Find Your True Calling: How to Create a Fashion Career Uniquely Your Own

The fashion world is massive and working within it means many different things to different people. There is so much than being a designer or a model, and with an industry as large as fashion, the options on where you can take your career are unlimited. You can work directly along the fashion chain, or you can work to support the industry in your own unique way. 

Nurses with a passion for fashion can actually direct their careers through a unique route to combine their interests and goals. Those who work in tech can also work in fashion design – and many do, creating unique 3D fashion lines that may end up being produced in life, or may be used by the entertainment or gaming industries. 

There are around 3.38 billion people working within fashion around the world. This is a huge portion of the population, with many of them working in unfair working conditions. Even those who are paid living wages are faced with massive competition. 

Though that is a lot of people working within fashion, it means there is a lot of job opportunities. The opportunities in question actually open up when you attempt to enter fashion from an outside perspective. 

You can have a passion for the fashion world but not be able to enter it because of a lack of experience and a network that is lacking fashion connections. However, just because this is the situation right now does not mean there is no way forward. 

Use what you have, don’t discard it. If you are a nurse who wants to pursue your passion for design, then there are unique ways you can take your previous career role and use it to enter fashion. In addition, there are ways you can forge your own unique way forward, for example, by continuing to work as a nurse specifically for those suffering at the often-forgotten part of the supply chain. 

Not every career in fashion has to be glamorous. If you love clothes and want to help the world transition to one where fashion and self-expression don’t cost the earth, you can help. That nurse, regardless of whether they have a BSN vs MSN vs DNP, can provide services to the most vulnerable in the supply chain and then work to raise further awareness of the cost of fashion. 

Someone who works in IT can offer a unique design insight and services. For example, blockchain technologies could be implemented to verify luxury goods and make it easy to track provenance and authenticity. 

Fashion is a very forward industry, which means you can often fit your career into it in a way that is unique, and custom for you. There is no reason why you wouldn’t be able to combine your career. The only issue is in understanding the opportunities ahead of you and how you can get started. Those first few steps are going to provide the biggest hiccups, but with this guide, you will be able to find your true calling and get started with a unique career in fashion: 

Start the Right Career within Fashion 

If you are at the start of your career, then it can be tempting to jump right into a fashion degree, but how big the fashion industry is doing this can put you right at the bottom of a lot of different people. So, you need to offer a unique skill set to make a name for yourself right from the start. This unique skillset can be your great and innovative designs, yes, but more often than not, you’ll want to look into more technical skills you can build up as a fashion student first. 

If you want to be a designer, for example, then learn design, but also learn about fashion, merchandising, event management, and so on. The supportive roles that make the fashion world turn are far more in demand and can help you build a thriving career and a stellar network so that when you have a completed first collection, you know who to go to and how to launch. 

Not only that, but when fashion lovers first look at the fashion industry, their knowledge of available job roles is tiny. You can be a fashion designer, a model, and someone who makes the clothes themselves. Many of the cogs in the fashion wheel are not known to those outside of the interest, which is why one of the best ways to find your true calling is to understand what’s out there. There are so many interesting and cool jobs for fashion lovers out there and so many ways to get started. 

Expand Your Career into Fashion 

If you currently have a job but have always wanted to focus on fashion and to work within fashion, then there are many ways that you can expand your career into this new field. However, it is important to see it as expanding your career, not starting over, because more often than not, you will be able to use your existing skills in a unique way. 

Work in IT? Simply start building up your network and start applying to fashion houses that need IT to work. Even if you want to work as a designer or in a more creative role, there are so many ways you can use your IT skills to market your work and build your career. 

Your previous experience is unique to you and can help you stand out in a huge industry with many, many people in it that all know each other. Making a name for yourself is all about standing out. 

In order to expand your career, of course, you need to expand your skills. There are many degrees and short courses designed to give you the practical skills necessary to work within fashion. The reason why you will want to rely on these options most, especially over options that are free, is that you can use them as networking opportunities as well. Who you meet and who you know matters in this world.  

Find a Unique Way to Introduce Fashion into Your Career 

There are many ways that you can cater to the fashion industry in the job role you currently work in. Take, for example, nurses. You are more than allowed to love fashion and the fashion industry and still choose to become a nurse, but just because you chose one career over the other does not mean that you cannot introduce fashion into your own career. 

You can work with models and during fashion week behind the scenes in a supportive role. Not only do models have notorious health problems, there are many countries today that have introduced laws to prevent malnourished models from being shown on the runway. As a nurse, you could provide healthcare services for these models and on behalf of these fashion houses. 

Similarly, you can take your background as a nurse and become a designer. Scrubs are notoriously shapeless and even uncomfortable. They have their purpose, yes, but that doesn’t mean that the way they look now is the best way forward. You could work to design new scrubs that make it easier for nurses and doctors alike to express themselves in a way that is easy to clean, comfortable, and helps them do their job. 

There are so many ways that you can direct your career towards fashion while still working primarily in your current field. Nursing is often considered a direct opposite to fashion. Where fashion is about creativity and the arts, healthcare is about science and health. The good news is that, so long as you are committed and creative with how you combine your career with your interest in fashion, you can forge a unique path forward for yourself. 

Always Build a Fashion Network 

Networking is important in every industry, but there is something that is almost nepotistic about fashion. Those who are within fashion are in; those who are out struggling to make that first step. Fashion students need to rely on the career services and the opportunities offered by their academic institution to get their foot in the door, and those not in those schools need to do a lot of hard work. 

How you build that network depends on what you want to do, but generally, you will want to network both online and in person. Online you will want to connect with others who are just starting out as well as big names. Big names are useful to follow for industry insight and advice and to keep up with the news. Small newcomers to the fashion scene are great to make friends with and to grow together.

As for in-person, attend events, workshops, talks, and more. If you can earn a degree or certificate and grow your network that way. From short courses to community events, there are so many different ways that you can connect to those with a passion for fashion or who already work within it. 

Your network opens up so many doors and will be instrumental in helping you make your own path forward.