Ever since I was a little girl, I always had a passion for designing clothes or just making them better. When I was a junior in high school, I drew a path for myself and promised myself that I would follow that path and never look back. And here I am today...following my path to a fashion designer.
What appeals to me about this major? I love the fact that you are part of a unique creation. How many people can walk by a store and say, "hey, I was part of that..." and walk away smiling? Very few. Fashion design interests me because I love fashion. But the most inspiring Fashion Designer for me it would be Valentino who is famous for his red gowns. However I'm not interested in graduate from Valencia College, it is a good college but its not what I want. I just came here by accident. I could make a major in Fine Arts but I really want to finish my Bachelor Degree and follow my dreams. A want transfer to San Juan Fashion School In Puerto Rico and graduate there and make a career on Interior Design and Decoration. I would required skills, attitudes and general knowledge of design and interior decoration. i will be able to work in a variety of industries such as: designer and interior decorator, project manager, showcases design, space planning and knowledge to develop my own industry or business.

I will be collecting primary and secondary resources. I can watch episodes of the discovery channel on www.vodzone.com. I can watch the movie of Valentino. I can visit secondary websites to gather information such as www.wikipedia.com and other websites Google might bring me to. I can use the toolkits as a primary source and also visit the websites www.jobfutures.ca and www.careercruising.com.

Exploring The Career:

Nature of Work:
Fashion designers must recognize different styles and trends. We should know how to sketch drawing of our ideas on fashion and then take action into creating our design. Fashion designers need to take into consideration the material needed for the design. A fashion designer must have a creative style and good imagination to create new and stylish designs. I have practice my design on a cotton fabric known as muslin and have also practice on mannequins. I must incorporate different colours, textures and fabrics which match my clothing line. This career has changed over many years because of improved fabric technology. Also computers and improved sewing machines to create their clothing designs have changed over years. There are many different specialties that as a fashion designer I can specialize in. The following specialties are; accessory design, children’s clothing design, costume design, footwear design, lingerie design, men’s wear design, sportswear design, swimwear design, uniform design and women’s wear design.

Working Conditions:
Fashion designers work about 9 to 10 hours a day, usually including weekends. Designers get about 15 to 20 days of vacation per year. The workplace of a fashion designer can be in a variety of different places. They can work for different companies involving anything from sportswear to creating wedding dresses. There are also independent fashion designers, known as freelance designers. They work in small congested environments, under the pressure to please clients and find new ones to maintain their income. Fashion designers whom work under somebody in charge may have a stressful working environment, following strict deadlines against competition of other fashion companies. The physical activity involved in fashion design is the hands on work of manipulating the sewing machines, cutting fabrics and putting designs together. Most fashion designers, especially pattern makers need to know how to sew. Most of their tasks include creating the clothes by sewing properly. This career includes a lot of traveling. Fashion designers have opportunities to travel to different cities around the world to attend fashion shows. Cities such as, Paris and Milan are known as the capitals of fashion. Fashion designers become inspired by these shows for their own designs and get ideas by exploring clothing of different cultures. The salary of a fashion designer differs according to their levels in this career path. The earnings of a junior assistant would be a minimum wage to $20,000 a year. The earnings of a pattern maker would be $25,000 to $40,000 a year. The earnings of a production manager would be $40,000 to $60,000 a year. The earnings of a designer would be $35,000 to $85,000 a year. Finally the earnings of a head designer would be $60,000 to $100,000 a year.

Personality:
The characteristics helpful in this career are having a creative style and a good eye for new colors and trends. A fashion designer must herself or himself have a unique style. They should have good time management skills and dependability to follow tight deadlines. Good communication skills are also important for selling new ideas to others. Another necessary characteristic is perseverance in order to take action in any difficult obstacles and get the job well done. Also teamwork is very important because fashion design involves working with others. Fashion designers must also have responsibility to do tasks such as reading and researching new information.

Education & Training
The requirements as far as schooling goes, in order to get into the fashion design field are as follows: an Associate's degree in fashion design is the minimum requirement; most employers prefer bachelor's degree especially with knowledge of fabrics, textiles and fashion trends. Right after a person gets out of school they will probably start off at entry level positions, for example can be a sample hand or a cutting assistant. Graduates school specifically gear toward fashion design will usually start in positions that are a little bit higher such as, assistant designer or assistant technical designer. Then later on advancing to associate designer or head designer once they have been in the business and gain more knowledge and hands-on experience. If the designer truly has talent they can advance to executive positions or freelance designing, leading them into starting their own label or opening their own stores. But only a few become top designers with national reputations. If a person is working in the field of fashion design there are many different jobs they are qualify to do and have many different title. Some of these job titles are fashion designer, costume designer, clothing designer, stylist.

Interview:
When I came to Florida I bring a few pieces of charcoal, a watercolor kit and a sketchbook, the atmosphere stimulates my creativity and natural inner urge to design, particularly fashion designs. My floor is often strewn with anything from a detailed sketch of a chiffon dress to a quick outline drawn on a paper napkin.

I had the time to interview Carlos Alberto he was really busy I we only can chat half a hour by the phone he is one of the most acclaimed fashion designers in Puerto Rico. Carlos Alberto is known for his high quality fashions that take into consideration each individual as he designs for their unique personality and style.

