Fashion designers understand that clothes are much more than protection from the elements. Clothes can make people feel confident or powerful. Or they can be comforting. Clothing can be an artistic expression—a projection of the image people want the world to see.

While good fashion design will probably never be equated with a cure for disease or a solution for world hunger, fashion can make a person feel better. Though some may say fashion is purely superficial, appearance can have profound effects personally and to the world at large. Whether you think of royalty or rock stars, you visualize their appearance and presentation. What people wear projects who they are.

The elegant and often eccentric styles found on the runways of Paris and New York do not represent the full scope of fashion designers' work. In reality, there are a multitude of opportunities in fashion design, from sportswear, to children's clothes, to haute couture. If you can wear it, someone has designed it.

Creativity and Style - No fashion designer can get by without creativity and style. The fashion industry is in a constant state of metamorphosis. Fashion designers need to be on their toes. They need to be able to look at old styles and see a new direction to take with their designs. They need to be able to innovate and put a fresh spin on things. From sketching to execution, fashion designers need artistic ability and originality to succeed in the industry.

Knowledge of Fashion History - Setting trends isn't a simple business. Fashion designers have to stay a step ahead. To do that, they need knowledge about previous styles and movements in fashion history. They also need to be aware of current fashion events and developments.

Business Know-How - Knowing the ins and outs of business is also beneficial for fashion designers. In this highly competitive industry, aspiring designers can't rely on their artistic vision alone to bring success. For fashion designers, understanding basic principles of marketing and business can help them reach their goals.

Abililty to Perform Under Pressure - A fashion design career isn't for the faint of heart. Fashion designers should be able to work well under pressure. Working with an assortment of people and personalities to meet tight deadlines can be stressful. Those entering this occupation should be willing to work in a team, and they should thrive under the demands of deadlines. They should also be able to handle criticism. Critics in this field can be brutal. Successful fashion designers know how to learn from a critique while maintaining their individual style.

*Designers have to play many parts- artists, scientist, psychologist, politician, mathematician, economist, salesman- combined with the stamina of the long distance runner. 

                 -Designer Helen Storey

*The trick is to give people what they never knew they wanted.

           -Diana Vreeland Editor of American Vogue (1963-1971)

*All fashion is clothing, although clearly not all clothing is fashion...we need fashion rather than clothes-not to clothe our nakedness but to clothe our self esteem.

          -Colin McDowell 1995

*A lot of the time your not really designing for "fashion people" but the general public who have some money to spend. You can't choose your customer, they choose you.

             -Designer Suzanne Clements

*Designing is a matter of mixing known elements in new and exiting ways in order to create fresh combinations and products.

              -Sue Jenkyn Jones (Fashion Design)

*The principles of fashion design are not always taught, discussed in crits or consciously employed, but they exist nonetheless.

    -Sue Jenkyn Jones

* When in doubt, wear red.

 -Bill Blass

*Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.

   -Coco Chanel  

*Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

    -Oscar Wilde

*The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize.

     -Olympia Dukakis

*Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the common place, the slaves of the ordinary.

  -Cecil Beaton

*In order to be irreplacable one must always be different. A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.

  -Coco Chanel

*Zest is the secret to all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest.

  -Christian Dior

*Women dress alike all over the world: they dress to be annoying to other women.

    -Elsa Schiaparelli

* Fashions fade, but style is eternal.

     -Yves Saint Laurent

*The best thing is to look natural, but it takes make-up to look natural.

  -Calvin Klein

*The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.