Can I Call Myself a Designer If I Cannot Afford the Latest Edition of Vogue | Magazine - fashionista central

Published by: Sarah Johnson on 1st Sep 2011 | View all blogs by Sarah Johnson

In the process of joining this site a question is asked regarding what part of the industry you work in. I ticked Designer because that was the one that fit but then I instantly felt I had to justify it. Can I call myself a designer if I cannot afford to buy the latest edition of Vogue let alone new fabrics? Can I call myself a designer if I have never read a fashion blog online? (Don't worry I have since remedied this one.)
I studied design at university for three years. In the first year, one of the first classes in fact, we were all told that inspite of the fact that many of us probably aspired to become designers it was unlikely that more than two or three of us would succeed. We were told to be realistic and when making choices regarding our study we should keep our options open. I am not and have never been brimming with confidence, I have been making clothing since I was eight, dreaming about pretty dresses for as long as I can remember and up to this stage I was entirely self taught but I am also pragmatic. I focused my study on Production Management. We were told in those early classes that not only would we probably NOT become designers but in fact most of us would not even manage to finish the course. This automatically makes me think of patternmaking. This is an extremely methodical discipline, somewhat the opposite of designing. Our lecturer accepted nothing but perfection - too the millimetre (there are 25mms in 1inch), and just by the way being left handed was not acceptable. Patterns must be cut out in an anti-clockwise direction and this simply cannot be done with your scissors in your left hand. There were many breakdowns in this class, many tears shed. Never has cutting a straight line been taken so seriously and OMG if you did not extend your lines in your first year of patternmaking you sure as hell did by your second year. People had started to disappear by my second year. By this time I started to think that I would be really lucky to get a job in Computer Aided Design, I took my layout efficiencies very seriously, I decided that grading and good efficiencies would be the realistic answer to my rising student debt. Speaking of student debt have I mentioned my design classes yet. Do you know how much art supplies cost? Forget fabric in order to just get in the door for a design critique you have to own enough pastels, pantones, paints..... to render an entire collection onto high quality paper for your presentation. A new critique is required each month and new media is required each time to show your range. And a critique is exactly that, every member of your class gets the opportunity to tell you what they don't like and why they don't like it. This is not optional because you also get graded on how you evaluate others work. The lecturer was the worst, I believe she may have actually been Simon Cowells sister. I did manage to graduate after three very hard years with that design degree, of the 43 of us that started only eleven of us graduated that year. I was also offered a job straight out of uni... but that is another blog. So here I am with a degree in Fashion Design but does that mean I am a designer. According to Wikipedia a designer conceives garment combinations of line, proportion, color and texture. Well I am definately capable of doing that. I have even managed to sell some of my designs to real people, even strangers who weren't buying out of pity. So in its simplest form I believe I might be a designer even though I do not release a mass produced line of garments four times a year and even though I barely have the equity to start even the smallest of businesses at this time. In the most important terms I believe I am a designer and will even whisper so on this one social networking site because of what I see just out of focus every time I close my eyes. I do not follow fashion although I think Sarah Burton is a Goddess of Design and I know very little about style, I admire those who do because this is an art form of its own. But when I close my eyes and take the time to try to focus I can almost see an elusive breathtaking angel wearing a stunning creation. Sometimes she will turn or step closer, sometimes I see her shoulder or a hint of colour, perhaps a hemline or a stunning detail. Over time these tiny pieces in these elusive dreams start to take form. No matter how many times I give up. No matter how many times I get a real job and try something new, like actually earning an income, if I stop trying to ignore them for just a moment these elusive angels will return again and tease me with glimpses of their beauty. I think it would be wrong to ignore them any longer so I will continue to try to capture them on paper and with my clumsy skills I will try to recreate their beauty and bring them to life. This is why I think I might be a designer, but I could be wrong, perhaps everyone sees these elusive angels. Do you?

via fashionistacentral.com