His various fashion shows in Puerto Rico have distinguished him as the top haute couture fashion designer in the region. The designer's numerous accomplishments have prompted him to create the new and innovative Carlos Alberto Haute Couture atelier, and now exclusively is retailed within the United States at La Casa Hermosa in South Florida.

Throughout his illustrious career, Alberto has been chosen to design fashions for winners of the Miss Puerto Rico, Miss USA and Miss Universe competitions, including dresses for Zuleyka Rivera when she was crowned Miss Universe 2006 and Crystle Stewart when she was crowned Miss USA 2008.

Carlos Alberto describe the concept for his designs was a “way of life” which require a more international presence, with more boutiques, commercials ranges and girls “who are glamorous and elegant.”

How many years of experience you have?
After working with Carlota Alfaro for 14 years, Carlos Alberto decided that the moment had come to set up his own fashion workshop, whilst remembering that when problems present themselves with the creation of an outfit to immediately recall how Carlota would have solved the problem.

“They knew that they had put together my entire life. I am a person who has worked like any other, who has studied in public school and achieved my dreams of succeeding on an international level,” he went on.

Carlos Alberto, who has said that when he was younger he wanted to be a model, stressed that in the end it is very complicated to dress well in all of the “glamour” that surrounds the winner of the Miss Universe competition.

Which is your goal when you are working?
Mr Alberto indicated that the key in carrying out his goals is to work like an “organized” person, in spite of all of his daily commitments.

“If you work in an organized way, you can carry out your projects one after the other and you can keep track of them,” he said.

Advice to does girls who would like to won one of your pageant.

“The girls think that the best thing is that winning Miss Universe puts you on a cloud as it opens doors for you on a global level, but we have to be ready to travel five times a month to different countries and to be prepared to have a permanent smile, in spite of all the negatives that happen,” he emphasized.

He noted that the contestant who “best holds themselves, walks and has stage presence” will be the one that the jury will select as the winner.
Jill Fraser, Art Deco
JTH - Tell me a little about yourself. Where are you from?
JF - I am from Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts, although I have lived in England[->0], New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
JTH - Do you consider yourself an artist?
JF - My training is in advertising, marketing, and public relations so I consider myself artistic but not an artist.
JTH - Do you feel your formal education helped prepare you for working in the industry?
JF - I have a B.A. and an M.A. from Oxford[->1] in history. While at university, I was very interested in cultural and social influences on the visual arts and on literature.
JTH - What one piece of advice would you give to someone wanting to start a career in fashion?
JF - Learn with someone else first. You can make some very expensive mistakes in this industry.
JTH - When did you realize you wanted to become a fashion designer[->2]?
JF - I realized I wanted to go into this business when I couldn't find Italian handbags that were suitable for work and for evening wear that weren't derived from animal products. Most of the bags I was finding were made in Asia of fabrics that were not of the highest quality.
JTH - Where do you get your design inspiration?
JF - We are inspired by popular culture and modern art. One of our designers is Native American so some of her designs are inspired by Native American influences.
JTH - How do you like living in San Francisco - are you glad you made the move?
JF - I've lived in many different places. I like San Francisco for the climate, certainly better than England or Boston.
JTH - What is the best perk in being founder of an accessories company?
JF - Getting to meet and know designers in areas such as jewelry and apparel.
JTH - What is the most difficult aspect of running your own label versus i.e. design, production, sales, finance, advertising?
JF - My background has been in marketing and my business partner handles finance. We have an Italian production manager but I would say that we made our most expensive mistakes in production. You have to be very careful in selecting the right production manager, the right materials, and the manufacturer that can create your product line.
JTH - What do you wish people would understand about working in the fashion industry?
JF - It's extremely hard work and it really takes a lot of money to finance a fashion company. One also has to understand marketing, public relations, and finance.
JTH - What trends do you see being big for 2013?
JF - In a broader sense, I think people are becoming increasingly interested in ethical fashion. I also think that they are becoming more interested in personalization, in customizing accessories or clothes to their own tastes.
There are also influences from industrialization and from popular uprisings such as Occupy Wall Street.
From an aesthetic point of view, metallics will continue to be very important, as will geometric shapes.
JTH - Future Plans?
JF - We try to get better with each season and to source the most innovate materials. Unlike many small fashion companies, we have an Italian production manager who is constantly searching for the newest, most exciting fabrics. We believe that product is tremendously important and we are always trying to improve.

A Fashion designers design clothing and accessories. Some high-fashion

A typical day for a fashion designer is completing a lot of tasks. I would need to go to meetings, do some paper work, and design graphics on the computer, but everyday is different depending on where I would work. Someday I may do more than other days. I can work on getting ready to release the line or designing graphics, it just depends on where I would be in the cycle of the season.

Fashion designers need to know about computerized sewing and cutting equipment, tailoring techniques, fabric types, colors and fabric care. They also need to keep up with the latest styles and know about the history of fashion. Fashion designer must have design, drawing, pattern making and sewing skills.

When I came to Florida I bring a few pieces of charcoal, a watercolor kit and a sketchbook, the atmosphere stimulates my creativity and natural inner urge to design, particularly fashion designs. My floor is often strewn with anything from a detailed sketch of a chiffon dress to a quick outline drawn on a paper napkin.

[->0] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England
[->1] - http://www.ox.ac.uk/
[->2] - http://fashiondesigners.about.com/