When you were younger, did you always know what you wanted do with your life? What was your dream career? For me, the answers to those questions have changed many different times throughout the years of my life. When I was younger I wanted to be teacher and a veterinarian. In high school, I wanted to become some sort of artist, then a representative from FIDM came to my art class to speak with us. This is when I started to become interested in being a buyer in the fashion industry. I love the business aspects of a creative career, I would be using both my left and right parts of my brain. Throughout this introduction I will tell you how the history of fashion and fashion designers relate to my future career in fashion, how it is a part of my personal history, and how it inspires me.
Knowing about the history of fashion and fashion designers relates to my future career in many different ways. Being educated about the history of how fashion has evolved into what it is today is valuable information that one needs to know in order to understand the designer’s inspirations and influences of the time. Fashion has evolved in various ways by a great deal of talented designers. It is important to know how certain techniques and fabrics were used in the past, and how they are reinvented and used in the present and future. To understand the history of fashion designers would be important to know all the aspects of the merchandising process and where it comes from as it relates to history. Certain trends and fashions of the past are important to know because they can be recycled back into a present day trend but modified a bit to keep it relevant with what is becoming trendy for a particular season. If a merchandiser/buyer does not know past, present, and future trends, they will be left with a lot of left over inventory that did not sell, because the strategic window was not at the right timing with the consumer.
Fashion is a part of my personal history because as a child I always had an interest in clothes and colors. Although my mom did my shopping for me as a child, as I got older I developed my own style and instead of being drawn in by the types of brands I liked, I began to take interest in more of the kind of clothing it was, and what was trendy and new at the time. The main reason why I wanted to look fashionable was to look good for myself and give me that kind of confidence I needed when I was younger.
Fashion inspires me in a variety of ways. Understanding its history and past designers inspires me to have my own story being talked about years and years from today. To read and hear about their life starting out in the fashion industry is always inspiring to read. It is a positive influence to learn about stories of struggle and hard work that successful designers in the past went through to be where and who they are today. Starting my career at FIDM with my education is the best decision I made for myself and my future. I am learning many fantastic things I did not even know existed.
This class really has inspired me in many different ways. When I enrolled into this class, I was thinking "A history class?! What am I getting myself into?" But as Rosemary gave the first lecture on our first designer, Charles Fredrick Worth, I started to become so interested in the stories of these designers. This class made me look at fashion a whole new way. I am so focused on the details and the silhouette of the garment when I am out shopping for clothes now. I will never look at clothes the same way. I learned that rules are meant to be broken and you have to be true to yourself in order to make something that other people will love. You have to learn to take hard criticism in order to become a better person and business woman.
