Becoming a fashion designer is a dream of many fashion enthusiasts who imagine themselves working in the fashion department at the top fashion houses or launching their own fashion brand.
To give you a better understanding of how to become a fashion designer I asked Chloè Radelli who is working as Senior Designer at Isabel Marant to share her experience and tips.
Chloè studied fashion design in Paris and her career in fashion started with an internship at the luxury house Chloè where she stayed for 6 years before moving to Isabel Marant where she is currently working as a senior fashion designer.
In the podcast episode and in the interview below we chat everything about what she’s looking for in a fashion portfolio when she receives it from interns, how to become a fashion designer what it’s like to work in a fashion design department of an established brand such as Chloè and Isabel Marant and how she managed to launch her own brand Maison Chou while working full-time.
The written interview and the podcast are slightly different so I would suggest checking both to get as many tips and insights as possible from both.
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1.Hi Chloé, could you please introduce yourself?
Hi, my name is Chloé, I am half French half Italian, but I have lived in many places and have family all over the world; Italy, Texas, Mexico, Belgium…I am a 28-year-old Senior Designer currently working full time at Isabel Marant.
2. What did you study and what was your first job in fashion?
I studied Fashion Design and pattern-making at the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, now called IFM. I graduated after four years, and the last year was amazingly preparing us for the reality of the market; we were followed by professionals, sponsored by the best people of the industry. IFM has been created is curated by the Federation de la couture Franchise, which makes it I think the best place in Paris to learn about the fashion industry.
3. Was it necessary to submit your fashion portfolio to get your first job at Chloè?
After graduating, the students had the opportunity to show the final collection to all the leading people of the industry through a two-days showroom. Sydney Toledano, Didier Grunbach, Martine Sitbon among many others did visit us and watched our portfolios and work. It was a first immersion into the process of getting hired, and I had the opportunity to meet there a lot of HR from the best parisian houses: Vuitton, Chloé, Isabel Marant, Nina Ricci…I was called for interviews, and had been well prepared to respond to this with the best professionalism. I personally always loved interviews; meeting interesting people, entering with a glimpse into a fashion company, sharing my love and motivation for my job. The interview at Chloé took place in two sessions, as they were looking for an intern they could potentially hire at the time. I showed my portfolio but also prepared a little project for them, and this is a very common and important thing to do in order to prove your motivation and ability to fit into the universe of a brand.
4. What are your tips to create a design portfolio? What should you include in your portfolio if you’re still at the beginning of your career?
At the beginning of a career, the most important thing in a portfolio is to show your working process; no need to feature pictures of anything too « achieved » if you don’t show the way you have reached that finality.
When I interview interns, I want to see their « hand » in their portfolio; pictures of work in progress, of toiles, mockups, trials, pattern; it’s important that there are pictures of actual garments, fabrics. Even things that didn’t end up becoming something, but I love a portfolio that shows a profusion of ideas and productivity. I want to hire someone with taste, of course, but for a first experience, I am going to need someone who is amongst all handy, productive and dynamic, with good technical skills.
The rest you’ll learn through experience; I think at the beginning it is really more about having the right attitude. Flexibility, positivism and professionalism, with a certain maturity, is the best combo to get a job as a fashion designer.
You don’t have to create a new portfolio for each brand, but add one page with a little mood or project for the company you are applying for. It’s a bonus.
5. You stayed at Chloè for more than 5 years. What did you do? Can you describe how does the design department of a such established brand work?
I stayed at Chloé for 6 years, growing from intern to confirmed designer. I had the chance to begin when Clare Waight Keller, our Creative Director, was still at the early beginning of building her identity of the brand and her team. I worked on Flou mainly, which became my specialty; I started as an assistant position to the Head of Flou who then became Head of preco. Through the years, I became more responsible of my themes and pieces. As a designer, I worked with all the different departments; the CD, of course, but also the Atelier, the development team, the merchandisers, the studio director, the other designers and the interns’ team. It is a big family I spent a lot of time with, and it’s been super exciting years, as Chloé was doing amazingly great and we had lots of creative possibilities.
6. You then moved to Isabel Marant where you are currently working as Ready to wear Senior Fashion Designer Flou & Embroidery. What do you do?
