Transformational Leadership

Focuses on the future, change, and the people. Striving to work on individual strengths and abilities, thus emphasizing change and transformation.

Delegative Leadership

Considered to be a less intrusive form of leadership as it allows the team or individual to work without micromanaging. This type of leadership style leaves room for creativity, the use of resources, as well as previous experiences. 

Authoritative Leadership

A key component of this leadership style is getting to know your team members. Authoritative leadership pulls from a ‘follow me’ attitude that seeks to get the team to one common goal via providing overall direction, encouragement, and feedback.

Participant Leadership

Encourages collaboration and accountability. Participant leadership style leaves room for an employer to involve the team in decision-making, which helps promote openness and forthright communication.

Transactional Leadership

Focuses on structure for the individual or team. This form of leadership communicates means of incentives, rewards, and/or punishment for meeting a goal. Each employee has a specific role and it is important they play it.

Servant Leadership

Modeled after ethical decision-making and putting others’ needs first. The focus is to create the right decisions for all team members involved, from entry-level to senior.

If you read through this and thought “How will I know what leadership style is right for me?” then you’re on the right track. Building leadership skills as a student allows you to work seamlessly through trial and error. From meetings with professors to group projects, you are already in a space to try some of these styles out. As cliche as it sounds, one of the best ways to learn leadership and your own leadership style is by learning how to lead yourself. 

Developing leadership skills is critical to reaching goals in any career path. As a fashion student, whether in design, styling, business, etc., it is imperative that the fundamentals of leadership skills begin while you are a student. The reason is so that you are fully prepared to navigate through situations, articulate yourself, and delegate well once you are in the leadership role that you seek. If ill-prepared, working in the fashion industry can tangle you up like an undone bobbin. Characteristics that can help you build your leadership skills align with having a growth mindset, strong communication skills, the ability to receive and give feedback, and reliability.

As you move through your semesters, these are all skills that you technically work through as a student. In order to even decide to be enrolled in a program, you must have a growth mindset– the innate feeling of wanting better or wanting to grow beyond your comfort zone and current state of being. As you move through projects, especially individual ones, you learn to create better communication skills between yourself, your professors, peers, and eventually, when presenting, with your audience. When you work in group project settings, you learn the importance of reliability and how it takes precedence in team building. You are also able to generate an understanding of the importance of giving and receiving feedback to help you further develop the vision for the project you’re working on.

Fundamental leadership skills can be practiced through everyday life as well. Small strides that are applied to your everyday life can be effective and can aid in how to acquire leadership skills. Some ways to develop leadership in daily life are:

1. Empower teammates
2. Take on more projects
3. Continuous learning
4. Practice discipline
5. Resolve conflicts
6. Learn to follow
7. Inspiring others

As a student, specifically studying any area of the arts, it is imperative that we highlight our leadership skills and hone in on them. While each discipline is distinct, in the world of fashion, you don’t get your foot into any doors without making your voice heard. Whether you speak through word-of-mouth or through your designs, there are many skills that you must understand before you can master them. As you move through your courses, there is optimal room for you to work on mastering your leadership skills and use them to your advantage. From one creative to a plethora of others, don’t be afraid to make mistakes or ask for help. Emerging artists, designers, and business people often get caught up in the comparison of others or things that are already finished products. Practicing leadership and developing those skills also means understanding that community and support go a long way and that those two factors play into the final products as well.

Written by: Uma Peña-Cabrera, Student Writer

Date: March 24, 2023

The post Mastering Leadership: <strong>Skills To Develop For Your Fashion Career</strong> appeared first on The Miami School of Fashion & Design.

You’ll find the roots of fast fashion, and the start of its environmental impact, in the early to mid-1800s, when innovations in textile processing and production made it cheaper and easier to create and sell clothing on a mass scale. And, while it’s simple to understand the appeal of inexpensive, trend-driven shopping, the overconsumption spurred on by nearly 200 years of fast fashion manufacturing has had big implications for the environment.

According to the Sustainable Fashion Foundation, the more clothes we produce and buy, the more we harm our ecosystem. In fact, the fashion industry alone uses 21 trillion gallons of water a year (equivalent to about 37 million Olympic-sized swimming pools), making it “the second largest polluter of clean water globally after agriculture.” It also produces 10% of the world’s carbon emissions.

Fortunately, times are changing. Here’s what you should know about the industry trends taking the focus off fast fashion and putting it on sustainability.

The Sustainable Fashion Design Boom

The impact of mass-produced fashion on the environment is nothing new. So why the current boom and surge in sustainable fashion?

There are likely two big reasons for the shift:

1. Growing consumer awareness and preferences about fashion’s eco-impact
2. Innovations in textile and production technology offering brands new, less harmful ways to produce their lines

The trends go both ways. As consumer interest in sustainable fashion grows, so too does brand investment in it. And as brands introduce more sustainable options, consumers become less reliant on fast fashion and more willing to spend a little more time, money, and effort on sourcing responsible options.

Fashion Sustainability in Action

Making truly sustainable fashion requires action as much as awareness. Sustainable Jungle refers to this fashion evolution as “a more ethical approach to style that shifts the focus from constant consumption to thoughtful purchases that last.” Simply put: consumers are willing to put their money where their ethics are, even if that means foregoing fast fashion and the ability to constantly hop on new trends.

As for brands, we’re seeing a ton of new ideas, new processes, and new technologies that are forging the way for fashion’s more sustainable future. Among them:

• Better fabric dyeing processes –

  Every year, 1.3 trillion gallons of water are used just for dyeing fabrics. Enter digital fabric-coloring technologies that greatly reduce water waste, as well as the use of toxic chemicals, in the fabric dyeing process.

