PORTFOLIO 101
- Mar 6, 2017
- 4 min read
Oh portfolio. You came into my life when I did my Certificate IV in Visual Arts studies. I saw ridiculously good ones presented at the front of the class. My classmates (who later went on choosing different design disciplines) all stress on the importance of it.
So now the question of the day is...
What should be in a portfolio for someone taking Fashion Business?
Like, if you're doing graphic design, your portfolio should be filled with branding collaterals, brochures and posters.
The answer? All of the above - or beyond.
I've encountered this super-excellent portfolio by multi-hyphenate fashion blogger Margaret Zhang (also check out my next post on industry icons!). That's kind of what I look up to. I also came across this insightful guide on 10 elements to put in a fashion business portfolio (for ease of reading I will later refer to this as 10E). Obviously I won't be copy-pasting that article here, so I'm just curating the content that I feel relevant with.
This post also covers skills that I would need to learn, improve, or fix up for the sake of the 'dream' (pardon me I couldn't find another less cliche word that represents the meaning I want).
1. FASHION WRITING
I did produce some 'okay' (my self-review) articles during my internship, but I need to write up original ones, where I am involved from choosing the topic to the final editing. It can cover basically anything, as long as it is related to fashion. It doesn't necessarily have to be published, since blogging is also considered a branch of journalism. And to quote 10E - "You should also be active on social media - no excuses!"
Skills to brush up :
Constructing a well-organised article
Find a way of writing that best expresses my opinions
Scout for topics that inspire or provoke me
Actually generating writing material
+ how to:
Read articles on established fashion / lifestyle media.
Read how-to-improve-writing pieces or enrol in some short course on it.
Just do some writing. Sit at some hipster cafe or something and write. Experiment. I have to try putting out words on any kind of topic. Okay maybe not fanfiction, even though that genre DID made a ton of money (FSOG). You get what I mean. JUST WRITE THINGS.
2. ART DIRECTION
This is something I really want to try my hands on. I always loved looking at super-aesthetically-pleasing images, especially those with fashion involved. In time, admiration turns to a desire to create something similar. The thing is, I do not have the skills needed.
Skills to brush up:
Digital photography
Image processing or photo editing skills
Styling
Videography (to an extent)
+ how to:
Try making inspiration boards, put down ideas in a notebook
Look at industry examples and how they produce / start off*
*more excuses to watch editorial making videos of Korean models
3. PHOTOGRAPHY
No. 2 bring us to this. I missed out on photography subjects in two Raffles colleges (yes apparently), so I might need to find some online course or short course to learn.
Skills to brush up:
Learning how to use a camera for fashion photography
Well that's step one. I'll only know what further steps I have to take after I take a course on this. I personally think that photography is not something I can 100% self-learn on.
4. BRANDING & MISC. GRAPHIC DESIGN WORKS
This is especially important for people who are in the more creative side of fashion business. It can range from branding collaterals, layouts, re-branding of an existing company - basically anything that merges fashion x graphic design. Basically, anything that can fit in comfortably in a graphic designer's portfolio, but in the context of fashion.
Skills to brush up:
Learning to master programs of Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign.
Again, experimentation and building from scratch is the way to start. Pinterest is super-helpful in finding inspirations but in the end its self-initiative.
5. TREND BOARDS
Trend reports are especially useful for someone who wants to be a fashion buyer, which is actually in my Plan C list of things I want to do for a career (FYI Plan A: doctor and Plan B: fashion editor. I considered to be some Indiana Jones-esque adventurer / archeologist / detective but I don't think that counts as a serious path).
Unrealistic childhood dreams aside, according to 10E the objective of featuring trend boards in the portfolio is to show that we can identify or forecast trends, which is a valuable quality in the fashion industry. Visuals are key, combined with correct timing (should be relevant in the future 6-18 months) and analysis of various cultural artefacts - from art, street style, lifestyle, music, and technology.
Skills to brush up:
Honestly for this one I have to start from zero, aka intensive research on how to create trend boards.
I now have a slight idea of what I will need. Which brings us here. I did point out the things I would need to do to develop my portfolio, so below is the overview.
STRATEGY #1: Self-learn from Google or books.
STRATEGY #2: Find a course. If I would be really time-constrained, I'll have to find something online.
STRATEGY #3: Experiment, practice, start doing (not just say I'll-do-this but nonexistent results).
STRATEGY #4: Find a friend to help out or teach some tricks.
I know some people in different design disciplines, so maybe I can ask them for help. Some of them have also participated in photoshoots or fashion events, so they might have insights in things I don't know but may be beneficial for me.
So that's my rough portfolio strategy. Implementation should follow.
Until then people.
References:
Flickr. (2017). [CSM] BA (Hons) Fashion: Design With Marketing MINI-PORTFOLIO: Sony Bishwakarma BIS13383416. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/35143403@N07/12799691425
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