A common question by those wanting to enter the world of fashion is, “What exactly do I need in my portfolio?” The portfolio is a collection of your best work, a PDF/printed presentation that shows your work and that some companies require during your job interview in addition to your CV. Everyone who wants to work in fashion should have one, and it’s absolutely necessary for jobs like stylist, fashion photographer, designer… If you’ve read some previous articles explaining how you need a good portfolio you might now be at the stage where you want to start but don’t know where to begin. Your portfolio is something you should continuously be working on and improving no matter what stage in your career you’re at.
Depending which area of the industry you are focusing on your portfolio will vary from someone else’s. The main types of fashion portfolios are usually “Fashion Design”, Fashion Stylist, Fashion Photographer and Fashion Marketing/Business”. You first need to establish which one you fall into in order to begin, if you are a designer with business skills or vice versa you can definitely include both but choose 1 dominate area of focus. Once you’ve figured that out make a list of potential jobs you want, or areas of the industry that interest you, that way you can tailor your portfolio to your desired job.
Your portfolio should almost read as a book, it should have a theme and show consistency and your personal style throughout. It’s crucial you ONLY have original work, don’t copy someone else’s work. If you have a piece of work that involved collaborating with others, make sure to include those individual’s names to the project as well. To keep your portfolio organized it’s also a good idea to create sections and have a Table of Contents in the front, sections could be; Fashion Illustrations, Visual Merchandising, Fashion Writing, Marketing, Fashion Photography, Design, etc.
The first page of your portfolio should be an introduction, and highlight who you are. Following your introduction, your first section of work should be your BEST and strongest pieces and the work you want most seen (sometimes people get bored flipping through pages and might not make it through the whole thing). Keep the layout of your portfolio consistent so it looks professional and well put together. Add short write-ups for your work where explanation might be needed.
Remember that your portfolio is showcasing your work and you want it to speak for you, so put your best efforts into making it amazing. If you’re tailoring your portfolio to your dream job, not only showcase the skills that job requires, but also show versatility. If you show you can do MORE than someone else who might be applying for the same job that gives you an advantage. Don’t be afraid to show off your personal style as well as showing you can also be flexible to other companies’ branding.
One common mistake I see is people spending so much time creating these beautiful portfolios, showing off their best pieces of work, only to cheap out on the cover or printing. Most people don’t realize that printing is an art in itself if you don’t go to a good printer your portfolio might not look as good as you want it to. Throughout your career you will have to make small investments and this is definitely an investment you want to make. Spend some extra money on a beautiful cover and high-quality paper…trust me it makes a HUGE difference. My personal favourite for a printed portfolio is getting one of those hardcover ones that allow you to add/take-away pages whenever you want, that way you don’t need to print a new book every time you want to update something. Don’t forget to have a digital PDF version of your fashion portoflio too, that you’ll need to send via email to companies or to attach it together with your resume and cover òetter when you’re applying for a new job.
No one’s portfolio will be the same, and they shouldn’t be. Think of ways you can make your portfolio stand out whether it’s the cover, layout/design, or the contents itself. Below I have given you some of the MANY things you can include in your portfolio.
Fashion Design Portfolio
1) Illustrations
2) Design Flats
3) Fabric Swatches Matching Illustrations
4) Renderings of Fabrics
5) Photos of finished designs (try doing a fashion
photoshoot with your pieces)
6) Marketing strategy for your collection (if you want
to demonstrate business)
Fashion Marketing/Business Portfolio
1) Fashion Articles (try doing a magazine layout)
2) Photos of Visual Merchandising work in store
3) Marketing Strategy (if you have a dream company you want to work for, create a faux marketing strategy for them based around their brand…companies love that!)
4) Magazine/Lookbook layouts (if you want to get into magazines this is a great way to show your art direction skills)
5) Create a whole branding strategy for a made-up company (learn how to create a brand from scratch and develop a branding strategy from mission statement, product, marketing, etc.)
Fashion Photographer Portfolio
Style a photoshoot and include images. Holly McGlynn, fashion photographer gave some great tips on how to build your photography portfolio, you should listen to this podcast
Fashion StylistPortfolio
Shoot some of your styling work and, if you’re assisting a stylist add that works too.
