Styling & Image Designing – a concrete career option to consider

Published in Mega Modelz magazine – Jan-Feb 2009 Issue – © Manali

Photo courtesy: http://www.pearlacademy.com

If you are a fashion addict on a look for a ground-breaking course in designing and styling, your dilemma is solved. As Pearl Academy of Fashion (PAF), the premier industry oriented design institute in India has recently introduced an exciting three-year full time higher diploma course for the undergraduates in Fashion Styling & Image Designing (FSID). Students who are XII pass can apply for this course. However, a creative background with an aesthetic sensibility towards designing certainly adds value to the approach.

Speaking about the innovative course, Ms Nien Siao, the Head of Department and Design says, “The course covers a wide spectrum of in-depth learning on various subjects like history of fashion, elements of design, fashion aesthetics, photography, visualization and communication skills, computer applications and most importantly image and identity. To support the above learning, the course also focuses on subjects like music and film appreciation, make up and hairstyling.”

According to the Ms Sarita Karindikar, an Associate Professor at PAF, Delhi, Fashion Styling is all about placing together the relevant background and elements of focus in a systemic and positioned manner to give the brand a correct exposure and attain compelling impact on the target audience in order to achieve desirable results. She says, “While fashion designing focuses only on creating the garment based on designer’s creative sensibilities and perceptions, Fashion Styling spotlights the entire look to reach out the audience as well as to help establish a signature style for the designers.” Karindikar further adds, “The most significant aspect of Fashion Styling is to get an impeccable visual balance by flaunting the assets and camouflaging the flaws.”

One such infamous designer who revved up Fashion Styling in the country is Manish Malhotra. His fresh trends inFashion Styling and incredible make over of several admired film stars have not only boosted Malhotra’s career but also shot up expectations of the audience and encouraged them to achieve such look in real life. A similar small kind of revolution in styling was made in the mid nineties by a Make up Artist and Hair Specialist Ambika Pillai, whose immaculate craft revamped the look of a person, which made a solid impact on the audience. Likewise, Anaita Shroff Adajania, Mohan Neelakanthan and Jayati Bose are some other popular names in Fashion Styling in India. These days, a lot of designers have started styling for their own garment shoots to achieve the envisaged image and accomplish preferred outcome.

“Today, the mall culture is escalating rapidly. Hence, Fashion Styling & Image Designing has immense scope in the retail sector. Also, nowadays, there is a huge demand for the stylists, personal shopping assistants and image make over specialist in television and media,” Siao persists. She feels it’s very essential for one to be extremely skilled to achieve success in this field. “Apart from general awareness and inclination to absorb and imbibe from the environment around, one needs to have an ability to constantly update with the current scenario and draw from a pool of resources that are available. It is indeed vital to have an eye for detail and a drive to achieve more than expected. Only then can one set a standard for quality work and make a mark in this competitive area of work,” she adds.

So, are Fashion styling and Image designing related? “Yes, they very much go hand in hand to complete the picture. While fashion styling puts the look together, it conveys an image, which further establishes an identity. Whereas, Image design involves making certain changes and adding new elements to augment the existing image. At the cost of sounding repetitive, it is a visual impact to make a statement worth your personality,” explains Parandikar. Apart the bright future that this field offers, one can also earn decent moolah in this profession. “Depending on the client, a stylist can earn somewhere around Rs.1500 to Rs.10,000 per visit. The scale depends on the kind of work and clients/brands involved,” she concludes.