Career in fashion designing is one of the most glamorous professions today. Fashion designing as a career involves creative design and drawing, pattern making, sewing and embroidery, garment-manufacturing technology, apparel construction, fabric dyeing and printing and computer-aided design.

Pre-requisite for career in fashion designing To have a career in fashion designing two types of qualifications are required i.e. natural and acquired. Natural skills would be good taste, color-coding sense, artistic talent and sense of current trends and fashion etc. The acquired skills would be a degree in Bachelor of Arts or science at an accredited college or university. A graduation diploma from a school or college in fashion designing is also required. Many institutes offer a diploma course in fashion designing after 10+2.There are many courses in fashion designing after completing graduation in any stream. In some of the elite institutes, admission is only on merit i.e. through written test, aptitude test, group discussion, presentation and interview. The duration of the fashion-designing course may vary from 1 year to 3 years.

Available career opportunities in fashion designing

• Fashion designer: - Fashion designers create new styles for clothing by sketching original designs. They are responsible for selecting fabrics, trimmings, current update on the latest fabrics and fitting the finished clothing to its proper size. The designer starts the designing work only after market research.
• Fashion coordinator: - A fashion coordinator work includes checking fabric for correct shade, quality and design, sorting daily problems, giving advice on latest fashion trends, meeting with buyers and taking right decisions regarding fabric design, color. Fashion Coordinator may be supposed to travel to get an idea of the fashion trends.
• Illustrator: - Illustrator draws free hand sketches as per designer?s ideas and at times interacts with customers about new collection.
• Fashion consultant: - Fashion consultant has to be aware of the latest trends in the fashion industry. They offer suggestions on how to further develop a product.
• Cutting Assistant: -Cutting Assistant cut and modifies samples as per specifications of the designer.
• Fashion Stylist: - Fashion Stylist area involves coordinating the dress, accessory, make-up, and hairstyle as per the theme of the show.

Where to study?
Some of the major institutions, Colleges and Universities that impart professional training in fashion designing are

Fashion Designing Colleges, Institutions and Universities in India
Name & Address	E-Mail / Website
National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Campus La Block, Near 16 N0. Water Tank, Sector III, Salt Lake City, Kolkata - 700 098	Email: toolikagupta@ niftindia.com rubykashyap@niftindia.com Web: www.niftindia.com
Northeast Institute of Fashion Technology Bora Service Bylane G.S. road Guwahati Assam Pin Code: 781 007	E-Mail: neiftghy@gmail.com Web: www.neift.com
The Northern India Institute of Fashion Technology. B-68, Phase VII, Industrial Area, Mohali - 160 055	Web: www.niiftindia.com E-mail: info@niiftindia.com
PEARL ACADEMY OF FASHION A - 3, Naraina Industrial Area - Phase II, New Delhi - 110028.	www.pearlacademy.com/
National Institute of Fashion Technology NIFT Campus, C A Site No: 21, Sector - 1, 27th Main, HSR Layout Bangalore - 560 034	E-mail - niftbng@vsnl.com bngnift@rediffmail.com Web: www.bangalore.niftindia.com
National Institute of Fashion Technology Old Mahabalipuram Road Taramani Chennai - 600 113	Email: admission@niftindia.com Web: www.chennai.niftindia.com
National Institute of Fashion Technology GH - 0 Circle, Gandhinagar - 382 007, Gujarat	E-mail:niftgnr@niftindia.com Web: www.gandhinagar.niftindia.com
National Institute of Fashion Technology Opp-Hitech City, Madhapur, Hyderabad- 500081	Web: www.hyderabad.niftindia.com/
National Institute of Fashion Technology Sector 4, Kharghar Navi Mumbai 410210	Web: www.mumbai.niftindia.com/ Email: admissionmum@niftindia.com
ARMY INSTITUTE OF FASHION AND DESIGN ITI Bhavan, Doorvani Nagar, Old Madras Road, Bangalore - 560 016
Mayura School of Fashion Technology No.60, Chandrasekara Puram, Salai Road, Thillai Nagar, Trichy - 620 018 (TamilNadu)	Email: mayura fashion@rediffmail.com Web: www.texnett.com/texmain/fashioninstitute/mayura/courses.htm
Government Institute of Garment Technology, Majitha Road Near By pass, Amritsar (Punjab)	Email: gigtasr@sancharnet.in principalgigtasr@yahoo.com Web: www.punjabteched.com/profiles/inst/GGT.HTM
Heights Institute of Fashion & Technology P.P Towers, 3rd Floor, Netaji Subhash Place, Opp. TV Tower, Main Road, Pitampura, NEW DELHI-110034 (INDIA)	Email: response@heightsglobal.com Web: www.heightsglobal.com/fashionwing.htm
The Jewellery Design & Technology Institute A-89, Sector- 2, Noida (U P), 201 301	Email: enquiry@jdtiindia.com Web: www.jdtiindia.com
Punjab Institute Of Textile Technology, Amritsar City	E-mail: pitt@jal.vsnl.net.in Web: www.punjabteched.com
School of Fashion Technology Soft Campus, Near Cummins Engineering College, Karve Nagar Pune - 411052	Email: softpune@vsnl.net

Employment opportunities in Fashion Designing

Employment opportunities for fashion designing graduates are pretty good. The students after completing the fashion designing course can find excellent placements in garment and leather industry as fashion designer, illustrator, fashion coordinator, fashion stylist, etc. They can work with professional designers, manufacturing units, export houses, textile mills, garment store chains, boutiques, leather companies and at the same time running their own boutique.

There are also many websites where you can view India Fashion Designing industry jobs. Once your resume is uploaded you apply for various Fashion Designing industry jobs and enable employers to find you. List of various Fashion Designing industry jobs websites are
www.careerage.com
www.fibre2fashion.com
www.placementindia.com
www.jobsindia.com
www.monsterindia.com
www.jobsahead.com
www.naukri.com
www.timesjobs.com

Remuneration
As a fresher you can start with a monthly package of Rs.10, 000 to Rs.15, 000. A couple of years down the line as your designing experience increases, your salary would be in the range of Rs.30, 000 ?Rs.40, 000 per month. Of course, if you become a reputed designer you could demand for a king?s ransom for a particular creation.

Future
According to a recent study, the India?s fashion designing industry aims to grow to Rs.1, 000crore from the current Rs.180crore within the next 5 to 10 years. Fashion designing is a very lucrative career but one needs to do a lot of hard work to keep up with the demand and competitive people.