You may think that the world of fashion design is all glitz and glamor, but didn’t you know that aside from talent, it is hard work as well? To be the best in any endeavor, you must aim to have the heart and the hustle. Not to mention, a great portfolio to back you up.
The pandemic has affected a lot of industries and professions, and fashion designers are one of them. If you want to be the next Coco Chanel, even a worldwide disease shouldn’t stop you from getting in the grind and pursuing your dreams. And since it’s still COVID-19 season and we want to be safe indoors as much as possible, the trend is to take the profession of being a fashion designer online.
“How?” You may ask. Lucky for you, we have the answers. To start, if you don’t have a fashion designer portfolio yet, it might be best to not waste any time and make one today.
Your weapon of choice? A fashion designer website.
Your ally? A great web-builder that will not only take your designs online but also take them to the next level.
We know how creative the world of fashion design can be. Armed with this knowledge, we at Strikingly have come up with ways in which you, as a fashion designer, can take that creativity even when designing a website.
Simply log in to Strikingly’s editor and head straight to work. The site editor is where you create, edit, and publish your site. It has a feature called Styles wherein you can change the design and overall feel of your site. You can customize your website’s template, fonts, and color scheme to match your personal brand.
Image taken from Strikingly’s website
Did you know that you can even edit your website using your mobile? For those who prefer using a smaller electronic, our mobile-friendly editor is the way to go.
As a fashion designer, the plethora of templates and other fun things such as fonts to tinker with would surely delight your fancy. Heck, you may even decide to change your career altogether (just kidding). But yeah, do give it a try and you can thank us later. In fact, listed below are some examples of users who have created their own fashion design portfolio.
Before anything though, let’s first define what a fashion designer portfolio is and its importance.
Basically, a fashion designer online portfolio is where you can showcase your gorgeous work on the internet. It’s a series of linked webpages that are curated, uploaded, and maintained by the fashion designer (or if you want to hire someone to maintain it, then by all means do so). Just keep in mind that it should depict an accurate representation of you, personally, and your brand, professionally.
What Are the Advantages of Having an Online Portfolio?
- Showcase your body of work - How would people know that you’re the upcoming star in the world of fashion design if they can’t even see your work? It’s time to step out of the shadows and shine the spotlight on the things you’ve worked hard for creating.
- Attract new customers - Looking to expand your network and gain new loyal clients? As mentioned, you might have the knack for creating captivating designs but if the business seems to be slow, an online portfolio can be one avenue to diversify and extend your reach outside of the people who already know you and your work.
- Maintain your brand image - It’s safe to say, having your work displayed online will make existing customers remember what your craft is all about. Think of your website as an extension of you.
- Increase opportunities - Hey, an online portfolio isn’t only about attracting new customers, but other designers and professionals as well. Widening your network through the internet increases opportunities to make some friends, build an online community, and who knows? Perhaps businesses might want to partner with you as well.
Fashion Designer Portfolio Samples:
- Karen Lo
Image taken from Karen Lo’s website
This is a fashion portfolio example of a stylist who wanted to showcase her work. Karen Lo is a fashion stylist and an art director whose work was published in Vulkan Magazine, Women X Women, Salon Magazine, and THINKCONTRA.com. Some of the past clients she worked with were MTV Canada, eOne Films, and Nespresso. Her website portfolio features five samples of her creations. What’s great about her site is she kept her site simple and she also has a dedicated space for site visitors to contact her.
- Swish
Image taken from Swish’s website
Swish is a company founded by Divya Dhar and Oliver Stevens with the aim to help empower women to feel beautiful by giving them a choice in what products would suit them the best. This is done by giving you recommendations based on your skin tone and style preference. To date, they have 40,000 products available for their clients and about 2,500 looks created. Although they are different from your typical traditional fashion portfolio example, their unique proposition, body positivity, and race inclusivity are certainly what makes them stand out.
- Isa Catepillán
Image taken from Isa Catepillán’s website
Isa Catepillan prides herself in being a self-taught textile artist who is a believer in slow- fashion and carefully curated pieces. Her online portfolio features women dressed in intricately woven pieces that capture their natural style and feminine strength, which is what Isa wants to convey through her designs. Isa gets inspiration from her rich ethnic background, Indigenous Mapuche, which is a lineage of traditional weavers. Her passion and purpose seep through her work with every loop, fiber, and stitch of threads. As you can see, the colors she chose for her website exemplifies the rustic feel and how modern fashion meets natural beauty.
- The Designers Squad
Image taken from The Designers Squad’s website
Jeanne, the founder of The Designers Squad, created her company with one thing in mind: to offer beautiful and original Korean-inspired designer pieces that are priced fairly. Her online portfolio also displays the values that her business is built upon — a carefully chosen selection of new items from Korean designers, pricing transparency, and limited quantities to make every item as unique and special as possible. You can also find her Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts on her portfolio, which she integrated into her website.
How to Create a Fashion Design Portfolio:
- Create a free 14-day trial website with Strikingly. It is simple and risk-free.
- Choose a beautiful template that tickles your fancy (we have lots of great designs to choose from)!
- Upload your body of work. Use our Strikingly editor or Simple Blog to populate your website.
- Decorate your site to make it as professional and personalized as possible, while still sticking to the brand image you want to convey.
- Edit sections and add, delete, rename, or reorder information when necessary.
- Once your website is set up, take it a notch further by integrating your social media accounts.
- Set up your store and add merchandise to make your website an online portfolio and a shop in one.
Things to Keep in Mind When Crafting Your Own Fashion Designer Portfolio:
- Select your fonts and website template wisely - Depict your creative genius through your website’s look. It’s important that its visual appearance is well thought of in order to maintain that all-around brand consistency.
- Include a lot of pictures - Unlike other professions such as writing where a writer’s weapon is words, a fashion designer’s portfolio should be eye candy. In short, it must be appealing to the eyes as clothing relies heavily on the sense of sight.
- Don’t overthink it - A fashion designer is first and foremost creative by birth, and creativity works best when you keep things a tad bit spontaneous and free-flowing.
- List your contact details - It’s one thing to have a good-looking website that embodies your work of art, but if your customers won’t know where to find you, then they just might opt to have a different fashion designer instead. It goes without saying that you should always make it easy for potential clients to contact you — don’t let that talent go to waste!
- Update it regularly - As styles evolve and new trends emerge, so does a fashion designer’s knowledge expands and skills get updated. In order to get ahead of the game, don’t forget to keep your designs, as well as your website, fresh — being outdated is a big no-no!
So, there you go. We hope that we somehow shed some light on how to craft yourself a killer portfolio. We also hope that the fashion designer portfolio examples listed above opened your mind and served as an inspiration to craft your very own if you haven’t done so yet. It is easy to create your own online portfolio if you have the right tools. As mentioned, Strikingly’s editor will be your best friend in this process. Hurry, time waits for no one.
