The educational spectrum within fashion is as diverse and fascinating as the whole industry. The scope is immense and the options are diverse. One such educational pathway is pursuing an M.Sc. in Fashion Design. Every other resource you find online would be a deep dive into the basics or a touch base on what fashion design is all about; In this article, we are going to elucidate on why you can or should go for pursuing an M. Sc, the skills required and the vast sea of career opportunities you will get to explore. Keep reading further to know more.
What is M.Sc in Fashion Design?
You might be wondering how science or anything remotely close to it can be correlated with something as creative as fashion and design. Here’s how: The course equips you with the skills to work towards the conceptualizing and researching spectrum of the study along with building your creative, critical and practical thinking skills.
“What would I learn from this course?” If this is your question then below is a brief of what your journey would be like:
- The skills to carefully analyze and assess methods
- Computer aided designing
- Everything you need to know about retail merchandising
- The history for fashion and its evolution (from haute couture to casual fashion)
- Design technology and pedagogy of fashion communication
Learning these skill sets can help you land your dream job and even give you the option to choose from various career avenues. As to answer the possible question you may have, why choose this course? Here are a few pointers you can consider:
- Hands – on experience and specialized knowledge
- Collaborating and associating with like – minded peers and industry experts
- The skills for entrepreneurial scope
- Being able to learn more global concepts and build a flair to create your own unique style
A Basic Overview:
Course eligibility: B.Sc or Bachelors in Fashion Design
Duration: 2 Years
Course structure: Mostly semester based
Entrance Exams: TISS NET, CUET PG, BITSAT, IIT JAM, NEST
Average Course Fees: May go up to 5 Lakhs
Expected Salary after graduation: 2-10 Lakhs Per Annum
Career Pathways in Fashion Design with an M.Sc
Fashion designer and stylist are the most prominent and obvious choices that would come across anyone’s mind. Owing to the versatile nature of the industry, let us take a look at career choices transcending a little beyond designing and styling:
1) Fashion Retail Management
A fashion retail manager is responsible for managing and overseeing the functioning of a retail enterprise. This also includes sales management, checking inventory, customer service and dealing with clientele and not limited to merchandising.
2) Fashion Product Development
Just as the term suggests, a fashion product developer works towards developing fashion products based on requirements and contracts. This requires the product developer to associate and collaborate with designers, merchandisers, manufacturers to ensure prerequisites and quality.
3) Forecasting Analysis in Fashion
It is quite normal for anyone to wonder what forecasting has to do with fashion; We would say, it has a lot to do with the industry. A forecasting analyst has to keep track of and analyze market trends, new advancements and make reasoned decisions to facilitate quality production.
4)Fashion Technology
This career path is all about the technology – oriented part of the industry. If you are into fashion technology you can explore various avenues such as social media, marketing, app development and coding, media management, e – commerce and much more.
5) Coordinator
Fashion coordinators are professionals who coordinate all aspects relating to fashion events, styling, event management and hiring event managers or PR teams, ensuring that a team is set for ongoing or recurring projects and events and making sure works get done on time effectively with quality control in mind.
6)Fashion Writing/Journalism
Writing and reporting anything to do with the fashion world. Fashion journalists or writers work on print and digital content such as interviews of famous designers, reporting and covering fashion shows and conferences, reporting updates in the fashion world and keeping track of new trends, celebrity fashion and profiles on celebrity stylist. The scope is endless.
Some of the Other Career Options Are:
1) Fashion Educator
2) Personal Stylist or Consultant
3) Fashion Photography
4) Public Relations and Marketing
5) Personal Shopper
6) Illustration and Design
7) Fashion Buyer
The dynamic feature of the industry gives you the scope to branch out within fashion but in various other niches. This helps you build a robust portfolio and gain experiences in different concepts.
Most fields of work may seem rigid offering little to no room to explore and find what works best for you, this is where the creative industry excels and a great example for it is fashion.
Skills you Get to Learn in Fashion Designing
- Effective time management skills and to proactively work with deadlines
- Communication and interpersonal skills, collaborating with various people from different niches
- Creative and critical thinking skills. Coming up with effective solutions whenever required
- Facing challenges that may arise and adapting to a fast – paced work environment
- Staying updated and keeping up with trends as they come
- Learning to play around with colours, patterns and being able to associate clothings with human emotions
- Technical skills to work on various design softwares
- Respecting and appreciating various cultures and not indulging in appropriation
- Learning to set up your fashion business or venture, as aforementioned
- Learning to focus on details that helps enhance a clothing or design
To Sum it Up,
Fashion designing and its various disciplines are fascinating and offer you lucrative career choices.
With the skills you learn from your course, you get to work towards further revolutionizing fashion and creating a path that is your own.
As a student, having a lot of questions in mind and not knowing where to start is a valid state of mind and we are here to help with answers – course details, career scope, the why’s how’s and what’s and all key highlights you need to know for your educational journey. Keep an eye out for this space for information and insights.
Read more about AAFT’s School of Fashion and Design Here.
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