Fashion compliments our lifestyle which is contemporary to each era with new trends and styles. It’s all about creativity, style, designing, colours, attitude etc. Fashion designing is an art and science both which creates clothing and other lifestyle accessories. We are using word science for this field because the designers need to know the techniques behind drafting and designing garments.

Fashion designing is one of the most glamorous, stylish, lucrative, appealing, entertaining and exciting field of work and promise fame, success and a high pay package for the talented people. Fashion designers use their creativity and sense of styling for designing various garments, footwear and other accessories by using various fabrics and techniques to create work of art. The field of Fashion Design is divided into three main branches Garment design, Leather design, Accessory & Jewellery design.

In today’s fashionable era fashion designing is divided into two basic categories: Haute couture and ready-to-wear. The haute couture, collection of clothes and accessories is for certain customers only and ready-to-wear collections are standard sized for the large number of people.

To work as a designer one should have an artistic and creative outlook. They should be good in drawing and in sketches with some special skills and knowledge for combining colours, tones and shades. A designer should have some knowledge and experience of tailoring i.e. cutting, draping, sewing etc. A person who practices this art is called a fashion designer.

Career Prospects
There are many opportunities for Fashion designing students at the national and international level. They find opportunities according to their specializations in Fashion houses, export houses, Textile businesses, garment manufacturing companies, government handlooms, textiles manufacturers and in the film and TV industry also.

Educational Requirements
Degrees, diplomas and certificate in full-time and part time courses are available in the field of fashion designing. Students usually take up these courses after their 10+2 level. Subjects like drawing, painting, home science and computer graphics act as the base of fashion designing courses. Fashion designing courses may include fashion drawing, 3-D design, color theory, textiles, computer-aided design, fashion business and portfolio presentation.

Universities and Courses for Fashion Designing
London, Paris, Milan, New York these cities are famous for their fashion, fashion designers, fashion houses as well as for their fashion learning institutes among students.

The London College of Fashion is famous for their courses in footwear designing, costume design, fashion photography, fashion journalism,etc.

The Academy of Art University in US offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in Fashion Design, Knitwear Design, Textile Design, Fashion Journalism, Fashion Styling, Merchandising or Visual Merchandising.

Bunka Fashion College at Tokyo in Japan is well-known for their Japanese designs. This college offers Creative Design Advanced Diploma courses, Fashion Directing courses, Fashion Media and Fashion Retail Management courses.

Parsons, The New School for Design at New York in USA offers courses like Bachelor ad Masters of Fine Arts , BA & MSc in Design in technology, Certificate in Design Business, Associate in Applied Science degrees in Fashion Design, Fashion Marketing, etc.

Shenkar College of Engineering and Design at Ramat-Gan in Israel offers courses of Fashion Designing, Textile designing, Jewelry Designing, etc.

Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Antwerp in Belgium is known for its courses in graphic design, photography, jewelry design, ceramic arts and Fashion design.

Famous Fashion Designing Houses and Personalities
There are many designers who have become national and international celebrities of fashion industry all over the world. Some of the famous personalties are:

Miuccia Prada: She is a famous Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. She has opened a powerhouse with her husband includes international labels such as Azzedine Alaia, Fendi, Helmut Lang, and Jill Sander.

Calvin Klein: He is an American Fashion designer. ‘Calvin Klein Inc.’, his fashion house is a fashion line into a virtual empire, designing everything from expensive clothing to accessories.

Donatella Versace: She is an Italian fashion designer. She is the chief designer and the vice president of Versace group.

Ritu Kumar: She is well known as ‘the empress of Indian haute couture’.

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel: She was a Franch designer and remembered for the classic suit and perfume No. 5.

Betsey Johnson: She is an American fashion designer best known for her feminine and whimsical designs. Her collection includes bags, scarves and accessories.

Funding and Scholarships
Fashion Scholarships
Scholarships in Fashion
Vice-Chancellor Scholarships for International Students in UK, 2014/15
Undergraduate and Postgraduate International Scholarships at University of Brighton in UK, 2014
International Merit Scholarships at University of Gloucestershire in UK, 2014

Ghosia Tabassum