How to become a fashion designer in Nigeria is one of the most commonly asked questions by aspiring fashion designers. There are lots of ways you can become a fashion designer in Nigeria. Whether with a degree or no degree, what matters the most is your creative talent. In this collection, we will be checking out how to become a fashion designer in Nigeria in 2024.
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Table of Contents
Who is a fashion designer?
A fashion designer according to Wikipedia is a person who creates clothing. This includes creating dresses, suits, skirts, tops, pants, accessories, and so on.
A fashion designer is simply a person who creates outfits that people wear to look good and fashionable. The fashion designing line is broad and if you are looking towards becoming a fashion designer, you might need to niche down to a particular aspect.
What Do Fashion Designers Do?
Fashion designers design clothes and accessories for people to wear. They come up with creative designs and new trends. Fashion is a way of life and also a way of expressing a particular situation.
What fashion designers do is give life to that situation through designing an outfit. Fashion designers can work in various fields depending on the aspect of design they are based on.
Where Can Fashion Designers Work?
Fashion designers can work in any environment. Their services are needed all around the world. Clothing is one of the three necessities of life. Fashion designers are involved in creating and designing those clothes.
How to Become A Fashion Designer in Nigeria?
It is quite easy to be a fashion designer in Nigeria. However, this would be based on the aspect of fashion designing you plan to dive into. In Nigeria, we mostly rock our traditional fabrics like Ankara and lace when attending an occasion and there are fashion designers who come up with creative designs for these fabrics.
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The corporate gown is also mostly worn by ladies when going to work and there are fashion designers who specialize in designing different ready-to-wear corporate dresses for working ladies.
To become a fashion designer in Nigeria, you need to figure out the aspect you want to dive into and earn skills related to that aspect. Let’s take a look at how you can be a fashion designer in Nigeria below:
1. Take a Fashion Design Degree Program
The first step to becoming a fashion designer in Nigeria is to take and complete a fashion design degree program. This step would help you get to know the basics of fashion designing, the little aspects like types of fabrics, equipment needed, how to cut an outfit, how to operate a machine, and so on.
Getting a degree in fashion will also help you in building your portfolio. Some A-List Clients often request your portfolio before patronizing you.
2. Gain Hands-On Experience in fashion designing
Another step to becoming a fashion designer in Nigeria is to gain hands-on experience. Consider this a form internship. Whatever you learned in fashion school, you need to practicalize it in real life. Experience also helps you to become a good fashion designer.
3. Choose an aspect of fashion designing
The third step to becoming a fashion designer is to choose an aspect of fashion design you want to venture into. This can be designing Haute Couture outfits like evening and dinner wears, ready-to-wear outfits for work and casual outings, leisure outfits, wedding dresses, and so on. Choosing an aspect will help you focus and become a pro. It will also help to increase your reputation.
5: Develop your skills
After choosing an aspect of fashion you want to focus on, you can start taking orders and from there you develop your skills. No one is above mistakes and you should always take that mistake as an opportunity to develop.
6: Ask your customers what they need and like
Sometimes in fashion designing, you need to ask your customers what they need to give them a design they would fall in love with. The exception, in this case, is ready-to-wear outfits. Your customers can choose from the available designs you have. However when styling other outfits like Asoebi and all, make sure to ask what they feel comfortable wearing.
7: Look for fashion design jobs online and physical
There are numerous fashion designing jobs online that you can take. However, you need to be sure of your skills and all. I have a Facebook page where I get different fashion design requests from people in different countries. When you have the talent, customers and clients will come to you either through referral or naturally.
8. How to become a fashion designer in Nigeria- Keep on collecting inspirations
If you are new to the fashion world, you might be confused about what to do as a fashion designer. You can look at what your competitors are doing and get inspiration on how to do better.
Fashion designing requires you to be constantly updated on new trends and designs. Do not be an outdated fashion designer but rather take some time to explore the fashion world and see what is trending among fashion lovers.
That way, you can keep up with trends and also get inspiration for new designs you can introduce.
How to become a fashion designer without a degree?
Another commonly asked question is how to become a fashion designer without a degree. You don’t necessarily need a degree to become a fashion designer. Great designers like Coco Chanel and Guccio Gucci all started with their creative talents.
From there you gain experience and grow little by little. Paris was not built in a day. Being dedicated and committed to achieving your goal to become a fashion designer is all you need. Also, accept mistakes as an opportunity to improve and not something to discourage you.
Conclusion
In this article, I have explained all you need to become a fashion designer in Nigeria. Apart from this, you need to be committed to your goal.
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