Networking for Aspiring Designers

For budding designers trying to break into the fashion industry—not an easy task by any means—exposure and timing is crucial. Fashion expos, social networking, and word-of-mouth advertising are just a few of the things that must be taken advantage of. If a designer is especially fortunate, he or she may have the opportunity to showcase his or her work in a professional show. This happens to be the case of some local student designers I spoke to. Thanks to a generous grant, ten fashion students at Syracuse University have the opportunity to go to get their work presented at a professional runway show in New York City. I can only imagine the excitement…and tension. That’s ten out of forty-five students, and everyone wants to go! “It’s like the pink elephant in the room,” said one student, “everyone knows about it, but nobody wants to say anything.”

Of course this opportunity would be a dream come true for any aspiring designer. And why shouldn’t it? It’s an opportunity to advertise to all the right people. Take a look at these facts from NYC’s Fashion Week, and these are just a few benefits:
• More than 60 shows take place in Bryant Park.
• The average show length is 17 minutes.
• About 14,000 people attend the shows daily.
• More than 100,000 people will pass through over the eight-day period.
• More than 3,000 members of the press are registered.
• Five hundred volunteers will devote more than 4,000 hours of help during Fashion Week. [Daily News, 2007]

The Fashion Industry can be such a hard field to break into. Fashion itself is very subjective and there’s already so much out there in the market, a designer really has to have a unique style to set his or herself apart. But even with a good style, networking is key! It’s important for aspiring designers to take advantage of opportunities whenever and wherever they can. It can pay off in very big and unexpected ways!