Types of fashion
The garments produced by clothing manufacturers fall into three main categories, although these may be split up into additional, more specific categories:
Haute couture
Until the 1950s, fashion clothing was predominately designed and manufactured on a made-to-measure or haute couture basis (French for high-fashion), with each garment being created for a specific client. A couture garment is made to order for an individual customer, and is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric, sewn with extreme attention to detail and finish, often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Look and fit take priority over the cost of materials and the time it takes to make.
Ready-to-wear
Ready-to-wear clothes are a cross between haute couture and mass market. They are not made for individual customers, but great care is taken in the choice and cut of the fabric. Clothes are made in small quantities to guarantee exclusivity, so they are rather expensive. Ready-to-wear collections are usually presented by fashion houses each season during a period known as Fashion Week. This takes place on a city-wide basis and occurs twice a year.
Mass market
Currently the fashion industry relies more on mass market sales. The mass market caters for a wide range of customers, producing ready-to-wear clothes in large quantities and standard sizes. Inexpensive materials, creatively used, produce affordable fashion. Mass market designers generally adapt the trends set by the famous names in fashion. They often wait around a season to make sure a style is going to catch on before producing their own versions of the original look. In order to save money and time, they use cheaper fabrics and simpler production techniques which can easily be done by machine. The end product can therefore be sold much more cheaply.
There is a type of design called “kutch” design originated from the German word “kitschig” meaning “ugly” or “not aesthetically pleasing.” Kitsch can also refer to “wearing or displaying something that is therefore no longer in fashion.” Often, high-waisted trousers, associated with the 1980s, are considered a “kitsch” fashion statement.
Income
Median annual wages for salaried fashion designers were $61,160 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $42,150 and $87,120. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $32,150, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $124,780.. Median annual earnings were $52,860 (£28,340) in apparel, piece goods, and notions – the industry employing the largest numbers of fashion designers.
Fashion education
There are a number of well known art schools and design schools world wide that offer degrees in fashion design and fashion design technology. Some colleges also offer Masters of Fashion courses. Though it is not a requirement to have a Masters level, it is recommended by those already working in the industry to study at this level. The most notable of design schools in Europe include London College of Fashion, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, University of Westminster and Kingston University in London, Limerick School of Art and Design and the National College of Art and Designin Ireland, Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland, Istituto Marangoni, Domus Academy, Politecnico of Milan, NABA – Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti Milano, Istituto Europeo di Design, University Iuav of Venice in Italy, the Fashion Federation PARIS] European Fashion Accreditationwww.Fashion-Board.com, Antwerp Fashion Academy in Belgium. There is Parsons The New School for Design, Creative Business House, Fashion Institute of Technology and the Pratt Institute in New York City. Elsewhere in the United States there is the Savannah College of Art and Design, Virginia Commonwealth University, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Columbia College Chicago in Chicago. The National Institute of Fashion Technology in India, Shih Chien University in Hong Kong, RMIT University in Melbourne, Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan and the Asian University chain, Raffles College of Design and Commerce, all have reputable fashion design courses.
The only Ivy League University having a Fashion Design undergraduate program is Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. The program is offered by the department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design]. Cornell University also offers the only Ph.D. program in apparel design in the United States. The program is intended to address the needs of academia, industry and research by considering apparel design as an applied science that embraces design, technology, physical sciences, the humanities and social sciences in order to meet the human needs for clothing. There are many universities that offer fashion design throughout the United States. The major incorporating fashion design may have alternative names like Apparel and Textiles or Apparel and Textile Design and may be housed in departments such as Art and Art History or Family and Consumer Studies.
READ ALSO:
ALL ABOUT FASHION (PART 1) – FASHION DESIGN, STRUCTURE, HISTORY
ALL ABOUT FASHION (PART 2) – FASHION STAR SYSTEMS, WORLD FASHION AND THE GLOBAL FASHION INDUSTRY
Source: Wikipedia.com
