Fashion, as I usually say, is energetic and full of color. You do not necessarily have to be a designer, or stylist, or model, or art director to be in this industry. When you uncover every aspect of fashion, you will realize that it’s a vast world with many sub-career options.
As long as you are passionate about it, you will certainly be part of it. There are many students who ask me about the job positions in this industry, then let’s discover your options for the fashion career!
(Part 2: Below are fashion career choices for marketing students.)
1. Marketing manager
Marketing director
As a marketing assistant for a fashion brand, you will shoulder all the responsibilities related to marketing such as brand advertising, collaborating with KOLs, influencers,... You can also compose press releases to promote the newest lookbook or campaign. You need to memorize the mantra of the brand, or as I call it, missions & visions that help the designer convey them to the public in the clearest and most efficient way. The role of a marketing assistant requires lots and lots of writing, with over a year of experience in this line of work I have written a lot of content for the collections, product descriptions and design statements. In that time, I had to make many adjustments to my writing style to fit the character of the brand. Moreover, I came up with the planning boards for events such as fashion shows, visual advertising and social media agendas for the brand. Nowadays, I am responsible for the Instagram and Pinterest presence of the brand. In truth, I have learnt so much from this position and I hope that in the future, fashion marketing and advertising will be more sought after in fashion schools in Vietnam.
Marketers work closely with:
- Fashion designers/brand leaders.
- Journals/editorials.
- Influencers.
- Salespeople.
- Customers/clients.
IMAGE: Office x Sicky
2. Fashion buyer
Fashion buyers, otherwise known as product buyers, are crucial for retail fashion brands with a source of import, especially those that sell high-end clothing. They are individuals responsible for selecting and ordering fashion products to sell at the store.
These are individuals that will represent the brand in finding and ordering products that, in their best judgement, will bring the most profit to a store based on location and target customers of the brand. The job aforementioned requires being continuously updated on trends. Aside from this, fashion buyers also need to have a firm understanding of consumer psychology and competent research skills. They will think of the best product display with the merchandiser to create a compelling and alluring look for the entire store.
Fashion buyers work closely with:
- Workshops, sewing factories.
- Apparel distributor.
- Fashion designers.
- Salespeople.
- Trend forecasters.
IMAGE: C.dam/ LVMH/ Office Snapshots
3. Creative director
This job title is no stranger to fashion lovers. We often hear the term “Creative Director” many times in photosets, campaigns, lookbooks and fashion editorials. This is a job that has a direct link to Fashion Photography, since a creative director will frequently work with photography teams and come up with the entire concept, mood and props that reflects the designer’s collection. To do this job, you will need branding skills, visual advertising skills and also knowledge on styling and fashion trends. You could say that visual identity is integral to an effective fashion brand advertisement. Creative directors need to have a solid grasp on the market, on target customers to bring a fitting visual concept. As a creative director, you will give life to the ‘face’ of the brand that you work with.
IMAGE: Chats by C.dam
Creative directors work closely with:
- Fashion designers/brand leaders.
- Photographers and related teams.
- Stylists.
- Make-up artists.
- Fashion designers.
- Studio managers.
4. Visual merchandiser
In the previous article, I mentioned Visual Merchandising as a university subject for the Fashion Marketing and Advertising major. With renowned brands, store design and product display are fundamentals of attracting the customer. You will need to do research on color theory, architectural materials and styling aesthetics. A visual merchandiser needs to understand the intricacies of the concept and the brand’s missions and visions in order to design the store and choose the appropriate interior decoration.
This would require creativity, good social skills, an ability to exercise team effort and flexibility. For a particular sales period or releasing a seasonal collection, visual merchandisers need to adjust the interior’s atmosphere to fit the theme. As for designing a display atmosphere, you also need idea sketches, research & development as well as fashion design but not for apparel.
Visual merchandisers work closely with:
- Fashion buyers.
- Fashion designers.
- Brand managers.
- Marketing directors.
