Fashion

Got A Passion For Fashion? 12 Courses That Can Lead You To A Career In The Industry

Naina Sharma  |  Mar 4, 2020
Got A Passion For Fashion? 12 Courses That Can Lead You To A Career In The Industry

Have you always been the fashion maven of your gang? Are you that friend who can never stop herself from giving styling tips? Do you enjoy reading fashion magazines more than anything else? Is Instagram your bae for all the fashion therapy it gives you for free? If the answer to the questions above is a big ‘yes’, then fashion is probably more than just a passion for you. So why not consider turning your love for fashion into a career!

The smashing success fashion couturiers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Anita Dongre and Masaba Gupta have had in their careers–has been an inspiration to many to pursue a career in the fashion industry. If they can, so can you! Think about it–Sabyasachi was just like anyone of you when he graduated from NIFT in 1999 and today his net worth is in millions. 

Fun fact: Did you know popular designer Masaba Gupta gave up tennis and then tried her hand at music at a school in Acton Town, London? And later on, she joined Premlila Vithaldas Polytechnic SNDT Women’s University in Mumbai. She was quick to grab on a Lakme Fashion Week opportunity that came her way and there has been no stopping her ever since. 

Motivated much? We have compiled a list of all the career options that you can explore if fashion is your calling.

                                                                       Also Read: Fashion Quiz with answers

Fashion Designing

Many dream of becoming fashion designers but, let me tell you, it is more than just ideating looks and sketching. You are required to create clothing from scratch. It involves studying different silhouettes, their textures, fall, durability, and the list goes on. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? As a fashion designer, you should also be able to grasp trends and create garments, apparel and accessories accordingly. 

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Top Colleges

For career options in fashion designing, you need to start by taking an entrance exam. Each university has its own entrance exam. You can learn more about the exam from the university prospectus or website.

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), multiple locations 
Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune
Indian School of Design and Innovation, Mumbai
MAEER’s MIT Institute of Design, Pune

Fashion degree courses you can pursue:

B.Sc Fashion Designing
B. Des Fashion Design

Duration: 3-4 years

Career options after fashion designing

There’s a lot of scope after you get degree in fashion designing. You can work for export houses, manufacturing units, branded fashion showrooms, boutiques, or even start your own fashion house.

Textile Designing

Interested in different types of fabric textures? Well, then you can try your hand at textile designing. As a textile designer, you would be responsible for handling fabrics and to look into different methods by which textiles can be designed such as embroidery, prints, patterns and textures.

Ritu Kumar, for example, is one of the biggest names in India who unearthed the lost textile crafts of India and created a fashion brand that influenced the rest of the fashion world. The Padma Shree awardee works with fabrics like silk and cotton and creates apparel that is international in their visual appeal but Indian in their make.

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Top Colleges

Amity School Of Fashion Technology, Noida
NIFT, multiple locations

National Institute Of Design (NID), multiple locations

Textile designing courses you can pursue:

B.Sc (Textile Design)

Duration: 3 years

Career options after a degree in textile design

You can either be a textile design entrepreneur, a design consultant or a fabric analyser, someone who ensures that a company’s inventory is up to date and sufficient to maintain any projects a company wants to undertake in future.

Jewellery Designing

If you wish to pursue jewellery designing, you would be required to study precious metals and gems to begin with. And, it doesn’t end there of course. As a jewellery designer, you would be required to test the quality of these stones, cut and polish them and thereby turn them into beautiful pieces of jewellery. Amrita Singh, for example, is a jewellery designer who made it from India to Hollywood and has worked with the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively.

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Top Colleges

NIFT, multiple locations

Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery, New Delhi

Jewelry Design & Technology Institute, Noida

Courses for jewellery designing

BA in Jewellery Design (Hons)

B.Sc in Jewellery Design

Duration: 3 years

Certificate courses in Jewellery Designing, etc.

Career Options In Jewellery Designing

You can work as a jewellery designer with firms and jewellery brands like Tanishq, Amrapali, Melorra or create your own brand of accessories. You can even work in the film and television industry to design accessories for movies and TV shows

Personal Styling

You don’t miss out on checking monthly issues of fashion glossies? And getting paid for dressing up celebrities sounds like the sweetest gig ever to you?  Love how Shaleena Nathani is behind most of Deepika Padukone’s stunning looks? So aspiring stylists, listen up. Sure, being a celeb stylist is a job, but it also involves lots of hard work. A stylist’s typical day could include anything from running around town preparing for red carpets events to working on movie promotions or magazine shoots. Oh and of course juggling a couple of celebrity’s clothes and accessories in between all this. If styling is your calling, here’s how you can start:

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Top Colleges

ISDI School of Design and Innovation

Times and Trends Academy

Courses

ISDI’s Fashion Styling (a 24-week course)

TTA’s Fashion Styling Course 

Other than these, you can also pursue your bachelor’s degree in fashion designing and you will still be eligible to opt for a career in fashion styling.

Career options in personal styling

You can work as an image consultant, personal stylist, fashion editor, photo stylist, wardrobe stylist, design coordinator, personal shopper, celebrity stylist, and makeover stylist with magazines. You can also look for opportunities in Bollywood to style celebrities, styling for commercials, photoshoots, and other related fields also offer ample opportunities. Besides, you can also work independently and get hired on a contractual basis.

