Imagine utilising your skills while you surround yourself in fashion? I am going to suggest for you that a career in fashion is an excellent career for older women. I am passionate at focusing on skill set to get to where you want to get to in your career. Let’s look at fashion careers for older women.

Who said fashion is about youth? Certainly from reading glamour magazines and seeing how the general media portrays body image in fashion you would think so. But there are so many jobs that create a fashion business and I am going to let you know the one’s that are prefect careers for older women.

Presentation is everything and in fashion it’s the entire industries core value. There are a multitude of brands craving for the presentation and style of older women. In fashion retail and wholesale sales particularly I have had numerous requests for the presentation, reliability and commitment of an older woman. Successful Australian brands including Maggie T, Resort Report, Wombat, Dolina, Brown Sugar and many more rely on the presentation of older women to relate to their clients in the retail and wholesale environment. Better still some offer exceptional flexibility to attract older women to their careers including flexible hours and job share structure. Many of my clients have commented on the need to employ older women to relate to the brand and target customer and although it is not policy for them to discriminate should a younger person apply they have found huge success in attracting and employing older women to their brands especially in the retail environment.

Let’s investigate the behind the scenes careers for older women. Over the years and during my days in Fashion Recruitment I have placed many older women into permanent and job share roles in Customer Service, Accounts and as Administrators. The attraction of employing a skilled older woman who may be interested in permanent part time or job share is highly attractive within a fashion head office environment. One of the pluses that employers are constantly quoting to me is that older women are reliable and tend to stay in the role for a long period of time thus providing consistency and sound relationships with customers. By providing flexibility many employers have realised that the benefit to the business is immeasurable. Older women feel that they are being valued by the employer and with this the loyalty that they give has a direct impact on sales and service levels.

The question begs… Is there room for older women in design, product development and brand management roles within a fashion environment? In this instance an older women making a career change into fashion may find obstacles in securing a role in these categories. Experience counts and making a move into a career in fashion in these categories relies on experience. In this instance my suggestion to you is to focus on your foundation skill set and transfer these skills into fashion. For example if you have been an administrator within another industry you could simply make the transition into fashion and create your career within a new environment. Attempting to move from an unrelated skill set into design, product development or brand management as an older woman may result in a lack of opportunities, however, if you have been in a design, product development or brand role within a fashion environment you have a future.

Reposition yourself within a brand applicable to your age and fashion purchasing habits. In design, product development or brand management your success is reliant on your understanding of the target market and what better understanding will you have if you are the customer? That’s not to say that older women are not successfully designing youth brands, they are and always will. But in my opinion your understanding of the target market and adaptation to youth product as you get older can be challenging. If you strategically reposition yourself into a new target market and make use of your skill set you are guaranteed success.

In fashion careers for older women are also common within Senior Management and Operations. Youth is not a factor when it comes to leadership and strategic business management and experience counts. If you have created your career within a fashion environment in operations and management you need to move with the times and adapt to the behaviours, drivers and thinking of the youth you employ. If you can successfully do this which means not adopt stale ideals of how thing were you have a great future. Your career drivers as an older woman may be completely different but your success and especially within a fashion environment is your ability to wholeheartedly embrace change and the youth of today.

One more thing; successful careers for older women within the fashion industry are incalculably reliant on your ability to move with the times without trying to be what you are no longer; young at heart will do just fine.

It is a known fact that women love wearing jewelry. The many different styles of jewelry that you can see worn by a woman will state her taste in many areas of her life. The various types of jewelry which appeals to a woman, you will find come in various shapes, sizes and colors. Many of this jewelry will come from fashion jewelry wholesale stores.

You will sometimes be able to choose these fashion jewelry from the same places that you can buy costume jewelry. Since these types of jewelry are popular with women of all ages you can buy them at affordable prices from fashion jewelry wholesale stores. These wholesale dealers will be able to show you a wide range of styles that you might like to own.

Before you buy just a few pieces of fashion jewelry however, you should see the different design styles that are available in fashion jewelry wholesale stores and choose the various ones that appeal to you. Fashion jewelry wholesale centers will have a wide selection of jewelry from various countries and periods for you to wear if your tastes run to that type of jewelry.

You can also see about buying fashion jewelry that look best when they are mixed and matched. You might want to see about buying different jewelry pieces in different styles to create a unique look. You can select these types of fashion jewelry from reputed fashion jewelry wholesale centers.

When you are considering the numerous ways that you can wear fashion jewelry wholesale centers will have items that can let the jewelry designer in you loose. This way you can see how you can combine ethnic styles of jewelry with modern or antique jewelry to create the look that screams “unique”.

This means that you can see about making your fashion jewelry a statement that will be remembered for a long time. One other fact that you should consider with your venture into fashion jewelry wholesale centers is that they might also have costume jewelry.

You can choose the best costume jewelry pieces and decide how you can incorporate these dissimilar styles together. Since your aim is to look wonderful in your fashion jewelry you should choose the various elements so that they mesh together perfectly.

This look will be very stylish if you have selected good quality fashion and costume jewelry from a reputed fashion jewelry wholesale store. With the vast selection of items that you can buy from these places you can be assured that you are choosing fashion jewelry that you will love to wear for quite a long while.

