wHat Is A fAsHiOn deSiGneR?

i whipped this essay up because i need to take one along to interviews with me.....it stills needs more work and im not sure it's very professional but it's me all the same.....added in a lil pic of the old 'bumster' for fun

What Defines a Fashion Designer?

By Sophie Moore

Is Fashion still art? As we move forward in the 21^st Century it seems more and more celebrities are starting their own clothing lines which they have supposedly designed. But do these celebs really whip out a pencil and put it to paper, or is it a case of pointing a finger to their favourite colour and style?

When I typed 'what is a fashion designer?' into my search engine three definitions appeared....

• 'couturier: someone who designs clothing'
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• 'Fashion design is the applied art dedicated to clothing and lifestyle accessories created within the cultural and social influences of a specific time. It is considered to have a planned obsolescence usually of one to two seasons. A season is defined as either autumn/winter or spring/summer.'
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_Designer
• 'A fashion designer combines the different elements of a garment – line, proportion, color and texture. It is not necessary for a fashion designer to be adept with sewing and pattern-making, but they are always admired. But only these two qualities do not make you a successful fashion designer. …'www.beautytipshub.com/fashion/terms.html

These definitions are all quite similar in content, stating that fashion is associated with design, art or both, and if you were to ask people I would expect them to relate fashion with creativity. There are many different takes on fashion as there are people who admire it. Some express their love of it by purchasing the most up to date trend, others by rebelling against the masses and some, create it. The people who make a brief appearance at the end of a catwalk show, they are a big part of what keep the fashion industry ticking away.

There are many fashion giants, my personal favourites include the late Alexander McQueen, the timeless figure Coco Chanel, Vivienne Westwood and Pierre Balmain. To me these are the true fashion designers, the people who worked hard to make their name and their art seen, they caused turning points in fashion. Yet in the past few years names such as Victoria Beckham, Lourdes Leon, Kate Moss, Jay Z and other big celeb names have been seen popping up in the fashion industry, and for being more than ambassadors....they have their own labels.

When Victoria Beckham announced she would be releasing her own fashion label I wasn't over excited, my first reaction was 'well she would, she has the money why not...' but don't get me wrong, her latest collection has grown on me (I'm after one of her bags), but has she really created these ideas or has she pointed the finger? In a recent interview for Vogue Beckham claimed-

“Look, I don't draw, but nor do lots of designers. I tie things around me, I experiment with ideas....”- Vogue, February 2011 issue.

So at least she is honest about not drawing and maybe she takes a 'hands on' approach to things, but this is a woman who has been told what to wear for half her career, she has been an ambassador for various designers. Yes she has the knowledge and a good eye for a dress, but is she just recreating what she likes, rather than fresh new ideas.

Two other fashion school skippers are Madonna and her daughter, Lourdes Leon. The mother and daughter have teamed up to bring affordable fashion to young girls, by collaborating with Iconix. I think the idea is great and it will no doubt sell, but is it true fashion designing, are they putting pen to paper and recreating a new vision or just rejuvenating an old one?

The fashion industry is hard enough to get in to, and even if you get yourself a ticket through the doorways of a fashion house it's still a long, hard climb to the top. And now celebrities have come along bypassing the education, climb the steps pathway, giving the illusion that it's all fun games. The positives to celeb lines is that they will sell, everyone wants to be their idol. But I personal feel that the magic of fashion 'design' is lost in amongst the business.

Granted some of McQueen's work was very over the top and if you were going to wear any of his clothes you'd have to be body confident particularly if you were a fan of the 'bumsters' a very brief trend, and a prime example that designers don't always get it right. But that's the beauty of art, its the power to cause debate, to love it or hate it. If celebrities start to take over the fashion design industry will the 'love, hate' opinion stop because you idolise the celebrity 'designing' the clothes.

I suppose I have answered my own question, as the soul point of this piece of writing is to debate whether celebrities are artists of fashion or not. As a pursuer of a fashion career I personally feel that celebrities should stick to their original careers and let the designers do the job they set out to. That said, the celebrity tribe plays a huge part in the fashion industry, they are an advertisement for a new trend, and up and coming designer, they are the customer. They come and the rest follow.