Becoming a Fashion Consultant
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What Does a Fashion Consultant Do?
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A fashion consultant helps a person pull together an entire look, from top to toe. They might help pull together a business wardrobe for a recent college graduate, or help a woman who just lost a significant amount of weight. No matter what the need, a fashion consultant styles the client to fully accommodate the occasion.
Fashion consultants often perform personal shopping duties, help select corporate uniforms or may even specialize in certain areas such as vintage clothing or bridal. The field is vast and open to many different areas of interest.
Being a wardrobe consultant involves hair styling and cosmetic help, as well. A good consultant builds networks with others in these areas in order to offer a truly well-rounded array of services. Because fashion consultants often overhaul an image from top to toe, it's necessary for a stylist to have far-reaching contacts.
Qualifications for a Fashion Consultant
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Many fashion consultants attend college and get degrees in fashion design or merchandising. They may also take electives in accessories, lingerie or buying to round out their studies. Most top fashion colleges such as Parsons or the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), a State University of New York college of art and design located in New York City, offer these courses in 2- or 4-year degrees.
However, it may not be necessary to have a degree to start consulting. Often, consultants work their way up through the ranks of department stores to private consulting. Top shops like Neiman Marcus and Henri Bendel have top-level fashion consultants that open their own businesses with established client lists. If you don't have a degree in fashion, try a local upscale department store--you may be surprised at the opportunities.
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Building a Freelance Business
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One way to start building a business is to place ads online in places like Craig'sList.com. Alternatively, create listings on LinkedIn.com, Facebook.com or various social networking sites to get the word out. Build up a portfolio of references and pictures by styling some friends or colleagues, and use their testimonies to draw in new clients.
Other options include volunteering for programs such as Dress for Success that style underprivileged women for job interviews, or giving small seminars on business attire at local colleges. All of these are terrific name builders while being of service to others in need.
Fashion consultants also need to create contacts. What makes a truly successful consultant is the ability to pull the best clothing from the hottest designers. To do this, it's a good idea to get in touch with fashion showrooms and designers for show invites and look books. Set up relationships with the people who create the clothes in order to offer customers special discounts and access to the best garments.
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Resources
- Photo Credit 2008 Florian / Creative Commons
