How to become a fashion designer at 15? * Step-By-Step Guide* - TheHighSchooler (2024)

Creativity bug can bite you at any age. And for all those creative individuals out there, the vent-outs of different types are available. Some love to paint, others are into pottery.

Among such people are the fashion designers who put their creative minds to work and yield statement-making designs. The fashion industry stands at some trillion dollars and is likely to grow at the rate of approx. 6%. Thus, not only does it satiate the creative streak, but also can it help have financial stability.

The sooner you start, the more money you will end up with during the golden years. So, here we bring you a step-by-step guide on how to become a fashion designer as early as the age of 15.

How to become a fashion designer during high school years?

1. Identify your talent and take the correct education to upskill it

To become a professional fashion designer, you need to be well-versed with your skills. Your ability to identify forms, colors, patterns, and eye for detail can ring a bell in your mind and may introduce you to your in-borne talent.

The next obvious step is to look for resources that can help you grow your talent into a systematic skill. A few steps worth taking at this stage are:

• Soak the history of fashion: Doing research helps everywhere including in the field of fashion designing. The young brains with a panache for fashion designing can do their bit of research by reading about how it all started. They can identify the fashion eras and understand the patterns of trends.
• Learn technicalities: Know all about fabrics, embellishments, the seasoning process, and various enhancement techniques that are usually employed to make fabric designing-ready. Apart from fabrics, the learners can also acquaint themselves with stitching techniques, embroidery skills, etc. These can help bring the design ideas into form.
• Refer to books and blogs: Some students can take fashion designing as a homeschool elective. For those self-learners, the books and fashion designing blogs offer the required learning resource. If not a homeschooler, you can search for the relevant courses possible to do as a high school internship.
• Join fashion designing courses: You can do another round of research on high schools and colleges where fashion designing courses like diploma or vocational training programs are available. The students can do those courses and have relevant education to add to their resume, should they aim to work for fashion houses.
• Acquaint yourself with fashion internship programs: At the high school level, you can join fashion internship programs offered by reputed labels. These internship programs provide you with correct exposure and train you in an industry-relevant manner. You may get to understand both the business and the creative side of the fashion designing work. Understanding the business models of various scales and types become easier by joining these internship programs too.

2. Cataloguing

Contemporary, modern, traditional, fusion – there are several types of fashion ideas floating in the market space and all have a sizeable customer base.

Once you identify the fashion designing talent in you, next you can do is to get hold of specialization programs available in the field. You can pick a style of yours and make it your brand’s identity. Based on the style chosen, you experiment with the colors and cuts and prepare the catalog.

It is also important to pick the theme or styling and express through designs how you want to use fashion as a force to reckon with.

Styling up is not limited to apparels only. You can also take interest in shoes and accessories and get the top to bottom look designed for the clients.

3. Collecting professional tools

Once you have done the designing and visualizing part, you need to convert ideas into presentable forms.

For this step, the aspiring fashion designers should have a complete set of tools such as scissors, tape measure, tailor chalk, mannequins, sewing machines, pearl headpins, etc.

Among these, the sewing machine, is the biggest investment, after the place of work, of course. Here is a quick guide to selecting the sewing machine for fashion designing.

4. Work as an intern with an established designer

Nothing works better than the mentorship of an expert designer who is already in the field.

Their experience and exposure to the industry can help you enrich your knowledge and expand your horizons. You will learn a great deal about the pressures and challenges and also the marvels the fashion designing profession brings along.

Also, professional designers can tell you about the areas of improvement and help you attain fluency in your skill.

5. Organize an exhibition or a fashion show

Fashion designing beginners can showcase their skills by putting their work on display through an exhibition or a fashion show. You can participate in the high school’s event where the community and the fashion industry contingents can be invited to see your collection.

Choose the theme of the fashion show or collection and weave a story around it to make the show interesting and relevant to all. The show organization can be done for meeting the philanthropic objectives; a few of the tips to put up a successful student fashion show can certainly help.

6. Decide the future route – independent business or a job

A fashion show and your portfolio form the base for ensuing a career in the designing field. The future course depends upon your risk appetite and entrepreneurial skills. If you want an establishment to cushion your career, you can join fashion houses or companies where fashion designers are required.

This may not work for the youngsters who want to be more experimental in approach, or want more creative freedom. If you belong to this school of thought, you can think of starting an independent venture.

At the age of 15 or a very young age, you may start as a fashion designer by following an informal route. You can spread the word about it among family and friends at high school gatherings, birthday parties, or other social occasions. Also, you may start an Instagram page of yours and use social media to garner a fan following.

Gradually, when the design picks up, you can get your label registered and start a full-fledged business as an LLC, partnership, or corporation.

7. Business registration process for a teenager

For the business holders below 18 years, the parents can do the legal registration of the business on their behalf. They can be on the board of directors and participate in executive matters of the business. When required to sign contracts, they can appoint the authorized signatory.

Apart from fulfilling the registration process requirements, the place of business also needs consideration. You need to refer to the guidelines of your state about starting a business at home.

Usually, students at the age of 15 prefer to take baby steps and start a small business where they are supported by the staff size of less than 20 people.

Depending upon the availability of people, place, and resources, the young entrepreneurs can go for the bigger set-ups too, but with the help of parents or legal guardians. You can know more about the requirements here.

Wrapping up,

Fashion designing at the age of 15 years can be a lot of fun and comes with responsibilities too. Inspire the self and others with your success story in the fashion designing business and how you found your passion for it at a young age.

There are other careers, too, like community service or becoming a musician in teenage years, which we will be covering in coming posts. Keep following the space for exploring new opportunities for teenagers or high schoolers.

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