the exclusive, high-end design house that work in the great capital cities of the world, playing a part in designing new fashions for celebrities and high society. Having a fashion degree doesn't qualify you to do this, but it can help you get started.

Fashion Careers and Opportunities

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for fashion designers should remain steady during the next decade, and there could be a growing demand for designers of customers of major mid-level retailers. Job opportunities are also expected to be strong in the design departments of major retailers that market their products to a wide range of shoppers. Careers and positions in the fashion industry are often seen as being very desirable and jobs can be competitive, but candidates with formal training and job experience may find they have the most opportunities.

Earnings in the broader fashion field continues to be good. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average salary for a fashion designer in May 2009 was $74,410, while the top 10% working in this field averaged over $130,900.

The author enjoys writing about education and careers for publications and websites such as www.FashionDesignSchoolsOnline.com.

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