studies orientation

[mickawes]

Re: studies orientation



Hi Seiji, and everyone else

Ive been lurking around here since the beginning, coming from SuperFuture. This topic is one which has struck a chord with me because I feel like im in a similar position to Seiji. I am a recent business graduate who is now searching for a way to learn more about the fashion world with the ultimate goal of creating my own garment line. I have the same aims as Seiji, but a little further along.

To Seiji I would give the following advice:

[*]If you are studying business for sure, make sure you complete your degree. If your fashion dreams fall through, you will have a backup to ensure a comfortable life, and with the experience of creating your own line you will have an advantage over many applying for the same position. Also, all the best classes are usually offered later. [*]In university, the most beneficial class I took was on Entrepreneurship. I highly recommend it. Marketing was quite useful to me as well. If you want to study business in regards to fashion, many fashion institutes have emphases on the business side of fashion. [*]Get a public library card, and utilize your university library to its fullest. This way you can test the books and find the ones which are most useful to you. In uni libraries, it is also possible to rent text books from other majors, such as fashion design, textiles, and supply chain management. [*]Get a part time job at a boutique. A friend of mine worked at a Paul Smith boutique and, aside from great employee discounts, he met a lot of contacts and was given great training which taught him about the merchandise. You said you are located in Paris and possibly Tokyo, both of which are ideal for such a job! [*]Buy a sketchbook and record your ideas and thoughts now! Theres no reason not to. [/list]

Those are the things which have helped me most. My next step is to either get a job in fashion, hopefully in sourcing or production, or to go back to school and learn the basics of fashion design and construction. So far everything ive learned has been either self taught or theoretical knowledge.



Good luck!

[monster]

Dear SZ members,

bumping this ancient thread with, maybe, quite a naive question, but still I dare to bring it up here, since I was reading the forum for several years and have a strong confidence with our community's knowledge and responsiveness. Though I have made some google searches beforehand I still expect to get some (and maybe the best) feedback here.

So, I'm in my late twenties, I have a degree in sinology and working in foreign trades for six years, but looking back at my life I have a strong feeling that the path I chose once wasn't quite the right one. Along with it I came to the conclusion that clothing design and fashion in a wide meaning of this word could be the sphere I would like to be engaged in in the future. Since I don't have any formal knowledge in clothes' making\design I assume it would be right to enter a fashion school to get some. Living in Asia I would like to move to Tokyo I visited several times before and enter Bunka college for two years studying. I speak some very-basic Japanese but far from a fluent one and learning the language now. I also have some savings I'm going to invest into such an education but, again, rather limited. In a perfect world I would like to stay in Japan and find a work in a Japanese or a non-Japanese, but represented in Japan, fashion house. So, maybe these all sound like some kind of daydreaming but I would still like to have some feedback from more experienced persons, who, I know, visiting the forum and, maybe, even studying\studied in Bunka, about just, should I go on with this or should I bury the idea.

I will appreciate any feedback, tips or admonitions. I'm sorry if I ask the question in a wrong way or in a wrong place, but SZ was the first place came to my mind to ask for advice.

Thanks!

[ProfMonnitoff]

It's definitely feasible, but please be aware that the fashion industry, particularly on the design side, is plagued by unpaid or very poorly paid jobs, work hours that will cause burnout in no time, and just generally isn't a very pleasant place to be working unless you can't see yourself doing any other career. This relentless pace getting to people like Raf isn't just a problem at the top of the food chain, it's also felt everywhere else.

Also from what I understand Bunka requires its students to be fluent or nearly fluent in Japanese, although I heard a while ago that they were planning to add an option for students without those language skills, not sure if that ever turned into anything though.

[monster]

Dear ProfMonnitoff, thank you very much for your kind reply and your warnings about the whole thing. Well, I'm quite sure that your words are undoubtedly accurate, cos I have some friends who dropped their fashion-oriented studying\work because of the pressure or just lack of persistence. But one never knows for sure unless trying by himself, and I find the process of getting this subjective experience to be the most interesting part of, well, the whole life. Not going to step into philosophical sphere here and going back to the topic I'm just trying to figure out some possibilities and options here and there, learning some new stuff in the process, just like I've always wanted to study Japanese, but never had enough motivation to do so, and even if this all are going to be in vain, it's still very valuable to get some new knowledge and, maybe, make a couple of new friends. All in all, thanks again for your reply. Cheers!

