Perhaps you want you to do more than just dress well. Perhaps, you would love to the part of the fast-moving world of setting trends, but why stop there? You might even want to be able to experience fashion week in New York, Paris, or Milan.

How do you get into the field? What does it take to find employment that will get you there?

The answer to these questions is twofold: Get a formal education about fashion and initiate your own self-education about fashion.

A Formal Education About Fashion

Choose a school that has an excellent reputation. LIM College fashion graduate programs are ranked among the best in the world. A Master’s degree will give you general knowledge about the world of fashion, help you get hired by the top companies in the fashion industry, and give you the foundation you need to excel in your career. You can choose from many programs—Fashion Marketing or Fashion Merchandising & Retail Management, or Global Fashion Supply Chain Management.

Besides the educational benefits, you’ll also develop a whole network of friends, mentors, teachers and industry contacts. Some of these relationships may play a key role in the evolution of your career over the years.

Initiating Your Own Self-Education About Fashion

When it comes to educating yourself about fashion, your goals are to learn how to develop a fashion sense, how to evaluate the different aspects of any outfit, and how to identify your own personal preferences.

While a formal education and getting a job in the field will give you a good understanding of the fashion industry, your self-education serves a different purpose. You’ll increase your own self-awareness about what kinds of clothes you like and why you like them. You will understand your preferences when it comes to color, fabric, and design. And you’ll gradually become much more confident about your own ability put together a fashionable wardrobe.

Your self-education could consist of learning how to observe what other people are wearing and learning how to model what other people are wearing.

Learning how to observe 

A skilled fashion observer will notice many things about a well-dressed person in a few seconds. They will notice what pieces the other person is wearing. They will notice what colors blend and what colors clash. They will notice whether the accessories work or look clunky. And they will notice what shoes the other person pairs with their outfits.

Besides sitting in coffee shops and casually watching people pass by on the streets, you should also pay close attention to the people in your fashion school and in your class, as well as in other places you frequent.

You’ll also want to inform your understanding of what works and what doesn’t by reading fashion magazines and blogs to learn about a broad range of styles.

Another thing you can do is talk to people who have a well-developed fashion style to find out how they think about fashion and come up with their outfits. You will learn a lot about fashion by discovering how fashionable people see the world.

Learning how to model 

Modeling isn’t just about magazine covers, catwalks, and fashion shows. A deeper definition of the word is to study a craft. Although you are developing your own style, it’s a good idea to also experiment with how other people dress. For instance, pick an outfit someone in a magazine is wearing, then buy the same clothes. Notice what you like and what you don’t like about how the outfit looks on you.

Modeling what others are wearing will force you to pay attention to many details that you would otherwise not have noticed. Additionally, it will also help you have a much stronger awareness about what it is that you consider attractive.

In conclusion, think of formal education and self-education as projects that you can work on at the same time. While a formal education will teach you about the world of fashion, your self-education will teach you about your own preferences and increase your self-awareness and self-confidence.

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