Luxury Fashion Buyer

Being a fashion buyer is one of the most sought after careers in fashion. As a fashion buyer, you travel the world, buying stuff from fashion hubs across the world. But behind this glamorous travelling and picking up hot-on-radar pieces, a fashion buyer needs to have certain skills. You’ll need to constantly spot trends, have a strong business sense and be a great communicator. A fine eye for being able to manage basic finance and prices is a plus!

Remember Rachel Green from F.R.I.E.N.D.S? She used to work as a Fashion Buyer for Bloomingdale’s. 

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Top Colleges

Pearl Academy, Rajouri Garden

MKSSS’ School of Fashion Technology

Courses

PG Program in Fashion Business (Marketing and Merchandising)

Post Graduate Program in Fashion Design and Merchandising

Duration: 2 years

Career options in fashion merchandising

A fashion buyer is responsible for sourcing and selecting a range of merchandise to sell in retail outlets. When employed by smaller stores, fashion buyers are typically responsible for buying the entire inventory. When employed by large stores, on the other hand, you’ll work within a team of buyers. You can also become a fashion Researcher or get into fashion marketing.

Fashion Journalist

For many, breaking into the world of fashion journalism is a dream come true. Reviewing various fashion apparels, styles, trends– you can be the one crushing or crashing celeb looks as well as providing insightful recommendations. Interviewing designers, brand managers, and getting free passes to so many fashion shows–what’s not to love about this job? Speaking of fashion journalists, Jasmeen Dugal is one of the most leading ones. 

 

 

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Top Colleges

Bachelor’s degree in any course (particularly in the field of arts), a knack for journalism or probably an internship at one of the fashion studios, brand stores. Our pick:

Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune

Courses

BA Journalism

Mass Communication

Duration: 3 years

Career options for fashion journalists

You can become a fashion writer with newspapers, magazines or digital publications. If you’re good at analysing trends, you can also start your own blog or social media handles that talk about various trends. The best part? It doesn’t require you to have a specialised degree for any kind. All you need to do is be well informed, create an Instagram account, start posting! 

 

 

Fashion Merchandiser

A fashion merchandiser works behind the scenes and plays an integral part in getting the consumer to buy the latest trends a brand is manufacturing. Besides having a sense of style, fashion merchandisers also combine analytical insights, marketing and management skills to ensure the products sold will maximise profit. Merchandisers work closely with buyers and designers and plan the stock a brand needs to have. Reacting to the latest fashion trends along with insights drawn from sales data, they work within a company’s budget to plan and produce products that drives revenue.

Top Colleges

JD Institute of Fashion Technology, Pitampura

Pearl Academy, Rajouri Garden

Galgotias University

Courses

BA In Fashion Merchandising and Production

Duration: 3 years

Career options in fashion merchandising

You can work as a retail buyer, develop buying plans, negotiate with vendors, and order merchandise, including travelling to fashion runway and trade shows to find and purchase the hottest fashions. Or as account manager who oversee key relationships between manufacturers and retail stores. Store manager, visual merchandiser, marketing specialist and merchandise consultant are some of the other job profiles you can explore.

Fashion Technology

If along with your creative prowess, you also have a technical bent of mind then fashion technology is the course you should pursue. Students in fashion technology are taught design production management, fashion merchandising, colour mixing as well as marketing.

Top Colleges

IIFT (Indian Institute Of Fashion Technology), Bareilly

Career Point University, Kota

Courses: Bachelor of Fashion Technology or B.F.Tech. course. Any student who has successfully passed higher secondary school examination is eligible for admission to this course.

Duration: 4 years

Career options in fashion technology

You can work in the handloom sector or with brands manufacturing leather products. You can also work as Fashion Coordinator & Fabric Buyer and Apparel Production Manager with designer labels.

Fashion Photography

Love fashion and photography, why not combine the two and try fashion photography that give you an opportunity to travel to cool locations. All you need is a basic sense of aesthetics and lighting. The best part? A college, course or degree doesn’t play the main role here, however, it’s a big plus. All you need to do is start building a portfolio and the cherry to the cake will be if you start interning with a designer. 

Vikram Bawa, Rid Burman and Dabboo Ratnani are few of the leading fashion photographers of India.

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Top Colleges

Pearl Academy, New Delhi

Course

Certificate in Contemporary Photography

Duration: 11 months

Fashion Show Coordinator

If a chunk of your teenage years were spent reading about fashion shows and you have a major inclination towards being into event organisation, then try getting into fashion show coordination. Apart from the formal courses, an internship plays a major role in building this role.

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Top Colleges

College Of Non-Conventional Vocational Courses For Women

Course

Bachelor in Dress Making and Fashion Coordination

Duration: 3 years

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Do I need to have a graduation degree in hand to start interning at Fashion Designing firms?

A: While it is recommended that you should have a BA degree from a prestigious institute, it isn’t quite necessary. The most important thing you need to do is to maintain a portfolio with your designs. 

Q: How should I prepare after after calss 12 if I am interested in pursuing fashion designing?

A: It will be most advisable that you opt for Arts stream in 11th and 12th standard since that will give you more time to prepare for NIFT Entrance Exams. 

Q: What are the career options closest to fashion designing?

A: Fashion Styling and Textile Designing are the closet career choices to designing and to build a career in fashion field. While the former requires you to put together a look, the scope of the latter involves working on the texture of different fabrics and silhouettes as explained in detail above.

Featured image: Shutterstock

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