[ProfMonnitoff]

I absolutely understand, I'm heading down the same route (but at St Martins) after finding my previous career deeply dissatisfying. It's a mixed bag, I love my studies/work, there are some super interesting people to meet (but even more airheads), however some days I just want my predictable upper middle class income/life back.

[clay]

IMO do not exclusively study fashion now. Study business mainly and fashion minorly. That way you can start your own business or when you work for someone else you know how to take what is in front of you and geer it towards yourself to either start a business or help you move up in your career.

[TriggerDiscipline]

what is the basis for this advice?

[Ahimsa]

IMO do not exclusively study fashion now. Study business mainly and fashion minorly. That way you can start your own business or when you work for someone else you know how to take what is in front of you and geer it towards yourself to either start a business or help you move up in your career.

The business approach is what has ruined creativity in fashion. I disagree entirely with this idea.

[AVerdantShore]

The business approach is what has ruined creativity in fashion. I disagree entirely with this idea.

I do hear that and it's much to my dismay that that is how the industry operates, but I'd have to second the idea of getting a business degree--if I had one, I'm sure I'd be much smarter and precise about what it is that I do, instead of channeling all of my time, money, blood, sweat and tears into something that is just a labor of love and barely puts food on my table. You can romance that side of fashion all you want, but at the end of the day, it's a money making machine and that tends to strip the magic away from it.

[TriggerDiscipline]

did you get a degree in fashion design or something similar?

[Ahimsa]

I do hear that and it's much to my dismay that that is how the industry operates, but I'd have to second the idea of getting a business degree--if I had one, I'm sure I'd be much smarter and precise about what it is that I do, instead of channeling all of my time, money, blood, sweat and tears into something that is just a labor of love and barely puts food on my table. You can romance that side of fashion all you want, but at the end of the day, it's a money making machine and that tends to strip the magic away from it.

I wouldn't recommend getting a fashion degree either. Both are like to put one in debt. Interning is the quickest way to learn how things actually work in fashion. Apprenticing would be perfect, should one be able to find such a mentor.

Business in fashion may be completely different than what you may think, it's a very different game. I'm constantly dealing with investor's/business people who piss their money away on the silliest things because they have no idea what's paramount in a fashion business. They try to apply other industry models to them and it just doesn't work.

Making a good product doesn't mean much in fashion business unfortunately, it's a lot to do with the zeitgeist. Getting a celebrity to wear it also helps to do the job.

[tornaremavencer]

Ahimsa, so would you advise neither a fashion school nor a business school? How should then one acquire the skills necessary to get into a good internship?

[Ahimsa]

Ahimsa, so would you advise neither a fashion school nor a business school? How should then one acquire the skills necessary to get into a good internship?

I wouldn't advise either. It's the path that gets you there is what works best. My degree had no use in my hiring, it was purely my internships, knowledge, and location. Having a degree is nice and all, but it only alludes to intellect, as opposed to ensuring it. Hustle as hard as you can wherever you can. Just don't stop. Neither of these degrees will teach you all you need to know or will guarantee you anything.

(Please note: I am not from a wealthy family. I have been supporting myself in NYC)

[saniityhd]

Since this thread isnt getting too many posts, new subjects might be of interest I suppose :-)
I have been going to a class to learn how to make garments for 3 months and it has been so giving and inspiring. I really want to keep going until I can create stuff on my own and start learning from myself.
Since money is quite an issue for me, since I need to save up the money for everything I want/need to do, making decisions on where I want to study etc is quite difficult.
I live in Sweden at the moment and of course there are some schools around here which would be great to learn how to make clothes, but they all seem too fashion-oriented for me. Of course that seems to be the way every school goes. But I would just want a good school where the focus is on the best way to create a lasting garment and why to do it.

Is it better in this case to buy materials to create stuff myself and learn via that or is it that important to go to a respected fashion-school??
Appreciate all the help.

[TriggerDiscipline]

Having a degree is nice and all, but it only alludes to intellect, as opposed to ensuring it.

this is not really true, it really depends on the school you go to and their curriculum's reputation.