200 skills every fashion designer must have The indispensable guide to building skills and turning ideas into reality

The 200 skills outlined in this book are intended to be a start-to-finish guide for the aspiring fashion designer. These skills are divided into sections focused on design, illustration, fabrics, garment construction, branding, and career skills. Before diving into design, McKeefry details the top 10 skills she sees as core to the rest of the book's contents and to the temperament and attitude of any fashion designer. These include creative flair, a thick skin, a critical eye, decisiveness, and more. The skills in the six primary sections range from very specific things a designer will need to be able to do or create, such as spec sheets, fashion illustration, and making a toile (prototype), and more general information a designer will need to know, such as types of buttons, what denim is and how it originated, and what defines embroidery. Some of the 200 items are distinct and detailed in their entries, while others feel stretched to make the list a large round number, but all of the content will be useful for aspiring designers.--Heidemann, Anne Copyright 2017 Booklist

McKeefry, a designer for British retailer ASOS, shares her knowledge gleaned from a career in fashion design. Her guide explores the skills, traits, and expertise needed to be successful in this competitive field. After an overview of core skills-creative flair, organization, drive, and ambition-McKeefry guides designers through six areas crucial to success, including design, illustration, fabric and garment construction, branding, and professional know-how. Each of the skills is covered via a brief, factual description, along with color photographs or fashion illustrations. -VERDICT Budding designers will gain valuable insight into how the field really works via McKeefry's step-by-step overview of how collections move from the designers' imagination to a sketch or prototype to a finished, sellable item. © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.