PORTFOLIO
CONTINUED
Advice courtesy of Smith & Pye What to include in your Portfolio:
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Creative research work – remember your references should not just come from fashion, these should be broad, displaying your knowledge of other areas of society and culture.
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Development – it is important to show detailed development of a concept into a collection or piece of clothing. Your design work should be coherent and you must be able to explain and justify the concept.
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Drawing – Figures should be well drawn and neatly presented. It is better to use a template figure and repeat it than to include really bad illustrations.
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Informative Flat Drawings – it is an important skill for production in the fashion industry to develop a clear and concise flat drawing technique. A successful flat drawing is in correct proportion and displays the appropriate details for manufacture i.e. seams and fastenings.
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Appropriate work for the company interviewing – you should compile a portfolio of the work most appropriate to the company you are seeing. E.g. if you are interviewing with a tailoring company, make sure most of your folio is tailoring.
How to Display your Portfolio:
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Work should be in reverse chronological order, i.e. the most recent work at the front.
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Volume of work – your portfolio should be edited and concise. This keeps the interest of the
interviewer and shows respect for their time. •
Keep it Neat! – Your actual folio should be in good condition.
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Size – A3 or A4 size is always best! Any larger is unnecessary and proves awkward to look at, manage or
carry •
Fill every page – by this we mean do not have any blank pages in your portfolio.
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Keep it up to date – When looking for a job bear in mind that your portfolio is not only a record of what
you have done but more importantly an indication of where you want to go.
Things not to include in your Portfolio:
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Fine Art – With the exception of your research work there should be no life drawing or still life
drawings included. •
Don’t include actual garments – as a general rule of thumb, portfolios should be 2D work only.
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Busy backgrounds – remember to keep your background pages clear, don’t overlay designs on to
patterned backgrounds. This is distracting and indicates a lack of confidence in your design work. •
No printed material – by this we mean don’t include CVs, certificates or press cuttings within your
portfolio. If you have built up a selection of press cuttings bring these separately in a folder specially dedicated to this purpose.
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