5 Fashion Student Survival Hacks

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I'm sure you're excited for this next chapter of life, university.

I remember being uber excited about starting my degree in fashion design, I didn't really know what to expect, all I knew was, it was a very important step of my life, I had to work hard and my whole depends on the success of the next 3 years. Or so I thought!

I remember searching 'What do I need in my fashion design student tool box' or 'fashion design student essentials' in Google or watching countless 'Day in the life of a fashion student' vlogs on Youtube and to me at the time, they were what I deemed, 'helpful'.

However, on completing my degree, none of that research I did beforehand was realistically helpful. A shock to the system was what I received and I wish I had a post like this to refer to back then.

Here are 6 realistic hacks/tips to get you through a fashion degree:

Become familiar with your equipment and tools

You've bought a fresh new pair of scissors and you've set up your sewing machine in the corner of your room. On getting a new design brief, you're excited and can't wait to get going unfortunately for you, everything's going wrong. Your scissors are to heavy for you and you're unable to cut straight. The tension on your sewing machine is spoiling your fabric etc. You thought it was going to be a breeze right? Wrong!

It's all well and good getting shiny new tools but are you comfortable using them? Can you work quick with them? As cliche as it sounds, practice makes perfect, use your equipment and tools as often as you can on ALL types of fabric. If there's a particular machine you prefer to use at uni, get there early and claim that ish. It's cutthroat out here!

Suitcase

Invest in the best suitcase. I held this off until I physically couldn't anymore and when I eventually did, I couldn't understand why I let myself suffer for so long.

You WILL be lugging heavy fabric, patterns, portfolios, cameras, YOUR TOOLS on an daily basis and believe me when I say, you will feel it in your body after a week.

Invest a good suitcase, you'll hate yourself on public transport but your body will love you when get into bed at night.

Buy in bulk

Calico and spot and cross paper are two things you'll need throughout your course so buy it in bulk at the start. A 30m roll could cost you £20 but because you didn't want to commit to buying a whole roll you spent £5 on 5m when you could have saved money.

If you don't feel you want to commit, go halves with a classmate, you will still save!

Save money for final year

You don't even realise how much your graduate collection will cost you. You want the best fabrics, trimmings and components, even essential stuff like having your fabric delivered or dyed can all add up. You can easily spend hundreds on a six piece collection! Crazy right? (Side note: Support independent and upcoming designers!)
Whenever you can, put money aside for your final collection, it will soften the blow on your account when the time comes.

Learn to take criticism and learn which criticism to take note off

This was a major issue for me throughout my degree, having someone judging my creative process and outcomes was very difficult. I always used to take it to heart and become very defensive instead of defending my work and agreeing to disagree if I felt my lecturers were wrong.
After getting over the hurdle of not taking criticism to heart, I had to learn what criticism was useful and which to dismiss. Knowing what parts of your creative process you are genuinely happy with is very important, it makes creating easier and keeps you certain about what you want your outcome to be. Criticism can muddle your mind so it's essential to filter what's useful and what's not.



So those are my fashion student hacks, knowing what I know now, I would've been less stressed and more efficient throughout my degree. The thing I regret the most is not saving more money in general, which is why I encourage all students to save, even if it's only £10 a month.
Also, knowing where to get all your fashion equipment and tools is important as it gets quite expensive to build your kit. You can download this free ebook to get the lowdown on the best pattern cutting books, websites, links and haberdasheries that will help you get started on your student journey.

Take care, Jess x