How to Plan a Fashion Show

Fashion shows are a great way to introduce a clothing line to the general public or the fashion community. They are also a good way to interest buyers in placing your clothing line in their stores/boutiques. Planning a fashion show requires paying a lot of attention to detail and having a basic understanding of the fashion community in your area. Follow these steps to plan a successful show.

Things You'll Need

• Great venue
• Team of people to assist you
• Great promotions and marketing plan for the show

Instructions

1. Pick a date for the show. The best thing to do is to pick a maximum of three potential dates for the show you want to plan. When picking the date, make sure to give yourself enough time to plan the show properly. Create a timeline and plan out goals you would like to meet in planning the fashion show.

2. Make a working budget. Create an ideal budget and then a more realistic one. You can pay for the show out of your own pocket or through sponsorships. If you plan on reaching out to sponsors, you should factor that into your timeline. It typically takes sponsors four to six months to get back to you about whether they will sponsor your event, if they get back to you at all.

3. Pick a venue for the show. You should seriously consider two venues. It is ideal if your first choice is on the upper end of the budget and if your second choice is on the lower end of your budget.

4. Secure your venue. Before you start planning the show, make sure you can actually have it when you want to, where you want to. You don't want to begin planning the event and have to make changes to the date and/or location midstream.

5. Recruit your team. Based on your budget, you may be able to pay your team members, but you may need to bring them on as volunteers. If you plan on getting sponsorships, you may want to bring on someone to help secure those sponsorships before you bring in other team members. Because it takes some time to secure sponsorships that should be your first priority and you will need help to do it in a timely manner. You may even want to recruit a sponsorship team or committee.

6. Start planning. Attention to detail is key here. You want to make sure you prepare for every possibility. If necessary, bring on a co-planner who will ensure that you cover all of your bases.

Tips & Warnings

• Before you begin planning the fashion show, you must ensure that you have the finances required to successfully plan it. If this means getting sponsorship, you may have to alter your timeline to allow for this step. Garnering sponsorship can be a time consuming process. If your show hinges on getting sponsors to pay for it, you don't want to start planning before you have actually secured the sponsors.