Fashion Illustrators Bring Designs to Life for Stage and Screen

By Karen Lawson
Fashion Design School Review Columnist

Fashion designer Edith Head set the industry standard for fashion design in movies, stage, and television. Her designs appear in more than 1100 movies. In the course of her fifty year career, she was nominated for 35 Academy Awards^® and won eight Oscars^®. But even the masters of the industry have to start with the basics: Ms. Head began her fashion design career as a sketch artist.

Studio Art Background Useful in Fashion Design

Fashion design artists capture the flow and movement of fabric on the human form. Experience with life drawing provides a good foundation for sketching fashion design. Your fashion education program will include instruction in drawing and sketching techniques, life drawing, design principles, color, and texture. You’ll also learn about the characteristics of textiles, and how they appear on the human form.

In addition to manual sketches, today’s fashion designers rely on computer-assisted design programs (CAD). These design programs have improved efficiency and ease of producing fashion designs from start to finish. Make sure you choose a program with a strong emphasis on computer design skills.

Whether by computer or by hand, a background in studio art techniques is essential to a fashion design career. By the time you graduate fashion design school, you will have completed many sketches and acquired a collection of work that can be used in your professional portfolio.

Fashion Design Portfolio Serves as Introduction to Employers

In today’s competitive job market, a strong portfolio is crucial. Your fashion design portfolio represents you to prospective employers; it’s important to represent a range of your most original and intriguing work. Versatility is important in fashion design, particularly if you want to work in the entertainment industry, where fashion for all purposes and historical periods may be needed.

Studio art techniques are the basis of a solid fashion design career. Many fashion design programs provide career counseling and support, and can help you select a program of study that can enhance your career prospects. The portfolio you assemble during these first years will determine how you fare on the job market.

Source

Edith Head Memorial Website

About the Author

Karen Lawson is a freelance writer whose interests include topics in higher education and the humanities. She holds an MA degree in English from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Posted on May 29, 2007 at 03:52 PM