Career as a Fashion Designer: Courses, Eligibility, Jobs, Salary

Fashion and Lifestyle are the integral part of our lives. They have been with mankind sinces ages, evolving with culture, tradition, technology and social trends.

If you are passionate about style, creativity and lifestyle trends then pursuing a career in fashion designing is one of the great career choice.

Fashion designing is a creative and dynamic field, that involves crafting original clothing, accessories and various lifestyle products.

As a fashion designer your job involves, creating pattern, oversee production and provide technical expertise in selection fabric, colors and design elements to bring your creative vision to life.

“Fashion designing covers the design, fabric, texture, quality of fashion goods, manufacturing process and creativity”.

Charles Frederick Worth was the first fashion designer in the history of fashion. He was also known as the “Father of Haute Couture,”. Worth’s was the first in 19th century who put his label on the garment he had created.

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Skills Required

To become a successful fashion designer, the following skills are required:

• Creativity
• Knowledge of trend, fabric, colour and style.
• Knowledge in pattern cutting, grading and garment construction.
• Communication skills must be good.
• A fashion designer must be expressive as he/she has to explain lead a team.
• Decision making skill is required.
• Excellent business skills
• Good drawing skills
• Strong visualization skills

Fashion Designing Courses

Fashion designing is the art of applying design, aesthetics and technology to the clothing & its accessories.

To start a career in fashion designing one must create their own designs, build a portfolio, and keep yourself updated with the latest trends in the industry.

Here are some of the highly recommended fashion designing courses, that candidates can pursue after 12th:

1. Certificate courses 
2. Diploma courses
3. Undergraduate courses 
4. Postgraduate Courses

Diploma Courses

• Diploma in Fashion Design (1 Year)
• Diploma in Fashion Communication (1 Year)

Undergraduate Courses

• B.Design – Fashion Design (4 Years)
• B.Sc.– Fashion Design (3 Years)
• B.Design – Fashion Communication (4 Years)

Postgraduate Courses

• M.Design – Fashion Design (2 Years)
• M.Design – Fashion Communication (2 Years)

Certificate Courses

• Certificate in Fashion Design
• Certificate in Textile Design
• Certificate in Apparel Merchandising
• Fashion Design Basics (Online)

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There are three types of fashion design; haute couture, ready to wear and mass market. The people, who want to choose the fashion design as the career for themselves, need to be eager towards the fashion world.

Eligibility Criteria

Candidates interested in fashion designing courses, must meet the eligibility criteria as given below:

For Diploma Courses

• Passed 10 or 10+2 from a recognized board
• Admission in some colleges based on diploma entrance exams

For UG Courses

• Must have completed 10+2 (any stream) from a recognized board
• Minimum aggregate marks may vary (usually 50% or above)
• Some institutes require candidates to qualify entrance exams like NIFT, NID, or UCEED
• The minimum age for admission is 17 years in some of the universities.

For PG Courses

• Must hold a Bachelor’s degree in fashion design or a related field
• Admission may require qualifying CEED, NIFT PG entrance, or institute-specific exams

Admission Process

The admission in fashion designing is based on the national level or university level entrance examination. The admission process involves filling of the registration form, follwed by entrance examination and lastly counselling process.

Some of the popular entrance exams are:

• CUET UG 2025
• NID 2025
• NIFT 2025
• CEED 2025
• UCEED 2025

The admissions in National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFTs), one of the renowned fashion and design colleges in India is done on the basis of NID entrance exam.

Candidates have to clear the written entrance exam and after that candidates have to go through the situation test/ group discussion/ personal interview rounds.

The curriculum of the entrance examination is divided into three steps; written test, group discussion and the personal interview.

Top Fashion Designing Colleges in India

There are number of renowned design colleges in India. These colleges offers bachelor’s and master’s degree in fashion design and fashion design technology.

The colleges that are famous for imparting design education in India are as follows:

• National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Delhi
• National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad
• NIFT Mumbai
• NIFT Bangalore
• Pearl Academy, Delhi
• Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune
• Amity School of Fashion Technology, Noida
• JD Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai
• MIT Institute of Design, Pune
• Lovely Professional University (LPU), Punjab

Career Scope

What is the job of Fashion Designer?

• Fashion Designer basically sketch designs, select fabrics and patterns. They create clothing as per the trend and market predictions.
• Fashion designers are specialized in creating certain types of clothes in a wide range of styles and fabrics.
• Fashion designer also conducts research on latest fashion trend and consumer preferences to create designs that are both innovative and market-relevant.

In today’s modern world, fashion designing has a wide scope and career opportunities in areas like apparel design, textile design, fashion merchandising, styling, fashion journalism, and costume design for film and television

Fashion designing has a various fields of specializations like garments, footwear, accessories, etc.

Career and Job Prospects

“Career as a Fashion Designer is exciting as well as Glamorous in today’s world”

The graduates have to start as a trainee designer. After few years of experience and working on several assignments, candidates can on senior roles in the fashion industry.

The work area of a fashion designer include market research, designing and manufacturing of garments, textiles, jewellery and other accessories.

Fashion will thrive as long as mankind exists on this planet, therefore the demand of the enthusiastic, skilled and talented designers will always be there.

Apart from working with top fashion brands, candidates can also work as a freelancer designer. You may set your own business or work in parternship with a design house.

After the completion of the course, candidates can work in one of the following job profile:

• Costume designer
• Fashion consultant
• Personal stylist
• Technical designer
• Graphic designer
• Production pattern maker
• Fashion coordinator
• Apparel production manager
• Fabric buyer
• Fabric quality control manager
• Show room sales representative
• Illustrator
• Cutting assistant
• Outside sales representative

The job opportunities for candidates are also available in fashion houses run by top fashion designers like Abu Jani, JJ Valaya, Manish Malhotra, Neeta Lulla, Rina Dhaka, Ritu Beri, Ritu Kumar, Rohit Bal,  Sandeep Khosla, Tarun Tahiliani, etc. One can also apply in textile and fabric manufacturing units.

Salary

The salary of a fashion designers depends on the job profile, company and experience. The entry level professional can start their career with ₹3-5 LPA.

In mid-level to senior positions, the payscale varies between ₹6-10 LPA. Candidates working as a freelancer or entrepreneurs can make anywhere between ₹15-30 LPA.

The earning for freelancer or entrepreneur depends on their project, number of clients and how much they charge per client.

For any other queries about Career in Fashion Designing, you can leave your queries below.