A Career in Fashion Industry: Personal Experience

I initially developed an interest in fashion through costume and dress, as a member in the campus-based modeling organization on my undergraduate level. There I was exposed to several disciplines in fashion; all which strengthened and intensified my passion for the field of fashion. I was in an environment that supported creative expression, providing me with a new and different perspective on clothing as decoration. Though the group’s endeavors were collective efforts, individual growth in our creative processes was still encouraged. I took the initiative to showcase my creative skills in visual display with image and fashion presentations whenever possible, which led to my election to the board position as coordinator. I was responsible for coaching and mentoring fellow members in runway modeling and fashion show production. My success in this position extended well beyond the campus as I was asked to plan and coordinate fashion shows for retail stores, boutiques and other organizations at neighboring campuses. However, complications stemming from an illness as a youth would have me confined to bed rest or seeking medical care at unexpected times. I was forced to return my focus solely on completing my undergraduate studies and afterwards I took employment in social services and education.

After encouragement and support from family, I decided to pursue graduate level studies, and I was accepted into a graduate program in Communications at Texas Southern University. However, my interest in fashion had not wavered and within a year, I founded a modeling group at the campus. I again assumed the position of coordinator, but my time in my graduate studies was short lived, again due to an illness, and the effect was a necessary r...

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...consciousness of fashion in urban areas is subject to the vices of visual media outlets who engage in instigating stereotypical images of status and wealth. Urban youth are provoked to live beyond their means thus instituting a false sense of entitlement and attainment of property. The representation of fashion then becomes a counterproductive social activity. In reaction, it is essential persons better understand how an image resonates within a complex set of contexts, processes and uses, not just an image in and of itself, through ongoing intellectual, cultural and critical inquiries in the various disciplines of fashion.

The realm of the fashion industry in its entirety is a major cultural phenomenon. Within its historical and socioeconomic framework, fashion is inevitably affected by infrastructures of power that lend to analytical and critical thoughts