About the book:
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Our book aims to give aspiring fashion designers the best chance at successfully launching and running their own business. Through our combined experiences we have gathered the knowledge that is essential for establishing your brand, and yet is lacking from most institutional fashion education.
How to be a Fashion Designer will help you navigate all aspects of the fashion industry: from registering your own company, through planning your collection and manufacturing, to selling your finished garments. With the aid of our expertise, you will be able to make informed decisions about what is best for you with the time, money and resources that are available to you.
As an established professional and teacher collaborating with a student who has recently entered the field, we understand the struggles of starting out in the fashion industry from all angles and are able to provide guidance throughout the whole process.
About the authors:
Jenny Schwarz graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Menswear, having previously completed a three-year couture apprenticeship with Gabriele Blachnik in Munich. During her studies she worked for the prestigious Korean handbag designer Storie Sac.
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After graduating, she worked for Alexander McQueen before leaving to launch her own successful Jenny Schwarz Menswear label. Her rugged, elegant garments have attracted many customers, including Graham Norton, Gary Numan, Labrinth, Imagine Dragons and Kings of Leon. Jenny’s work has appeared in GQ, Gay Times, Wonderland, Vogue China and on the cover of LA Fashion Magazine.
Since 2018 Jenny has been the Course Manager for Fashion and Textiles at London College of Contemporary Arts teaching Fashion Design. She also teaches Fashion Business and Marketing on the Masters Degree at the IMC University of Applied Sciences in Krems, Austria.
She is currently in the process of setting up a womenswear brand, Black & Fox.
Jenny also works as a consultant for new brands, sharing her years of in-depth knowledge and experience, and is collating this advice in How to be a Fashion Designer.
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Having studied BA Fashion at Southampton Solent University - an education which included studying under the renowned creative pattern cutter Shingo Sato, and having later completed further qualifications in Sustainable Fashion and Garment Technology, Scott has had a diverse career covering many facets of the fashion industry.
Scott ran his own brand for a number of years, exhibiting at numerous events particularly on the South Coast of the UK, specialising in luxury sustainable womenswear. Scott’s design aesthetic fuses his love of historical fashion with his knowledge of cutting edge design and production techniques; his ethos is that clothing should be created with longevity and timelessness in mind. Scott still works on bespoke pieces for clients, particularly specialising in statement pieces for events.
Additionally, Scott has taught multiple courses in fashion, including Creative Practice, and Garment Technology, with a view to making the fashion industry as accessible to students from all backgrounds as possible, and instilling them with the knowledge and values required to make a positive impact in the fashion industry.
Throughout his career, Scott discovered that his passions and expertise aligned particularly with the role of Garment Technologist, through which he is able to realise his values of reducing fashion waste and working with international supply chains to create garments which are high quality, right for the customer, and fit for purpose.
Having worked with a number of brands including John Lewis, Boden, Very, Never Fully Dressed, Collusion, Reclaimed Vintage and Weekend Collective, Scott has an extensive and detailed knowledge of the entire critical path process, and wants through this new venture ‘How To Be A Fashion Designer’ to provide a toolkit to others dreaming of breaking into the competitive Fashion industry, and to help prospective designers and garment techs feel equipped to avoid some of the potential mistakes and pitfalls involved in creating a fashion range.
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