Friday, September 30, 2005

The Book - It Came

Fashion Designer Survival Guide. It's here, inside my apartment. I've got to admit, I'm a little apprehensive about it. There's the girl on the cover, drawings spread before her, rolls of fabric laying behind her, a form standing in the back, an ancient sewing machine in the corner, her fist to her chin, deep in thought and a piggy bank emptied beside her.

Yup. That's what my room looks like. I hope this book is very helpful. The chapters include "The Money: How Much Do You Need?" "Product Development: Know Your Customer" "Fabric and Materials: The Sources" and "Once You Order," "Sales: The Appointment" "Marketing and Branding: Be Your Brand" "Copyrights and Knock-Offs: Fashion Design and the Copyright Laws."

I want to eat these up, but the first words I read are "The fashion business is an exceedingly difficult one," on page 179 (I'm a Gemini, so I skip to the end, and to the bottom line). That is one thing I do know. I also know, that being on the fringe of this fashion industry, I am less intimidated and daunted than I otherwise would be. I never wanted a job in the fashion industry. I just wanted to make stuff. My way allows me to be shy in certain areas, but still go forward. I was obsessed with working for magazines for most of my life. I pored over books on how to work for one, and never did get there. Wasn't in the cards. But that's not the point.

The point is, I like making my own little life out of this, my own little katie james world. I don't want this book to burst my bubble, steer me from my illusions, put me into reality. I like my babysteps, but they do need to be taken with more confidence and knowledge. Sigh. I'm a little nervous. I normally pour over books of the subject I want to rule in. But I preferred the learn-as-you-go, choose-your-own-adventure method. I guess I still am. Just need a little plan, that's all.

Well, I'm going to get back to beautification before we go to Small Manhattan, or whatever it's called. I'm blogging from the bathroom and David wonders why he can't come in, and why I have a computer in here. Sometimes the smallness of the bathroom is a wonderful place to think.

Oh, PS: the jewelry pouches of many colors finally are ready! Pictures to come.

If you want to buy or check out the Fashion Designer Survival Guide, you can do it through the below link. If you do, I get 5% of the sale. In Eyore's total honesty, this wasn't a plug for the book. It was just thoughts. But the marketer in me couldn't not put the Amazon link below. Hope you understand. But if you decided to buy the book, I could get like a square inch of fabric. Or a colored pencil maybe.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes success is just not knowing that it can't be done. read with caution- but it does sound like a hopeful book.

Unknown said...

Thanks, T. So far, I've read the forward (1 paragraph) and the preface (3 paragraphs), and am liking it already. Gerdy and I are going to sit outside to read some more.