The fashion industry consists of a number of different fashion careers, each requiring you to learn different skills and perform different tasks. However, some of the fashion careers that you may be considering will allow you to specialize in a specific area of the fashion field so that you only have to learn certain skills and perform certain tasks. Here are some of the major specialties in the fashion industry.
- Accessory Design: Accessory design is a fashion specialty in which a fashion professional designs, produces, and/or sells the objects that people wear with their garments. These fashion professionals typically create belts, designer glasses, hats, necklaces, purses, and other similar objects that an individual can wear but that do not cover his or her torso or lower body.
- Bridal Design: Bridal design is a fashion specialty in which a fashion professional designs, produces, and/or sells the accessories and dresses that a bridesmaid, a mother of a bride, or a bride would wear to a wedding. These fashion professionals typically create formal wedding gowns, veils, and other similar wedding accessories and garments.
- Clothing Design: Clothing design, also sometimes known as garment design or apparel design, is a fashion specialty in which a fashion professional designs, produces, and/or sells the garments that cover a person’s torso and/or lower body. These fashion professionals typically create dresses, jackets, jeans, polo shirts, t-shirts, swimsuits, and other similar garments.
- Costume Design: Costume design is a fashion specialty in which a fashion professional designs, produces, and/or sells the accessories and clothing that people wear for holiday parties and the clothing that actors wear in movies, plays, television shows, or other theatrical productions. These fashion professionals create items that help someone look like someone or something else.
- Custom Design: Custom design, also sometimes known as custom accessory design or custom garment design, is a fashion specialty in which a fashion professional alters, designs, and/or produces an accessory or garment for a specific individual. These fashion professionals create custom-made dresses, hats, suits, wedding gowns, and other similar accessories and garments.
- Fabric Design: Fabric design, also sometimes known as textile design, is a fashion specialty in which a fashion professional designs, produces, and/or sells the actual raw materials that other fashion professionals use to design and produce accessories and garments. These fashion professionals design and produce cloth, wool, silk, and other similar materials in a variety of different colors and styles.
- Footwear Design: Footwear design is a fashion specialty in which a fashion professional designs, produces, and/or sells the items that people wear on their feet. These fashion professionals typically create heels, ballet shoes, boots, platform shoes, sandals, socks, sneakers, slippers, and anything else that would cover at least the bottom of someone’s foot.
- Historical Design: Historical design is a fashion specialty in which a fashion professional designs, preserves, re-creates, and/or sells designs from other time periods. This specialty is often considered a subfield of costume design because historical design, like costume design, requires the creation of accessories and garments that are not based on current trends. Professionals in this specialty typically protect or re-create the accessories and garments that museums and reenactors display and use.