Fashion Design Jewelry
Q.i was wondering if anyone here has studied fashion design in college and/or has a career in the industry or even own your own shop. What are your themes in your designs? where did you go to school? how did you get into the industry/start your own buissness? Right now i'm looking for good schools to tranfer to, and i'm wondering where people would reccomend living as far as safety, price, and fun things to do, and also if anyone has any school recomendations. I'm trying to get into FIT and i have a couple back up schools but i'm still a year away from applying. I'm also really trying to build a good portfolio. I know one of the major ideas i use in my designs no matter what my influence is is that i like to design edgy clothing that is still very appropreate. I don't like the idea that clothing has to be revealing to be edgy. I try to design things that are unique but non-offensive to the majority of people. So far, even though many of my designs are very unique or at least not often seen in the area that i live, i've had nothing but good feedback, even from my bosses at work.
A.Yes . I'll answer the school question a little farther down. Do you mean work shop or store front? I never had my own store, but I did have a workshop at home When I make stuff for myself my "theme" represents my taste. I design jewelry and I like to use sterling silver and beads/gems that coordinate with my wardrobe. I make different things to go with different outfits , and my tastes vary as times change. When making stuff for clients it represents their tastes merged with mine. I don't make things for anyone else anymore, so I haven't really thought about themes lately. I know this is a vague answer, but I just don't fit into any one category. Some stuff was "Goth", such as silver spider webs, bats, and snakes, but most of my stuff didn't have a Goth motif, because my customers weren't Goth. I studied jewelry design and manufacturing at Parsons school of design in NY, and at GIA ( Gemological Institute of America) in CA. I also studied gemology at GIA's NY campus. I had considered classes at FIT, their catalog looks interesting, but never took any. I know my education is jewelry based, but jewelry does fall into the realm of fashion, so I'm answering anyway. I met a guy selling costume jewelry on the street in the west village. His designs were really cool, and after chatting for awhile he offered to make me his apprentice. I was 14 at the time. By 15 I was designing and making my own stuff at home and my friends really liked it. One of them encouraged me to try selling it at stores. I tried and succeeded. I was in 5-6 stores at 15. I also sold at flea markets and from home. Eventually I started taking classes in metal smithing in high school, then progressed to taking classes at a college level ( no degree because I didn't have the patience or interest to enroll in the rest of the liberal arts curriculum). I tried to survive just making jewelry but found myself being a starving artist not making enough to pay all my bills. Eventually I became a part time "corporate Goth". Somewhere along the line I went back to school full time, got a bunch of diplomas , and then I became a full time "corporate Goth" in the jewelry industry. I wasn't designing, I was mostly appraising. The money was decent, so I wont complain. Fashion is a really hard field to make a good living in. Designing and making things for other people takes 1/2 the fun out of it for me. I am so much happier to do it as a hobby, than worry about making 6 dozen of the same item to fill some retail order. It gets boring doing the same thing over and over and over. If you want to do clothes as far as I know FIT is the place to be. I cant say NYC is the safest place to live, nor is it cheap, but it certainly is fun. For what it is worth, I found California to be a higher priced place to live than New York City. I didn't think it was possible for anyplace in the USA to be more expensive than NYC, but I was wrong! One plus for NYC is that we have lots of public transportation so you wont need to add the expense of owning a car to your budget. A year away from applying... does that make you 16? Keep your grades up and have your portfolio represent a variety of different things to show not only your skill but your versatility. As far as high school goes ( I assume you are in high school still), are you in NYC? There is a high school version of FIT, but I am not sure if you can transfer into it or not. You may have to start at the beginning or not at all. On the other hand, I went there for awhile and hated it. I was such a truant that my parents had to transfer me to private school. That was also 20 years ago, and things may have changed since then! That's a good sign. Now I am going to give you a piece of advice one of my teachers ( whom I considered to be my mentor) gave me. Now this is really important, this guy was older and more experienced than me and was VERY successful. He did work for some of the most expensive high end jewelry stores in NY that probably none of us here could afford to shop in. Ok, well at least I know I cant, but these are the places that multi-millionaires shop, not average income people. So, anyhow I digress.... He told me not to show my entire portfolio when going on interviews for design jobs, and to make sure they gave me money in advance if they wanted me to draw stuff for them. He said otherwise they would just look at my drawings, steal my ideas, and not pay me. How would I suggest you apply this advice? Well obviously you are going to want to put your best work in your portfolio to apply to college, but try not to show your portfolio to other designers. You don't want anyone stealing your ideas and duplicating your portfolio. Once you get into school of course there will be exhibits and such, and you'll want to be part of those, but be aware that as soon as something is made public if it is any good there will be knock offs. Keep your ideas secret as long as you can so that if anyone is going to make money off them, it will be YOU.
Other Questions :
Anyone have a place to get nice jewelry box plan?
I'm thinking about making a cherry jewelry box for my better half. Anyone have a place to get nice plans?www.rockler.com has a jewelry box plan....
crystal jewelry
do you all know any websites that offer nice crystal jewelry. i have checked swarovski which i liked, but am looking for more. especially colored crystal jewelry. something nice quality, but not overpriced like diamondsGo to a search engine and...
Swarovski Crystal Jewelry Set
I'm a BM in the wedding of a dealy-loved friend of mine - we've known each other for 22 years. This wedding has been unending stress for this bride. Her mother and sister have been duking it out to see who can get more in the face of the br...
David Yurman Man Jewelry
Below are the most recently received advertisiments sent to Our jewelry website. Please remember that to respond to one of these advertisers, you must NOT merely use the reply function of your news browser, as doing so will not send your messa...
Body Email Free Jewelry Piercing ?
WHOLESALE AND RETAIL SALE OF BODY ART SUPPIES, TATTOOING SUPPLIES, PIERCING SUPPLIES, BODY PIERCING JEWELRY WITH FREE CHAT, EMAIL, COMMUNITIES, FREE JEWELRY GIVEAWAYS EVERY WEEK! WE ARE LOOKING FOR WHOLESALE CONTACTS AND SUPPLIERS IN GOLD SILVER S...