The Mark of a Great Fashion Designer

In every industry, from factories to fashion, there are those who lead, those who follow and manage. Some are guided by the compass and others work by the clock, managers and leaders, they share the same space but their motivation and priorities are worlds apart.

You can read books on how to become a good manger, taking care of all the tasks, processes and the administrative responsibilities in support of leaders who go out into the forest in search of trees. Management Guru Peter Drucker has written many best sellers, but the bible for many successful managers is “Management Tasks Processes and Responsibilities”

You’re probably asking yourself what has all this got to do with fashion designers, “we’re getting there”. This is about the skills you don’t necessarily need to become a great fashion designer. It’s about complimentary and compensatory factors that makeup a business, front end to back end, strengths and weaknesses.

If your eye is on leadership and you’ve consumed and digested all the knowledge and information on the subject, but, questions still burn. Consider this one. Don’t be put off by the title; it’s been a best seller for almost twenty years. “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R Covey. It’s about life’s integration with work, adhering to priorities, leading with your left and managing with the right. For you, it will be like switching on a light on a moonless night. But beware, inherent in the 7 habits is a commitment to change the way you are, change your old habits, improve. In essence, confrontation conquers fear.

It is not the kind of book to read on a stormy Sunday afternoon. You’d do better to weather the storm, because there’s a lot of intensity in the words. Evoking thought, you’ll be grabbing a high-lighter to underline all the phrases you don’t want to forget. And you’ll use it as a constant guide as you grow and learn about principle leadership in business.

Then there is Michael E Porters’ complex analytical approach “Competitive Advantage” This is for economists, sales executives, etc. It’s about maximizing, expenditure, resources and knowledge. If you have the staying power to weave your way exhaustingly through a labyrinth of thought provoking literature, then there’s a lot learn. Less effort for greater return is one obvious driving principle throughout; another is value processes, no weak links in the chain, so to speak.

Unless you are a very special type of accountant, don’t pick up this book, you will burn your fingers. CA is not about minimizing costs, and saving time. You can stop the clock, but the metre keeps running in New York Taxi Cabs. A smart taxi driver will take you the long road home, like a good economist he’ll want to maximize his return on effort. Here the vast difference between minimization and maximization are spelled out in a way that challenges logic in a very powerful and honest way. “Yikes”

For the strategist, there’s “Strategic Selling” it’s a brainstorm. Once digested you will stop trying to sell and learn about your target market is demanding, then simply supply accordingly. “Research”

Now, try to find a book that teaches you how to be a great fashion designeror any kind of designer for that fact. You can easily be taught the technical aspects of design and theorize all you like about its beginning and transformations. But unless you are gifted with the skill of being able to realise scattered ideas and thoughts, being able to visualize their end before putting pen to paper then you can only achieve to a certain level.

On this subject of truly great designers, three names come immediately to mind; Frank Lloyd Wright, Isambard Brunell and Vivienne Westwood.

There is only one “falling Water House” one “Clifton Suspension Bridge” and only one “Orb”. Vivienne Westwood has designed everything from silk ties to suits, crockery to designer cufflinks. “The Orb” is recognised the world over as a symbol of design excellence.

But even behind the designer façade of Westwoods London store, mangers offer administrative support for their leader; the two go hand in hand.

Without harmonious integration of these leadership and management disciplines, businesses can never fully achieve the heights they desire.