As the fashion industry is constantly evolving, fashion designing aspirants should start a career in an allied fashion field as per their artistic bent of mind. However, there is also a need for the sharp application of technological skills for manufacturing fabrics.
Most aspirants have a perception that the fashion industry offers only one job role, which is of the fashion designer.
However, there is more to it. The fashion industry has varied requirements and the key differentiating points in opting for courses, either Bachelors of Design (BDes) or Bachelors of
Fashion Technology
(BFTech).
P Deiva Sundari, principal, KCG College of Technology, says, “As fashion design is a multidimensional domain and communicates in the form of art, science, technology, students with different interests could be honed to opt for a variety of career opportunities. The urgent need is to teach students the versatility of the industry - from its evolution and the behavioural patterns of fashion, so they can keep track of its current trends. This will enable students to identify and design apparel or fashion products per the societal norms and market requirements.”
BDes Vs BFTech
Although both streams deal with fashion trends, however, Fashion Designing is about crafting new accessories, apparels or stitching a designer dress. It is also about developing visualisation skills for presenting the creative expression of a costume on paper and then converting it into real-life costume designs.
Whereas, Fashion Technology is the technological aspect of textile fibres, yarns for producing quality fabric materials. Both courses lay importance on enhancing creativity and mapping fashion trends with textile production techniques, the basic fashion principles, among students.
“Fashion design is all about understanding the various garment designs, styles and fit that will suit a person as per their demographics, psychographics, lifestyle and functionality. On the other hand, Fashion Technology prepares the students to engineer large-scale manufacturing of garments. Students are also given hands-on experience on rapid prototyping technologies like 3D printing with which highly customizable products can be developed," adds Sundari.
Admission to top colleges
Class XII passed students from any stream, are eligible to apply for these courses. For enrolling in Fashion Technology, it is a must that students have passed Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics subjects. The admission process involves clearing the entrance examination and subsequent Personal Interview. Students can apply for national-level Fashion Design competitive examinations, namely:
- National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)
- National Institute of Design, Design Aptitude Test (NID DAT)
- Undergraduate Common Entrance Examination for Design (UCEED)
- Indian Institute of Crafts and Design (IICD)
- All India Entrance Examination for Design (AIED)
Students can appear for government university-level exam to study the course at their desired varsity. The list includes: National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad, Utkal University of Culture (Bhubaneswar),
State University of Performing and Visual Arts
(Rohtak), Footwear Design and Development Institute (Noida, Patna). Besides these, some pioneer private colleges offering these courses are JD Institute of Fashion Technology and
Pearl Academy
in Delhi,
Symbiosis Institute of Design
, Inter National Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD), MIT Institute of Design in Pune, and
World University of Design
(WUD) in Haryana, K C G College of Technology in Chennai and many others.
Career advancement
After completing the course, a fresher fashion designer is hired as Fashion Consultant, Fashion Illustrator, and Fashion Coordinator. They also have job opportunities in textile designing, to work as Fashion Merchandiser or
Fabric Designer
.
Explaining the hiring trend, Sundari says, "Corporates are preferring to hire skilled and talented BFTech students as Pattern Engineer, Technical Lead (fabric),
Textile Quality Auditor
. Fashion design students are more suitable for roles including Fashion Forecast/Trend Analyst,
Material Designer
, Fashion Revivalist, Colour Trend Expert, Boutique Manager."
With a specialisation degree, students are hired in the jewelry and footwear designing or manufacturing department of related MNCs. Textile Designers are always in demand by retail chains and textile export houses.
"Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” - Saint Francis of Assisi
