The Language of Fashion

Picture this; you’re searching for that perfect dream job, perhaps as a fashion designer for a stylish women’s wear label.   One day, as luck would have it, you would stumble across this ad:

Wanted women’s wear knit designer – Great company, full benefits, tons of perks, full Europe shopping, paid expenses, and excellent salary. Requirements: ten years women’s wear experience, Photoshop and Illustrator abilities, management experience, blah, blah, blah. Sounds like the perfect job, right?  Until you get to, must be fluent in Korean.

Recently we began debating the importance of being bilingual in the fashion industry.  Knowledge of a secondary language is certainly a plus in many industries and fashion is no exception.  Our recent article regarding the importance of a college education for a career in fashion mentioned this issue as well. One of the benefits of a university education is the foreign language requirement, which often provides more language options then in high school.  However, the real question is what language do you take? Or more specifically what is the language of fashion?

Often the language of fashion is believed to be French or Italian i.e. the language of the couturiers.  For some this is certainly the case and if you plan to peruse a career in an European fashion house knowledge of these languages would be a tremendous benefit.  However for many, especially those who plan to stay stateside fluency in Mandarin, Korean, or Japanese would make much more sense. Most apparel today, even designer labels, is produced in China or its neighboring countries. A designer who can speak the language of the factory or sample room worker is far more marketable.  Many designers, at various levels, work on a daily basis communicating with their overseas counterparts in order to get their garments made. Speaking the same language greatly improves that relationship.  Additionally, as a designer travel overseas is often required, sometimes monthly, so being bilingual makes those trips much more productive. Similarly, for designers who are required to do extensive European shop trips, fluency in those languages will give you a leg up on the competition and help build relationships.

Sadly many of us, who were high schools students of the 80’s or 90’s, were only encouraged to take Spanish or maybe French. We have yet to meet anyone in fashion who has benefited from learning Spanish and many who wish a Chinese language had been an option. So for those of you entering college or thinking about a career in fashion, we would certainly encourage a foreign language if possible.

One of our coworkers shared this story. “In one of my first jobs, as an assistant designer, I worked at a very large company who owned several prominent bridge brands. My first month there, the VP of design had me help organize a talk she was giving to a group of students from, I believe FIT. I stayed in the room during the talk and was surprised when the first student asked what was one skill they should learn to succeed in fashion and she replied, ‘learn a foreign language!’  Several months later our senior designer was getting ready for a trip to our factories in China and needed to take an assistant along to help. There were three of us and the one who got to go? Well, she was fluent in Mandarin!“

Keep in mind, this is not at all to say you can not be successful without being bilingual. Rather in a competitive field and a tight economy, any skill that sets you apart is recommended. So if you are entering or in school and have the foreign language option available to you, we say, TAKE IT!

Post written by: 39th and Broadway