After 6 years at Chloé, I decided it was time for a change, and I always had Isabel Marant in mind, as she represents a very feminine yet edgy and cool, maybe younger girl than Chloé. I also thought it could have been interesting to discover another way of making fashion, a bit less « couture » yet more accessible. During a fashion designer career, you get to meet a lot of recruiters and agents who put you in contact with houses looking to fill a position. When the senior flou and embroidery position at Isabel got free, I prepared a project right away and met the team and Isabel. I was also very fascinated by the character of Isabel. She is a strong powerful woman who runs her business with so much passion. I wanted to dedicate my work and experience to someone like her, so committed to her work. I wasn’t disappointed. I am in charge of Flou and Embroidery for Show and Preco, working with the studio director and Isabel, and all the design team
7. Last year you launched your brand Maison Chou. Can you talk about it and the idea behind the concept?
The world of embroidery is unlimited, an ocean of possibilities. Through my years of work in the fashion industry, I sometimes felt that I missed the essence of pure creation, creation of beauty and excellency of products that take time, a lot of time. Today, the industry of fashion goes always faster. With the rise of climate and environment consciousness, I felt the need to go back, for myself, to a kind of creation in which I could put time, patience, nor responding to any schedule and budget limits. To me that is luxury. I wanted to create for myself, I felt the very intimate need to create a small product, simple one, but that would represent everything I love about fashion; luxury, excellency, creativity. And what is best than an accessory that would enhance feminism, by decorating the most feminine of our attributes? The hair? I chose a very common object, a scrunchie, and decided to turn it into a treasure.
8. How have you launched your brand while working full-time at Isabel Marant and how do you manage both today?
I decided to create Maison Chou because I felt that women could understand the love and passion I had put into embroidering and making my pieces. I know that as a customer, I would have died for a small treasure such as a beautiful head piece, in its beautiful box, silk paper, with its engraved ring as the house signature. It is everything I love. I thought I would start creating a little world of beauty around Maison Chou, and it did please women. So I launched the brand. Of course I had to ask permission to my company before starting it, but Maison Chou fits into my daily life as the purpose of it was to be built on a timeless, universal idea of beauty. I took my time to build the fondations of the brand, but it never went against my work at Isabel. On the contrary; it gave me a creative impulse and balanced my way of working full-time at Isabel, being efficient, responding to a precise demand and answering to the brand identity. And then on a personal and private level, building my own little world. As things with Maison Chou grew quite fast, and as I never wanted to stop pursuing my fashion designer career at Isabel, I had to organize things and hire some help. Now I have an Atelier in Paris, embroiderers, and I want to keep the structure small and intimate; it is part of its concept and essence; it is private, exclusive and rare. I also select very carefully where Maison Chou is featuring, and the stores that are showing my pieces have been chosen accordingly to the spirit and expectations of the brand and its community. For example, featuring in a sharp selection of designers like the one ARTANDPIECES (www.artandpieces.com) represents is completely fitting with Maison Chou’s essence.
9. What were the first steps required to launch your brand?
Launching my brand required of few specific skills that as a creative I didn’t learn at school, but with good common sense and with all the help we can get today from internet platforms, I manage to get through this administrative path and build my website. I started with no financial help except my own money and a very kind donation from my parents, and from there it all started. I must say the help of social media, and of amazing people I met through this adventure made me concretize my little dream. With my previous experiences, I have built a community of friends and acquaintances who were really supportive. Photographers, models, friends who had already launched their brands, socialites and influencers… these people have been the best for me. But the challenge has also been a risk and believing completely in my project helped me face some times of doubt.
10. Do you think it’s necessary to work somewhere before launching your own fashion brand?
I think launching a business in an experience that you can’t totally picture before actually trying it. And yet, it is an ocean of things to learn and discover. It is also about daring, having great responses but sometimes failing, and not being afraid to try harder. I think this is something you learn by working in fashion companies; fashion and creation are about making, undo and remaking again, continuously, and being driven by passion and sometimes frustration. But it is also a reality, a business and has its economic assets; that’s what makes it different from pure art, and that is the most important thing you learn by working in a company. We as designers have the sensibility and desires of artists, but we also need to be aware of the market reality and that is also a very exciting part of the job. We have to fit into reality. Working at companies and launching a business to me are complementary, and both experiences fulfill me and make me grow. Fashion is not something you learn only from school, it is very concrete and needs to be experienced in the field, whether it is through building your company or working for one. And having tried both, I will always have a lot of respect for anyone who had the balls to build something on its own, because I know it requires a lot of hard work and polyvalence, which are skills that your employer will always enjoy if you ever enter a company.
11. What are your tips for those who want to start a career as fashion designers?
I’d say that to start a career in fashion design, only passion and commitment are required. There are the two most important assets you will need to succeed. You’ll learn the rest!
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