Fashion Design

CAREERS IN ART: Fashion Design

A fashion designer is a clothing designer who is responsible for creating the vision, design, and final dress for women and men. They usually create dresses, skirts, gowns, and blouses after outlining a vision for the design and materials.

Fashion design is generally considered to have started in the 19th century with Charles Frederick Worth who was the first designer to have his label sewn into the garments that he created. Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled mostly by anonymous seamstresses.

Fashion designers may work full-time for one fashion house as in-house designers. Freelance designers work for themselves, selling their designs to fashion houses, directly to shops, or to clothing manufacturers.Designers may work alone or as part of a team.

TYPES OF FASHION

HAUTE COUTUREUntil the 1950s, fashion was predominately designed and manufactured on a made-to-measure basis for a specific client.READY TO WEARClothes are made in small quantities to guarantee exclusivity.MASS MARKETReady-to-wear garments using trends set by the famous names in fashion.

Annual wages for salaried fashion designers in 2008 ranged from $32,150 to $124,780. The median wage was $61,160.

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