Wes Mckinley

Designer Fashion Trends – Fall, Winter 2011 Must Have Colors

admin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:05:47 +0000

Now that summer is almost over the fashion world has already transitioned into the fall/winter season. One of the first things that buyers, magazine editors, and other fashion insiders always notice during runway shows is the use of color. More importantly, which colors are in and which ones are out?

How to Choose the Right Hue

One of the main color trends for the autumn/winter 2011 season is the use of actual color. Blacks and grays reigned supreme in previous years but this time, bright hues are being used and it isn’t even spring! Look for combinations of red, green, and yellow paired with neutral tones so the color really pops. For example, Anna Sui used shades of dark green and dark red but paired them with natural colors in order to add balance.

Camel is another color which is getting a lot of love this season because it’s neutral yet it comes in so many different and versatile shades (which is always a style plus). Camel can be hard to wear head to toe so don’t be afraid to add punches of other fall colors such as copper and mahogany, as well. The runways of Chloe illustrated this with long, camel-colored coats and hazel pants. Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, and Prada also demonstrated this trend beautifully.

The military trend has always been quite popular but this season, military hues (navy, khaki, and green) will be found all over the place. Also be on the lookout for military-style clothing to be paired with sexy accessories which add flair. Burberry Prorsum displayed this trend by combining strong, navy military blazers with sexy over-the-knee boots.

Cowboy Style

admin — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 03:18:23 +0000

The basic cowboy style consists of a colored pastel or chequered long-sleeved shirt, jeans, boots, big rodeo buckle and a cowboy hat. This style has now-a-days become more of a fashion statement with designers such as Gucci and Versace designing this ‘cowboy look’.

The real cowboys wear this because it suits their job. Ranch hands typically wear durable long sleeved cotton shirt, sometimes worn with a vest, with a worn over pair of Wrangler jeans and Tony Lama Leather Boots. They also wear chaps which is a leather garment worn from the belt downward surrounding the legs to protect them from prickly bushes and other wild elements.

The famous Rhinestone Cowboy look is mainly worn on social occasions with blue jeans, boots and a rhinestone studded shirt.

The ensemble of a cowboy look:

Western shirt

Cowboys work on the ranch in these shirts, ride horses and carry an image of the tough and the rugged. The essentials of a true western shirt are snap buttons, an accented line of piping going across the chest. The material typically used is flannel.

Cowboy Boots

These are extremely fashionable and look good on men when worn casually with tight jeans.

Jeans

Blue jeans in almost all designer fashions, including Gucci, Versace, Wrangler and Levis must fit tight and snug for a true cowboy look.

A Hat

Although a necessity at one time, is now considered more of an accessory to complete the western look. The more popular brands in hats are Roper, Resistor and Wrangler.

Although Wrangler continues to be the favourite, there are several other brands like Roper and Panhandler Slim, Levi’s Circle T, Double D and Lawman that cover a fair share of the market. The trends keep changing and styles come and go according to the current influence; but what has been largely noticed is that country and western have gone back to the more traditional look.

Fashion Designer Education

admin — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 22:18:08 +0000

Fashion designer school is for people that have a passion or extreme interest in all things fashion. While putting together great outfits for friends has always been something you’ve liked to do on the side, you can do it for a living. Creating clothing and accessory designs just comes naturally to some people, and when you attend classes to really refine your skills you’ll be impressed not only with how much you can learn, but how much you can be paid to do the things that you love to do! While designing clothes and even putting together patterns and outfits for yourself and your friends may be a great hobby, it can be an even better job if you go to school and learn how to do it all the right way so that you can come across creative and professional to prospective clients.

Fashion designers will be taught to sketch their ideas, draw and cut patterns, create simple garments, fit and modify finished garments, arrange showings for press as well as buyers, compare merchandise to that of competitors, learn how to keep current, and how to visit textile showrooms when they attend fashion design school. These skills will all contribute to helping someone with a passion for fashion develop their skill and utilize it in the real world.

Most fashion designers are self-employed and simply design for individual clients. Designers become popular by setting themselves apart by being professional, reliable, and using different colors, shapes, and materials that will allow them to stand out among their competition. A great way to learn how to create your own methods of creating great clothing, accessories, or jewelry is to become a designer’s assistant. Helping a designer will not only allow those that are learning to see what goes into the business, but will also help them define a sense of self and a true sense of what they want to do in the fashion business.

Some fashion designers work for larger firms and this may be a great way to get a fashion designer education when you get out of fashion designer school, as well. These firms or corporations typically have a head designer, which is responsible for most of the creative aspects and supervision of the design room staff. Assistant designers are often hired by firms and often make the first patterns and help the head designer oversee creative and personnel issues. There are also specialty designers that may be hired by corporations that will work with other designers to help create limited or special lines of clothing. Special designers will often have a specific article of clothing or accessory that they work with and often they design for a specific market or country and can play a vital role in a large design company. There are also theatrical costume designers that create costumes or articles of clothing and accessories for plays, movies, or other theatrical productions and these designers may work on contract. Of course, all of these jobs can be done independent of a firm, but some individuals find these jobs easier to get through a firm first, for a more consistent income.

The work environment for every designer varies, as some work in very professional settings while others work in very cramped and rushed environments. If you work for yourself you can really set the standard for yourself so that you do not have to work in unfavorable situations. If you are looking at working for a firm, be sure to ask hard questions about the work environment and schedule. Just because you just graduated from fashion designer school doesn’t mean that you should be subjected to less than comfortable working conditions! Freelance fashion designer work can also be done outside of your own job so that you can slowly create your own client base away from your corporate job.

There is a lot of money to be made by fashion designers once they have graduated and obtained some experience. Many designers make more than $20 an hour and the average salary for a designer is more than $57,000 a year! Of course, education, experience, licensing and a grasp of trends and professionalism are what get you to such a salary, but after attending fashion designer school you can achieve all of these things. Remember that you may not start out at the top, but when you get there all the little jobs you have worked will seem more than worth it so get your fashion designer education now.