Fashion Design Students - It’s hard for many creative, talented
and fashion savvy student designers to get their work noticed in the fashion
industry. All their hard work of studying fashion design (any
discipline) seems to be quite slim after completing their Further and Higher Education to aspire to be designers. The fashion industry to me seems to be
a very ‘clicky’ or in other words a “who you know” industry and well if you don’t
know anyone – it can be a tricky business to get into.
I have studied journalism (other side of the coin) at West London University and went on to intern at fashion magazines and PR companies which
later on lead me to completing a journalism training course based in Tottenham
– which was fabulous.
However, I still found it difficult to get into the fashion media
industry and now that I am almost 30 years old I have started my own venture as I realised that I can’t wait on something that may or may not happen. I've learnt from entrepreneurs such as Oprah Winfrey, Ozwald Boateng – African Fashion Designer and Jacqueline Gold - Ann Summers Chief Exec that “you have to
make things happen for yourself” and make sure that you “love what you do”.
Back to Fashion Design Students - I had noticed there is a lack of
diversity in the fashion design industry as a whole when it comes to BAME groups (Black,
Asian and Minority Ethnic Groups) in regards to their own unique designs being showcased.
To my knowledge the high-fashion and high-street fashion industry
have captured a lot of inspired designs that originate from other parts of the
world i.e. Asia and Africa. Yet, the BAME groups
are an untapped market considering they make up a good percentage of the
population in the UK and are influential cultures when it comes to music and
food but yet there is a lack of representation when its comes to BAME groups breaking into the world of fashion after education.
The only representation I am aware of is at
specified events such as Africa Fashion Week (London) which is marginalized – set aside
from mainstream fashion events i.e. London Fashion Week, London Fashion Weekend and etc.
After all, didn't the London 2012 Olympics showcase how Diverse Britain has become? Yes - therefore this should be showcased in the fashion designer
industry too. Furthermore, it is the fashion students to me that are the future
designers who are also consumers and like everyone else are dictated to by the
fashion industry as passive purchasers in regards to what the seasonal trends are which subconsciously is telling us what to buy.
It is time for us to think about how we can make
things happen for ourselves i.e. setting up your own business and for you
Fashion Design Students to show and let the industry know who the real trendsetters are.
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