Motivation to go with Fashion Designing.

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Designer at Calvin Klein

New York,

Hi Everyone,

Fashion Design is definitely a tough and competitive field, but it's also really creative and exciting. I would encourage you to explore it if you're passionate about it!

My personal motivations for getting into this business were mainly my love for drawing and the fact that I loved clothes. I always had very particular ideas about what I wanted to wear-- sometimes I couldn't find clothes I liked, so I would design my own and convince my mom or grandmother to sew them for me. Eventually I decided to study fashion and make a career out of it. It's pretty a pretty unique field because it's both a business and an art, which was really appealing to me.

Now that I'm a few years into my career, I still love what I do. I get to sketch every day, see my ideas come to life on the runway, and I get to travel to interesting places like Hong Kong, Paris and London. I even get to go shopping for work to find ideas and inspiration-- and I get paid to do it!

The downside of the industry is that it's very competitive and starting out you don't always get paid a lot. And since the industry is concentrated largely in New York and Los Angeles (as well as other cities overseas), there are fewer job options in some US cities. They definitely exist, but can be harder to find, so you might have to be a little flexible on where you're willing to live.

If you're on the fence about committing to studying fashion, I would suggest taking an evening or weekend class from a local art school that offers intro fashion design classes and see how you like it. Or sign up for a sewing lesson. When you get to high school or college, it's also worth trying out an internship with an apparel company-- it will give you a great sense of the day to day role of a designer.

Hope that helps!!

Best, Lindsay