Fashion Design and Merchandising Go Hand in Hand

A career working in fashion design isn't the only option for people who are keen to work in the fashion industry. Indeed, while there are many who aspire to be designers, the chance to become well known and have one's designs succeed on a wide scale probably only comes to a small percentage of them. On the other hand, fashion careers extend not just to design but also to business. A person interested in the industry, but perhaps with fewer design skills than others, can still pursue a career in merchandising.

Many fashion design institutions have changed from just teaching things like textiles, patterning, the history of fashion, and so on, and now offer courses in merchandising as well, recognizing that it's just as crucial a discipline. The very names of the schools, in fact, often indicate just how seriously they take this side of the business. The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles is one of those, as is The Institute of Fashion Design and Marketing in Florence, Italy. Fashion programs are frequently partnered with business programs in design schools.

Do you feel that by concentrating on the merchandising side of fashion you'll lose some of the prestige that normally attends a career in fashion designing? Your name might not be as well known, but that's true of the majority of people who go into fashion design, whether they are actual designers or not. But you could still find yourself attending many of the yearly shows where the major collections are presented, as you watch for trends and help make plans for the future. And you'll need to be as knowledgeable about the industry and as involved as any fashion designer. Maybe even more so.

If you chart a fashion merchandising course rather than one that takes you into actual design, you may end up having more involvement with people than if you had become a designer and spent most of your time doing the fashion design in a studio. Between studying the developing fashion trends in society, planning the publicity, and coordinating the design and marketing efforts of a studio, you could find yourself with an exciting career in the fashion industry.

Related topics about fashion design
Design School: More Than Fashion
There are many instances of this sort of design school. For example, take Parsons The New School for Design, in New York. This institution is a venerable academy, having been established in 1906.

Fascinating Facts on Fashion Designers
The same sort of recognition has gradually come to black Americans in the fashion industry as well. Fashion designers like Tracy Reese and Patrick Robinson, both of whom have fashion degrees from Parsons School of Design, have achieved considerable success. Reese has two women's designer labels that have been selling at upscale stores in New York and elsewhere for over a decade.

Fashion Schools and Haute Couture
In the world of fashion design and fashion schools, one of the most interesting terms thrown around is the phrase "haute couture." Most people understand it in one particular way, and don't realize that its original and more legal meaning is something rather different. The general understanding among many of those with a career in fashion design is that the phrase simply refers to high fashion.