• Man-made fabrics –

  What if we could make leather in a lab instead of by harming animals? Man-made fabrics, including lab-made “leather” and 3D printed “fur” are on the rise, offering a cruelty-free alternative that also reduces carbon emissions.

• Eco-conscious textiles

  Cotton, nylon, and other common textiles aren’t biodegradable and take up a lot of real estate in landfills. A better choice: textiles made from sustainable materials like algae, apples, and oranges, which are compostable, biodegradable, and durable enough for clothing production.

The market for sustainable fashion is growing quickly, with experts predicting it will jump from a $6.35 billion industry in 2019 to a $15.17 billion industry in 2035. Join this new forefront with a fashion management master degree or by taking one or more of our short courses. Fashion design, styling, and management are all switching gears to sustainability—and at Istituto Marangoni, we can help you become part of the solution.

The post Shaping the Future of Fashion and Sustainability appeared first on The Miami School of Fashion & Design.

Important Skills of a Fashion Designer

Are you bringing all of the right skills to the table? Here’s what you should focus on as you begin your career in fashion design.

1.Creativity

Creativity is at the core of any career in the arts, and that includes fashion design. More so than just the ability to come up with new designs, creativity in fashion is about pushing the boundaries of what’s possible—both in your ideation and in your execution. You don’t need to be constantly reinventing the wheel, but you should always have a unique and creative perspective to bring to existing trends.

2.Conception and Creation

It’s one thing to imagine a great design and a whole other to bring it to life. As a fashion designer, you need to be able to both conceive of stunning looks and figure out how to make them happen, which includes everything from sourcing fabrics to sewing and shaping. Part of this skill will come from dedicated fashion education, while the rest will be developed over time as you fine-tune your artistic techniques.

3.Environmental Consciousness

Sustainability in fashion is more than just a trend—it’s the future of the industry. As consumers turn away from fast fashion and its negative global impacts, the onus is on emerging fashion designers to introduce new concepts and practices that put the environment first and provide people with a way to express their style without harming the planet.

4.Tech Savviness

You don’t need to be a computer whiz in order to succeed in fashion, but you do need to understand the essentials, including how to use digital drawing and sketching tools. Bonus points for being able to promote your brand on social channels and keep your finger on the pulse of new social media trends and platforms.

5.Multi-tasking

The day to day life of a fashion designer can get pretty hectic, which requires that you have the skills to juggle many balls in the air at once. Your ability to not just manage all of your many tasks but keep a level head while doing it will be key to success. And fortunately, the more success you have, the more people you’ll be able to hire to help you out.

Pick Up the Skills That Matter

When it comes to starting a career in fashion design, Miami-based Istituto Marangoni is the place to be. We offer a complete roster of courses and degrees that help you develop everything you need to be a competent designer, from establishing your fashion designer values and mission to honing the skills that will take you all the way. Learn about our different programs, including fashion degrees, short courses, summer camps, and more, and get on the right path to becoming one of today’s—and tomorrow’s—most impactful designers.

The post 5 Essential <strong>Fashion Designer Skills</strong> appeared first on The Miami School of Fashion & Design.

It’s totally normal to feel disoriented at the beginning stages of starting any new career. This is especially true in careers that are centered in the arts, where there is often a lot of competition for limited opportunities in work and recognition. Things can feel even more complicated in the world of fashion, which is constantly evolving in terms of trends and industry best practices.

So first: the good news. Starting a career in fashion is far from impossible. And whether you’re interested in pursuing a full Master’s degree in fashion or simply checking out some short fashion design courses, the path often begins with education. Here’s what to know—and how to get your own career in fashion off of the ground.

Starting a Career in Fashion

Hone in on your goals so you can find and follow the right path. Here’s how to do it.

• Define what you want.

  What does your career in fashion look like? There are so many areas to get involved in beyond designing runway shows and working for top fashion magazines. Narrow in on your niche and your goals as early on as possible so that you can pursue the right steps to getting there.

• Get educated.

  From fashion undergraduate degrees to more (or less) extensive programs, most fashion careers begin in the classroom. The more that you can learn in terms of industry know-how and skills, the better set up you’ll be to succeed.

• Apply for internships.

  A great fashion internship is often essential, particularly when it comes to narrowing in on your niche and making important network connections. If you’d rather get paid experience, look for entry-level jobs in fashion, which offer similar benefits and some cash on the side.

• Build your network.

  The more people you know, the better. Many successful careers in the arts start with landing in-network opportunities—and to increase your chances of snagging them, you’ll need to have some connections. Jobs, internships, schools, and networking events are crucial for this, as is staying in touch with your peers, since you never know who will end up where.

• Know what your strengths are.

  Throughout all of the stages above you should have one major objective top of mind: finding your forte and establishing exactly what you can bring to the table. The more you can identify and build on your strengths, the more confidence you’ll build—and the more attractive you’ll look to potential employers.

Each of the steps above is designed to help you narrow in on the things that turn career visions into career opportunities: what you’re good at, what you enjoy, and what skills, qualities, and talents you can turn into a profitable position. If what you’re doing isn’t bringing you closer to this important objective, then it may be time to switch gears and look for a new route to pursue.

Get Started with Short Courses in Fashion Design

As a leading Miami fashion college, we’re dedicated to helping aspiring fashion stylists, retailers, marketers, and more forge their own unique path into an inspiring career. If you’re just starting out, take a look at our short courses, which in addition to providing an excellent introduction to the fashion industry can also help you better identify what your passions and strengths are.

Want something more? We invite you to discover our undergraduateand Master’s degree programs, both of which can help you put your foot on the gas and finally begin the fashion career that you’ve always dreamed of.

The post How To Start A Career In Fashion appeared first on The Miami School of Fashion & Design.