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  • Essay / A Career in the Fashion Industry: Personal Experience

    I first developed an interest in fashion through costumes and clothing, as a member of a modeling organization based on campus at my undergraduate level. There, I was exposed to several fashion disciplines; all this strengthened and intensified my passion for the fashion field. I was in an environment that fostered creative expression, giving me a new and different perspective on clothing as decoration. Although the group's efforts were collective efforts, individual growth in our creative processes was always encouraged. I took the initiative to showcase my creative visual display skills with image and fashion presentations whenever possible, which led to my election as Board Coordinator . I was responsible for coaching and mentoring other members in the field of modeling and fashion show production. My success in this position extended far beyond campus as I was asked to plan and coordinate fashion shows for retail stores, boutiques, and other organizations on nearby campuses. However, complications resulting from an illness in my youth required me to stay in bed or seek medical attention at unexpected times. I was forced to focus solely on completing my undergraduate studies and later took a job in social services and education. After encouragement and support from my family, I decided to pursue higher education and was accepted into a communications graduate program at the university. Texas Southern University. However, my interest in fashion did not wane and within a year I started a modeling group on campus. I again assumed the position of coordinator, but my graduate studies were short-lived, again due to illness, and the effect was a necessary transition...... middle of paper . ..... fashion consciousness in urban areas is subject to the vices of visual media which engage in incitement to stereotypical images of status and wealth. Urban youth are encouraged to live beyond their means, thereby establishing a false sense of entitlement and access to property. The representation of fashion then becomes a counterproductive social activity. In response, it is essential that people better understand how an image resonates in a complex set of contexts, processes and uses, and not just an image in itself, through ongoing intellectual, cultural and critical inquiries in different fashion disciplines. The fashion industry as a whole constitutes a major cultural phenomenon. In its historical and socio-economic framework, fashion is inevitably affected by power infrastructures that lend themselves to analytical and critical thinking.