Getting ahead in the fashion industry is tough. Even if you are holding down a relatively secure job, upward mobility is far from guaranteed. Therefore it is so important to focus on personal branding. Through personal branding, you create an image of your career separate from the company you happen to be working for. It is a strategy being used by everyone from influencers to top executives.
One important part of your personal branding will be creating a top fashion portfolio. One tool through which you can showcase your skills in your portfolio is by using a fashion website template. An attractive and well-organised portfolio will get your foot in the door at companies looking for someone with good intuition and style.
It is important that you use the tools at your disposal to make a fashion portfolio that stands out above the rest. To do so, take the following tips into consideration.
Choose a concept
The vast majority of people working in the fashion industry take a catch-all approach. They create a portfolio consisting of every work they have ever done, trying to show off just how versatile they are, hoping that viewers like at least some of their work. Unfortunately, this approach is most likely to fail.
While employers and recruiters in the fashion industry are certainly looking for versatility, someone with a distinct voice is much more valuable
While employers and recruiters in the fashion industry are certainly looking for versatility, someone with a distinct voice is much more valuable. By choosing a niche or concept around which to focus your portfolio, you show that you can do more than just style a model or mannequin. You can bring disparate ideas together to create a coherent narrative.
If you do this well, potential employers will not doubt your abilities. After all, you’ve already shown them that you can work on a higher, more abstract level.
Professional photos
For anyone not rolling in disposable income, the prospect of having professional photos taken for a portfolio is laughable. The problem is that this can make the difference between a successful portfolio and one that falls flat. No matter how good your projects have been, bad presentation immediately gives the viewer a negative first impression.
A lot of your success will come down to how well you frame your photos, your ability to crop, filter, adjust, and your instinctive feel for quality
If you are unable to find the money to hire a pro or to hire equipment, there are ways to uplift photos taken on a lesser camera or even on a smartphone. A lot of your success will come down to how well you frame your photos, your ability to crop, filter, adjust, and your instinctive feel for quality.
Branding
Your portfolio should not seem like a collection of work thrown together solely for the purpose of impressing recruiters. Rather, it should play into a larger branding strategy. By setting yourself up as a fashionista with some level of expertise, you’ll do far more for your career. As such, your portfolio should be part of a website that follows all the rules of good branding.
You’ll need to start with a domain name. In this circumstance, using your own name may be best, as you are ultimately marketing yourself. However, you can also benefit from choosing a catchy name for your website that uses popular fashion keywords. Either way, you should definitely pay for a domain name rather than using one with the suffix of your web host or platform.
A logo is important for the look and feel of your web page, including the way it appears in your browser’s tab
You should also design a logo for your website. This may seem gratuitous, especially considering you are the focal point, not some idea or concept. However, a logo is important for the look and feel of your web page, including the way it appears in your browser’s tab. It can also be on your email signature, which is especially effective if you are using your custom domain for your email address. Besides that, you need to make sure your website looks stunning. There’s a certain WordPress slider plugin which can do even more than its label might want you to think. You can create sliders but also whole pages with great animations.
Thought leadership
Fashion is a very visual industry, but that does not mean the fashion world does not appreciate words. The most impressive names in the business all have something to say and have shared their thoughts on all manner of relevant subjects.
As such, it is worthwhile to create a blog on your website, where you delve into topics into which you have some personal insight. These are called thought leadership articles. They typically share new ideas that cannot simply be cribbed from the opinions of others online. They present something that others have not thought of, or a counterargument to a widely held opinion.
Creating a top portfolio is about more than showing off your successful projects. It is an exercise in personal branding
Thought leadership articles set you up as an expert. With a great combination between looks as well as articles showing how well-versed you are, anyone who comes across you or who you target will get a great first impression. They will assume that you are not just one of the masses of “try-hards” in the fashion industry.
Creating a top portfolio is about more than showing off your successful projects. It is an exercise in personal branding, that will set you apart from the countless others vying for the same jobs and career development.
All images from DSCENE online exclusive story featuring young designer pieces photographed by Photo Magdalena Czajka for DSCENE – discover the full story.
