As a fashion clothing designer you have to be able to come up with many new, hopefully, original ideas in a consistent time frame in order to produce a new garment collection for every season.
So where and how can you get those fashion design ideas and concepts from? And in the middle of all that creativity, how do you stay within the realm of marketability and wearability at the same time?
Inspiration is sometimes thought of as some mysterious magical occurrence that only blesses a few of the most talented, creative people. This is not the case though. You can create your own inspiration and motivation by developing a keen eye and an avid appreciation for everything around you and I mean everything.
All aspiring fashion clothing designers are advised to research costume history, and the work of the many top fashion designers before them. This is correct to do but it shouldn't be the at all and be all of your 'inspiration' resource.
First step, start learning about fashion history / costume design in other countries around the world, including the one's you don't like or aren't interested in, you never know what you'll find out. For example, the mini skirt was a tribal Chinese costume and the bikini was everyday wear in Brazil. You never know what kind of neat facts you'll discover.
Start imagining how you can combine styles from various periods with elements and garment designs from completely different cultures and see what you can come up with.
Second, now it's time to get away from fashion altogether and take a look at the rest of what's happening visually and 'texturally' in the world. Some examples to check out are
- coloring and markings of lynx and bobcats
- patterns and shapes of seashells
- textures and forms and lichen
- architectural styles around the world
- interior design styles around the world
- shapes of insects and beetles
- pattern and coloring on birds of prey
- shapes of bird's bodies
- 'architecture' of flowers
- delicateness of bat wings combined with their furry soft bodies
- the 'look' of some art and fantasy films
- the style of different 'futures' from various Sci-Fi films
- how seaweed looks underwater
All of these very beautiful things, from water falls to moon craters can be fuel for new kinds for fashion designs. Think outside of the box and combine totally non-related things like tulips and Tim Burton films with the architectural elegance of Taj Mahal. That's the main idea for manufacturing originality, combining unrelated things or things that have not been put previously combined.
This can come out pretty crazy, garment wise right? How to keep your collection marketable than? Simple,
1. between which ever colors are 'in' and what would look great in your collection, choose the right color combinations
2. depending on who your intended market is, think about the garment styles and fit they already wear and modify them, incorporating "pieces" of your inspirations and combine them into the kind of look you're after
3. make sure your designs are comfortable
4. where ever possible, incorporate or adopt what ever happens to be the season's trend as long as you can do it in a way that works well together with your fashion clothing design concept
Following these tips will help you avoid any kind of fashion designer block so your work flow will be a lot smoother and you'll be consistently productive without the fear of facing "concept drought".
Happy fashion designing
