portfolio• A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work

that exhibits the student's efforts, progress, and achievements in one or more areas of the curriculum. The collection must include the following:

• Student participation in selecting contents.• Criteria for selection.• Criteria for judging merits.• Evidence of a student's self-reflection.• It should represent a collection of students' best work

or best efforts, student-selected samples of work experiences related to outcomes being assessed, and documents according growth and development toward mastering identified outcomes.

How to Make a Fashion Design Portfolio

• A portfolio displays the sampling of work done by a designing student. Having a great portfolio is very important for starting a career and getting jobs in these areas. There are certain guidelines for a fashion portfolio.

• It is important to Get something to hold and organize the work. This can be a variety of things. a binder with page inserts works well. It may be best to spend the money on a nice large portfolio or presentation folder from a craft store or office supply store.

• Collect samples of best works, and begin to organize or group them together by collection. If there are multiple collections to display, we can include a few samples of inspiration for the design.

• Including sketches. These should be large, colored final sketches of

the design. This shows the original intentions with the design. If there is space, we can even include small preliminary sketches that show the development of designs.

• Include fabric swatches. These are small pieces of fabric that show what

you would make the designs out of, or what you intend to make the designs out of. They may be small squares, but have enough of the fabric to show the texture or pattern well. Some fabric stores may give free or sell swatches, or you may have to buy a small amount of fabric.

5 Include finished photos Include finished photos of the fashion design in your

portfolio if you have some. Anything that you actually make should be photographed while someone is wearing it. The photo should also be in color and large enough to show detail.

6 include story boardPut the work in a logical order. Think about the emotions

or feelings that each photo or design evokes when you look at it. Consider each one and whether they flow in the order of a sort of story.

Include Theme boardIt says about your theme. The direct interpretation of the

inspiration. It can be made by including the pictures which are related to your theme. It helps to make people understand the theme easily

Include mood board it creates the mood of the theme through pictures which are

indirectly related to your theme. By seeing this, people will get the actual feel of the theme. It can be expressed through collash or mood boards

Scanned copy of portfolio. With the technology of today, many places prefer a digital copy

burnt to disc. If you apply to colleges or jobs far away, the only source of contact may be through email and over phone. Scan all images and sketches, and creatively place them in order to be viewed easily. This can be very simple or get very complicated

Designing and recording a fashion collection

• A designers job include a variety of responsibilities such as researching the market, selecting the colors, fabrics and garment styling for the line based on fashion directions from merchandisers consulting with product engineers on costing factors preparing the preliminary specification sheet presenting technical drawings providing suggestions for linings, interfacings, trims, buttons and other components and releasing the approved styles for pattern making

Market research: It is done to understand consumer market trends, needs and wants. It includes three types of research:-

• Consumer research-Which provides information about consumer characteristics and consumer behaviour.

-demographics: age, sex, marital status, income, occupation, ethnicity.

-Geographic factors: location-psychographics factors; buying habits, attitudes, values,

motives, preferences, personality and leisure activities .• Product research: It provides information about preferred

product design and characteristics• Market analysis: which provides information about general

market trends. Planning ahead to meet the future needs of the consumer.

Fashion Research: In addition to market research fashion research is

also conducted. It focuses on trends in silhouettes, design details, colors, fabrics and trims.

• Fashion trend research: Trend research activities include reading or scanning appropriate trade publications, European fashion magazines, popular fashion magazines and shopping the market

• Color research: When color trends in apparel, accessories are reviewed overtime, it becomes clear that certain staples colors appear frequently in the fashion cycle. In apparel black navy white and beige are considered as staple colors and are seen almost all seasons. The color forecasting services are used by textile producers are also used by apparel companies. These services study color trends in textiles, apparels, home fashions.

• Fabric and trim research: It is focused on different types of fabrics such as spandex blended with wool or the use of micro fibers for men’s suit. It might include the trends such as the use of mettalic fibers of fabrics or the use of chenille yarns in suitings. Resources for this types of fabrics research include the same trade publications that designers and merchandisers used for fashion trends.

Creating a design

Design , inspiration and interpretation

Garment specification sheet

Sketch design and select fabrics and trims

Plan the line

Design inspiration

• A theme for the new lineBased on market research, design inspirations, and

discussions among the designers and merchandisers, a theme for the line might be developed. Not every line will have a theme, but a theme can help sells a group or a line to retailers and consumers.

• Color inspirationThe design team studies color trend reports gathered

during the research phase and discusses possible groups of colors for the new line while thinking about a color theme.

• Historic inspirationsSome designers theme can be based on and historical or

an ethnic inspiration. Fashion silhouettes or garments details popular during historical periods provide a source of design inspiration. Eg: empire silhouette, retro look.

• Ethnic inspirationDesigners may be inspired by clothing styles of other

cultures. The global environments has increased interest in products from the far reaches of the world. Designers seek inspirations from exotic culture with clothing style, fabrics and accessories that are unique.

• Fabric, texture and trim inspirations.Some designers who create apparel for the higher

price zones research a specific period or ethnic culture for inspirations, designers often rely on studying new fabric and texture trends. An intriguing fabric texture or interesting print might serve as a design foundation for a group. Several fabrics in prints, plaids, and solid colors, and with smooth as well as textures surfaces, might be combined to create an interesting group.

Planning the line

• The design team must begin to develop concrete ideas for the new season line. Based on the number of lines a company produces each year, each apparel company maintains a master calendar with target due dates for completion of the remaining stages of the creation and production of each line. The design team looks at the due date for the finalisation of a line, and works backward to determine what date to move from the research stage to the design stage.

Colour, fabric and style consideration

• During planning meetings, colour and fabrics for the new season’s line are discussed. A colour story will be developed based on the colour research conducted before the planning meeting. Line needs a balance between some staple colours and some fashion colours. Most garment styles will be produced in more than one colour. A specific style may be available in three or four different solid colours. The varieties of colours available for a style are called colour ways. Producing the same style in several colour ways is efficient in terms of development cost since fewer patterns, spec sheet, prototypes, and cost estimates need to be prepared than if each style where produced in only one colour way.

Costing:

• The production costs of each style in a line are an important factor for designers to consider throughout the design stage. Thus many companies include cost personal as part of a team during the planning meeting for a new line. Their role is to provide cost estimates on the new style in the line as it develops

Line presentation:• At a line review meeting the designer presents the design

sketches to the review team (the merchandiser, production engineer and tough sample sewing). According to the time line on the master calendar. Some designer present the new line as a formal presentation with rendered drawings, fabrics swatches and an indication of the design team or inspiration shown on presentation boards or story boards. The designer might make an oral presentation to the design team. The review team discusses and evaluate each of the designs. Out of sixty design ideas presented for review, perhaps only 30 or 40 sketches will be selected to continue into the design development stage. Some of these designs will be dropped at later stages as well. In some companies the merchandisers may request that all or most of the designs be developed as prototypes to visualise better the product.

Specification sheet

• The designer often has some specific design details in mind that need to be covey to the pattern maker and sample sewer in order to create a prototype garment. These details as well as other vital information are conveyed on a garments specification sheet, also called a garment spread sheet. It includes the number, size, style of button, any edge stitching or top stitching, the spacing between pleat or tucks. The size of patch pocket, pocketing, lining fabrics and interfacings are specified.