Fashion Designing Course Portfolio
As a fashion designer looking for a job, you will be expected to show your portfolio with designs. But do you know how to create a fashion portfolio and what people expect to see in it? IIDS (Imperial institute of Designers) give all students of Fashion and Interior Designing Courses complete guidance about, How to make it look professional and what are the components of it? How to showcase your creative ideas, style, and aesthetics?
This we
IIDS (Rajouri Garden) will brief you what a Fashion Design Course
portfolio should include and the steps to create it. A well-made portfolio
might be the key to your dream job or school so be very careful with it – it’s
much more than just a bunch of nice sketches. Read carefully
Be updated - It is easy to design clothes. It’s
hard to make clothes that are on-trend and the people would like to wear them
in real life. As a designer, you should be well informed about the new trends
in fabrics, silhouettes, patterns, and colors for the next season.
Always do your research on future trends.
Your Style
& Interpretation Now that you’re informed of how fashion is developing and what’s
on-trend; it’s time to find your own creative voice. Your own
interpretation of these trends!
Let’s say that next year the trend will be something to do with pirates. You
will pull inspiration from the eye covers and design clothes that have
nothing to do with the other interpretations of the “Pirates” theme
Research to
Think about
who’s
your customer.
Who will be wearing these clothes? Think about your customer‘s age,
occupation, finances, interests, family status. The better you define your
customer the more likely it is they will buy what you created for them. Visit the fabrics
supplier store. Search for fabrics that remind you of your inspiration and get
some samples. Try to focus on your theme and avoid ending up with a ton of
fabric swatches. Keep in mind your “ideal customer” and the
trends that you’ve researched and look for fabrics that link them.
Write down a brief on everything you’ve
reached so far. The text should be a short resume of your idea and intention
for the collection. A man should be able to read it in 2-4 minutes and really get what type of collection
you’re about to present.
A very brief
description of what inspired you and why. Mention who your
customer is, what season you’re designing for, the materials that you’re about
to use, the details that will be incorporated. A little bit about the colors
and silhouettes.
Mood board this is something that people
expect to find in the first pages of your portfolio. After they’ve read the
short description they would want to see HOW EXACTLY you plan to put these
ideas together.
Collect
and collage the reference pictures that you think best represent your vision.
You might want to incorporate color and textile samples and even some
hand-drawn parts (drawings or text). Back in the days, the mood boards used to
be made of magazine scraps, but now we have useful tools like Adobe Sparks to helps
us create digital collages with ease. Step back and make sure the final mood board
really shows the thoughts in your head and your interpretation of the topic.
Choose
Fabric There
should be fabrics and color swatches in your portfolio. Select the 5-9 fabrics
that you find best for your collection. Think about the comfort of your
customer, whether this textile is easy to work with, if it goes well with the
rest of the fabrics and if it’s appropriate for the season. Is this fabric
going to allow you to create the volumes and effects you’re looking for?
Reserve a sheet
of your portfolio for fabrics and color samples and make sure
it’s presented in a neat way. You don’t want glue all around or textiles that
are falling apart at the edges. Do your best to make it look professional.
Design flat
sketch Flats
are how most of the designers actually work. You can read more about the
difference between fashion sketches, illustrations, and flats here and more
about flat in this article Model
illustrations take a lot of time and you focus on the wrong thing. You should
be thinking only about the design at this point, not about figure proportions,
facial features, and styling. Just the design and you need to design a lot of
clothes before choosing your best ones that are going to make it to the
portfolio.
For
a collection of 12 outfits, you should have done at least 50-80 flat
sketches. No place for compromises here. You need to select
only the best designs and scrap the rest.
Illustration As you see the actual Fashion illustrations are one of the last things that
you do for your fashion portfolio. Beginners start with them and this is a mistake because it
limits their ideas to what they already know and are used to doing.
The illustrations should really catch the eye of the
viewer. They should be opening the next page with curiosity and interest! Use
unexpected poses and figure compositions. Don’t be afraid to cut the figure in
half or make even only a head shot.
Photos are an optional
addition to the portfolio, but they are always a big plus. By having photos of
the completed garments you will show the viewers that you not only have the
ideas but also the skills to execute them. Go for professional-looking photos,
don’t just shoot with your phone camera and hope for good results. If you know
a photographer- asks him to help you or hire someone who knows what they’re
doing.
One of the common mistakes is to take pictures of the designs in your room,
with you/your best friend wearing them. This simply screams amateur. Don’t do
it! Don’t ever add photos to your portfolio that Vogue or Marie Claire wouldn’t
be excited to publish.
You can buy or create a beautiful portfolio file and
just put all the pages in it. Usually, less is more, so opt-in for classic, stylish
fonts and colors. Many aspiring designers make the mistake to over design their portfolio. It’s awesome that you’re that creative, but
remember that good taste and balance are what the viewer is seeking.
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