Hannah. Global Junior Designer - Fashion

Hannah is a twenty-four-year-old Global Junior Designer from Bray, Ireland. She has been working in the fashion industry for three years.

How did you get into your field? What inspired you?

‘I’ve always been interested in fashion. I’ve never seen myself on any other career path. My mum studied fashion when she was in college so when I was in primary school we would repurpose my old clothing together and that’s where my love of fashion really began. Then when I was in secondary school my favourite subject was art and I always loved to get involved in the set designs for our school musicals. Getting to be creative was really what inspired me to pursue a career in fashion.’

What did you study in college and did this help you get into your field?

‘I studied Fashion design at Griffith College Dublin, it was a 3 year degree. I chose this course because not only did it teach me pattern drafting and designing it also taught me CAD, fashion business, photography, videography and fashion illustration. The course was so versatile, giving me a diverse range of skills that have helped me when going into the workforce - it opened the door to my current design position.’

‘Once I finished college I went straight into an internship placement in my current company and from there it was my knowledge and skills that I had learnt in college that landed me the position I have today.’

Do you recommend any particular studies, courses or degrees for your field?

‘I would recommend my college to anyone who wants to study fashion in Ireland. They also offer an amazing scholarship programme which is what I was on when I studied there.’

‘There are tonnes of amazing colleges out there. I would just suggest you do your research to see exactly what the relevant fashion course criteria is and make sure that it includes everything that you are looking to gain from your studies. I would also highly recommend looking into PLC courses. This is something that I did to make sure I had a back up in case I didn’t get into my first choice - that way you’re making sure you have options.’

What does an average day look like in your role?

‘In my role now it’s a fairly small design team so we get to work on a lot of different projects and areas. Normally my day consists of forecasting for future seasons, creating trends and colour palettes and getting a deep dive into exactly how our sections season is going to look. From there, we then look at key messages and fabrics before we start to design into the collections.’

’What’s great about working in a smaller team is that you really get to be heavily involved from forecasting to working with other teams and making sure that your trend really comes to life once it’s on the floor.’

What is the best part of your role?

‘The best part of my role is seeing my designs, trends and visions on the shop floor. It’s amazing seeing something that you worked on almost 2 seasons ago with your team translate onto the floor. I love seeing people walking around town wearing pieces from our range. I think it’s something that won’t ever get old and it’s always been a dream of mine to see people walking around in something that I helped to create.’

What is the worst part of your role?

‘Sometimes the hardest part of the role is having an idea that you’re so passionate about fall through. As there’s so many people within the company, the ideas have to go through a chain of stakeholders. Sometimes it’s just not the right timing for a certain idea and, although it can be frustrating at that times, it normally does come back into your work in another way for you to curate later down the line.’

How important is work/life balance to you and how much spare time do you have?

‘I definitely think that work/life balance is something that is so important to me. It may take some time in a new job to find that work/life balance but I would agree that it is so important for your health and wellbeing to make sure that you are practicing a healthy balance. In the company I’m in now, they really do focus on promoting a “your day, your way” message which is great. I myself live quite far from where I work so travel does take over a lot of my day during the week. However I do make sure my evenings, Fridays and weekends are filled doing things that are important to me and for my wellbeing.’

Do you have any hobbies?

‘Yes I have recently started training for a 5k. I also make sure that I am staying active and healthy by going to gym classes at least twice a week in work. I also love to spend my time learning and doing some DIY fashion videos on my social media.’

Do you have any advice for people looking to start a career in the same field?

‘My advice would be if fashion is something you really love to do and are passionate about then don’t let anyone else’s opinion stop you from doing so. I had people close to me tell me I would never get a career in fashion and I ended up going straight from college into a full time position. It is definitely not an easy profession to go into but just never give up.’

‘If fashion is something you’re thinking about going into, I would start to reach out to anyone who you may know in the industry and ask them for a chat. Talk to as many people as you can to get a clearer idea of what exactly the area of fashion that you want to go into is like. There’s an endless amount of possibilities in fashion, not just design, make sure you do your research to find the role that’s right for you.’

Have you ever experienced any uncertainties about your career? What did you do to overcome them?

‘I was originally unsure about what area of fashion I wanted to go into, so I started to get in contact with anyone and everyone I knew in fashion. I asked if I could intern with them or shadow them for a day, and this allowed me to get a glimpse into the life of their career. I found out what area was best for me by reaching out to people and networking. The easiest way to see if you like something is by doing it!’

Who is your biggest female inspiration?

‘I have always loved Coco Chanel, Desi Perkins, Zendaya and Demi Lovato.’