5. Fashion journalists
To become a fashion journalist, you need decent taste and a holistic, progressive view on fashion. You do not necessarily have to start from fashion but you need some amount of research on it to update yourself on the latest fashion news and trends.
IMAGE: Vogue
You will write opinions and commentary and rankings on fashion. You may be the author of articles on trends, popular figures, designers or photographers, making note of the events that provide writing material. The most important thing is that you need to always be updated on the newest of fashion news, observe the impression that influencers leave through their style on social media and gather images and articles on them. To do this, you need to follow personal accounts of celebrities, KOLs, influencers, fashion news networks of various countries or websites on fashion updates such as Maybe We Should Talk ‘Bout Fashion; Maybe You Missed This Trendy Outfit; Stylist Viet Nam;...You will also have the opportunity to network by interviewing popular figures through online meetings, text, recordings or in-person.
Recently, I have gotten used to this work since I collaborated with Vietnamnet.vn and wrote some articles for them in the fashion section. I learnt a lot and expanded my fashion vocabulary as well.
Fashion editors work closely with:
- Editors-in-chief.
- Photography teams.
- KOLs, influencers.
- Fashion bloggers.
- Fashion designers.
IMAGE: Vogue/ Flipsnack
6. Fashion blogger
This job is probably nothing new to all of us. A fashion blogger is an individual that inspires styling ideas, or knowledge on fashion to the public. To become a fashion blogger, first, you need to establish the subject and personality of your entire blog before you begin. Will you create a styling, sustainability, streetwear or academic blog? To be a fashion blogger, you need to have a lot of knowledge on a specific topic and dare to voice your opinion on fashion-related issues. The work of a fashion blogger consists of frequently updating interesting content, trends of fashion, stylewear, brands, beauty products and personal experiences in fashion. Those are people who have influence over the lifestyle of the followers and often bring a positive, friendly energy to the community. As a blogger, you also need to determine the values you will bring to your readers. To be successful in this area, you need to grasp the mindset of the reader in order to write meaningful content. The demand for certain topics is also high, because my teacher once said: “Fashion does not wait” If you do not generate new content consistently, it will be extremely hard to develop your blog.
Blogging is a freelance job, you can work for yourself but bloggers work close with:
- Fashion designers/brands.
- Editorials.
- Marketing experts.
- Stylists.
- Creative director.
IMAGE: Inthefrow
7. Brand manager
As one of the quite popular jobs when studying Fashion Marketing, a brand manager will be responsible for tracking and measuring daily sales, as well as customer interactions on social networking platforms. From there, they adjust the business plan as well as the product promotion strategy to be more reasonable, attracting more audiences. In addition, the brand manager also needs to know the list of potential KOLs and influencers who can cooperate and they are often the representative of the brand to meet VIP guests and partners.
To do this job well, you need both strong communication and business skills, and a good understanding of 'brand missions'. Research skills, pricing and event management, and staffing are also extremely important for a brand manager. It can be said that they manage and flexibly coordinate marketing - sales campaigns for the brand. In many stores, the brand manager is also involved in trend research and visual communication.
Brand managers work closely with:
- Designers.
- Salespeople.
- Marketing experts.
- Editorials.
- Creative directors.
8. Digital Marketing manager/director
For the above job, you will work intensively with fashion communication campaigns via social networking platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Tik Tok or websites. Each of the above platforms has different properties, different roles, and so does marketing. To be able to do well in this position, you need to spend a lot of time researching how each platform works (promotion campaigns, functionality, SEO, popular audience and age groups ...). In particular, all of those elements need to be relevant to the fashion brand you work with. There are brands that will do best on Facebook because of their mature, luxurious and expensive style. Instagram is the place to bring more youthful fashion trends, more personality because it's a popular application with Gen Z. This job requires skills in content creation, technology proficiency and flexibility. active, creative.
Digital marketers work closely with:
- Fashion designers
- Marketing.
- Salespeople.
- Art directors.
- Graphic designers.
IMAGE: Chloé/ Valentino