Menswear Designer

Snakes and snails and puppy dog tails, that’s what little boys are made of. It should come as no surprise, then, that what they want to wear when they grow up is stuff that’s simple — suits and ties — or, better yet, that they can get dirty: jeans and Ts. Boring, right?

Wrong. There’s more to menswear than meets the eye. Black, brown or gray? Stripes or solids? Boxers or briefs? Although the questions are always the same, the answers never are. Likewise, the pieces — shirts, shoes, pants and jackets — rarely change, but the men wearing them do.

A Menswear Designer knows that creativity isn’t always thinking outside the box. Sometimes, it’s being forced to think within it. In that way, your job is unique. While most Fashion Designers must create something new, your job as Menswear Designer is re-creating something classic. A dress can have infinite shapes and silhouettes, for example, but a shirt, really, is just a shirt. Your job being a Menswear Designer is knowing how to use fabric, fit, color and detail to make a new shirt. (And no, that beer-can sweater you made in college doesn’t count.)

Whether you design formalwear or sportswear, you’ll spend your days researching trends and sketching designs, the best of which will make up your collection. You’ll then choose fabrics, design patterns and assemble prototypes, sometimes with the help of professional Patternmakers. Finally, you’ll head to the runway for the best part of your job: Showing your work, selling it, then seeing a dapper young man wearing it on the street.