What Inspires A Fashion Designer?

A hard-working fashion designer is by definition, an incredibly prolific artist. In order to compete in a fast-paced industry, designers who want to strike it big must be constantly absorbing ideas from the world’s palate, staying in tune with the times, and creating, creating, creating new designs until kingdom come. So where, you might ask, do designers draw such constant inspiration in order to constantly create? We were wondering the same thing, so we did some research in order to find out the different sources that inspire fashion design’s hottest garments. Here are some sources of inspiration we found, and who knows? If you’re a fashion student or a designer-in-training they might inspire you too…

Visual Inspiration. While there are endless sources of possible inspiration, fashion designers who create in the realm of the visual are usually inspired by something they have seen. Visual possibilities are virtually endless. Maybe it’s a photo you’ve recently taken or seen. Maybe it’s an accident in your studio that ended up looking better than you thought it would. Maybe it’s a film you’ve just watched, or a meal you just ate, or a particularly beautiful tree you’ve walked by in the park. In the past, famous designers have often modeled designs after people. They have created outfits for their lovers, friends, family and other muses. A relationship with another human being is perhaps the most evocative type of visual inspiration.

Conceptual Inspiration. Conceptual inspiration could almost be considered the lack of the visual inspiration. In other words, by looking at something, maybe you realize you want to create what you don’t actually see. Maybe you realize an absence of something that you know you could contribute. Maybe you’re at the beach one day and you realize there is a need for a type of beach tote bag that nobody has. Maybe you’re at a runway show and it dawns on you that another designer’s collection is seriously lacking a specific element that you can create. Just as in visual inspiration, the possibilities for conceptual inspiration are endless.

Anyone can create their own possibilities for inspiration by developing a keen eye, and really observing and appreciating all of the random beauty that the world offers to us.