Fashion Careers
That Began As A Fluke

If you've been thinking about starting a fashion career but haven't done so as yet, I have one question for you:

Why not?

Is it because you don't think you have the skill? The money?  The right audience?  The right alignment of the stars?  What?

Now I know that some of you have big dreams, dreams that take you far away from your humble beginnings into a life of fame and fortune.  Others couldn't care less about such things -- they just want to see the pictures in their head come to life.  Still others want to find a way to turn their fashion hobby into extra income but haven't figured out how to do it as yet.

So what's the answer?

Do SOMETHING.

ANYTHING.

Where ever you fit in the scheme of things, just put your dreams into action.  You don't have to wait until every aspect of your life is perfectly perfect to begin, because it never will be.  All you need is a little courage to get going.  ACTION conquers FEAR.  Once you get a few successes under your belt, your confidence will skyrocket and things will come together.

How do I know?

Because I've seen how quickly it can happen first hand.

On two consecutive Thursday nights not long ago, I took a jewelry making class from the local Parks & Rec department.  For about $60 and five hours of my time, I learned the basics of wiring beads on necklaces, bracelets, and earrings.  Nothing overly complicated or earth-shattering, just a few hours learning a new creative outlet.  I wore the pieces I made to drop off and pick up my children at school the next day.

The result?

After plenty of oohs and aahs, I had three different offers to buy the necklace right off my neck, and requests for five custom orders.  With very little effort, I had stumbled across a potentially lucrative income stream.  All because I designed something and dared to wear it in public.

Think that's crazy?

So do I.

But it's not an uncommon story.  People like unusual items and are willing to pay for them, often asking for the item right off your body.

The instructor of the class I took had many similar experiences.  She makes jewelry by the carload in her spare time but doesn't get attached to any of it because people are always asking to buy things off of her.  She shows at a couple of local jewelry shows a year, and makes enough money to fund both her clothing habit and a couple of nice vacations a year.  Her two retail accounts came from boutique owners who happened to attend the local shows.

So still think that you need to be in New York, London, Paris, or Milan to make any money in fashion?

Before you answer, let me tell you a few other tales:

• Denton Kump had earned her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and was doing medical research in Richmond, Virginia, when her youngest child finally moved out of diapers.  But trading in the diaper bag for a new, chic handbag wasn't as easy as Denton thought it was going to be, because she couldn't find any she liked.

Annoyed but not dissuaded, this sewing hobbyist stitched together a colorful bag more to her liking and started carrying it.  People stopped her on the street to find out where she'd gotten the bag and instantly placed orders when they learned she was the designer.

 

Within a matter of months, Denton traded her laboratory coat for a design pad and formed Poesis Purses.  Today, Poesis sells handbags,

shoes, and diaper bags to upscale boutiques and department stores. 

 

Poesis Purses

http://www.poesispurses.com

• Mary Norton started her handbag business as a hobby on her dining room table.  After working and traveling with the motion picture industry for more than a decade, Mary married and settled in Charleston, South Carolina.  Two babies later, she was looking for some way to vent her creative energies.  She had a dream about a flowery handbag and knew that this was her calling. 

After teaching herself handbag construction, she left a few of her samples sitting on the dining room table one night while she had a babysitter over to watch her girls.  As luck would have it, the sitter also happened to manage a local boutique, and talked Mary into letting her sell the colorful handbags at the boutique.  The few samples Mary had were sold before lunch the next day.

 

Today, just five years later, Mary's MOO ROO handbags, which are popular among celebrities, are sold at nearly 300 high end boutiques and department stores nationwide, and at her website,

 

Moo Roo

http://www.mooroo.com

• Socialite Lillie Pulitzer was living the life of luxury in Palm Beach when, in 1960, after sending her children off to school, she became bored out of her mind.  Since her husband owned several citrus groves in the area, she decided to set up a juice stand in the heart of ritzy Palm Beach.

But the job had its risks:  she kept getting juice all over her expensive couture clothes.  So she found some bright yellow, orange, and green material and asked her dressmaker to make up some simple shifts.  After her customers started asking her where she'd gotten her dress, she had her dressmaker make up a few extra to sell.  When she started selling more dresses that juice, she gave up the juice stand and started designing clothes full time.

 

The Lilly Pulitzer line quickly became a favorite of the jet set.  Even her old school chum, Jacqueline Kennedy, started wearing Lillys.  When, as the First Lady, she was pictured in Life Magazine wearing a classic shift by Lilly, everyone wanted one. 

 

The legacy was born.  Lilly's clothes became the unofficial uniform of the affluent at play, and remained so until she retired in 1984.  When droves of Lilly lovers begged her to come back, Lilly finally did so in 1993.

 

Today, the Lillie Pulitzer name remains a popular brand, and is carried at high-end boutiques and department stores throughout the world. 

Lilly Pulizter

http://www.lillypulitzer.com

So do you STILL think a fabulous fashion career is out of your reach?  It's not.  All you need are a few fresh ideas, a unique style, and a hungry audience.  Combine all three elements, and you may be amazed to what heights you can climb.

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Diana Pemberton-Sikes is a fashion writer and image consultant and a contributing author to FabJob’s Guide to “Become A Fashion Designer.”  You can visit her online at FashionJobReview.com .