Is Fashion Your Passion? Make Fashion Your Career

Do you live and breathe fashion? Would a career in the fashion industry suit your style and aspirations?

For fashion enthusiasts, a career in fashion might be the ideal job; an opportunity to influence society and change the way a nation dresses for the day and evening. Read on to see which branch of the fashion industry might be right for you.

Fashion careers are essentially of two types - those in fashion design and those in the sales and marketing side of the industry (fashion merchandising). You can further customize your specialty by choosing to focus on a particular style or kind of garment.

Other fashion niche opportunities include costume design for TV, film and theater productions; personal stylist positions with high-end department stores and private clients, fashion photography; and modeling work for everything from newspapers ads to strutting the catwalk in Milan or Paris.

But to turn your passion for fashion into a lucrative career you need more than just the ideas and enthusiasm; you need technical and industry expertise to turn your creative energies into saleable apparel.

One thing fashion careers share, aside from being a rewarding outlet for your creative talents, is their starting point - fashion school. A fashion design education should prepare you for a career in the fashion industry, even if you find yourself working in a supporting role as you start out in the business.

Entry to a fashion career starts with an innate ability to create unique and functional clothing styles and effectively communicate them on paper.

If you decide to study for a career in fashion, you'll learn to design clothing and accessories or the fabrics and materials they're made of.

It is essential that anyone interested in a career in the fashion sector should attend an accredited fashion schooling program which should address the industry fundamentals including design, drawing, textiles, sewing, and manufacturing. This education will be the core of your training on which you can lay the groundwork for experience.

Experience is ultimately the key.

Following school (or even during), it's imperative that you start with an internship or apprenticeship with an established design house. Building experience such as this can often jump start your fashion career and allow you to begin working on independent projects.

For those who have the ability, drive, and determination, a fashion career can be an amazing journey filled with success, self-satisfaction and great clothes. But don't let it ever be said that a fashion career does not require a significant amount of hard work and a vast amount of skill.