Introduction

India is becoming the latest fashion hub for the fashionistas. Indian designers are no longer confined to the domestic fashion and apparel market, they are gaining recognition and fame from all over the world. The various government policies and a boom in fashion industry have made it possible. One of the major breakthrough provided to Indian designers to showcase their talents are through the medium of fashion shows. Lakme India Fashion Show is the most popular fashion show celebration of India where the talents of already established and upcoming designers are showcased.

This event is a fashion celebration laced with lots of glamour and national as well as international media coverage. This time lakme India fashion week was held at Mumbai from 31st Oct- 4th Nov. Many high profile designers as well as audience witnessed this fashion fiesta. Famous bollywood celebrities were part of it.

Eminent designers like Surily Goel, Narendra Kumar, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Nalandda Bhandari, Nandita Mahtani, Anand Kabra, Abhishek Dutta , Wendrell Rodericks, Anupama Dayal, Vikram Phadnis, Chaitanya Rao, Sanchita, Savio Jon, Payal Singhal, Sanjay Malhotra, James Ferriera, Priyadarshini Rao, etc presented their spring/summer 2007 collection. Also South African designer duo Sun Goddess and Clive Rundle presented their collection.

Brief descriptions of some designer’s creative work are as follows :-

Nalandda Bhandari

Nalandda Bhandari designs simple yet attractive and wearable collection under the brand name ‘Nasha’. She named her spring/summer 2007 collection ‘Free Spirit’. She covered all patterns and styles of contemporary women clothing, dress patterns like- tunics, kaftans, tube dress, skirts, shirts and burnt gold evening gown dominated her show. She played with glamour clad fabrics like chiffon, silk, georgette, voile, cotton and crepe. Her collection was largely ruled by animal prints and embroideries like African embroidery, sequin embroidery, etc. She also presented her men collection. She included her logo of rose embroidery in almost every outfit.

Narendra Kumar

The very famous designer Narendra Kumar presented his spring/summer collection 2007 at Lakme Fashion Week. The collection was named as ‘Love Touches You’. He presented a perfect blend of traditional and contemporary designing paired beautifully with each other. The women’s line of western collection had smocked & pleated skirts, balloon skirt with shirt dress, half collars, bloomers, chiffon with appliqué sleeves, etc which were created with the designer’s unique touch and detailing. The preferred fabrics by the designer were cotton, georgette, net, silk, mull and linen. The collection was unique but wearable in terms of design and pattern.

The men collection was very stylish and appealing in nature. Men models walked the ramp with elaborate embroidered batik styled shirts paired with stylish trousers completed with patch pockets and shiny zippers. Fun element of, feminity to male garments was provided by showcasing sophisticated floral printed baggy tops paired with tight fitting pants and capris. The choice of colors was dull jade, beige, blue, brown, saffron and white. Complicated embroidery, smocking, appliqué work and shadow work were part and parcel of his creative designing. The fun element was when the famous model turned actor John Abraham walked the ramp with white linen suit. Thus he complied every bit of creativity and entertainment aspects to his collection which gained him standing ovation by the audience and showering of red.

Surily Goel

Surily Goel is young and talented designer who even designs for film personalities. Her latest creation on big screen was for actress Preity Zinta for the film ‘Jaan-e-Mann’. Her collection presented the carefree and sensual side of women’s clothing. This year’s collection was marked by knee-length skirts of georgette, crochets, chiffon, light silks and organdy, highlighting pleats and waist gathering with satin belts. Also single piece bubble outfits created in wide range of colors and fabrics. In this time’s collection she used more of small colored stones.

The presence of film personalities like Dino Morea, Sonali Bendre, Neelam Kothari, Fardeen Khan, Sameera Reddy and Tara Sharma in the audience during her collection put the star element into the show.

Chaitanya Rao

Chaitanya Rao’s collection was like early morning breeze with booming petals of budding roses. The delicate fabrics like georgette and chiffon provided that sexy feminine look to her collection. As her signature, she included moth in the form of embroidery or appliqué in all of her garments. The models took over the ramp with her mesmerizing feminine collection comprising of hem blouses with theme embroideries, pleated mini skirts with batik prints, moth appliqué blouses, long frayed double hem dresses, pale grey chiffon tunic, cream color chiffon bubble dress, dolman sleeved hipster blouses, the list goes on. To accessorize her collection she used thin and broad belts.

Sanchita

Sanchita’s collection presented in Lakme Fashion Week was bold yet wearable. She divided her collection into three segments- Punk chic, Copacabana and Swinging deco. The stunning designer pieces of bikinis and pareos, Hawaiian inspired kaftans, small balloon skirts, floaty dresses and minis provided the feeling of the beaches of Copacabana, St. Tropez and Riviera to the audience. Her collection was quite glamorous consisting of outfit like grey T-shirts with silver leggings, lycra T-shirts having sleeve ornamentations, strapless dresses accompanied with necklaces, earrings and brooches.

The men collection was marked by casual wear T-shirts, poplin trousers with detailed embroideries and white tuxedo jackets.

The garments were decorated with semi precious stones or with attractive patch works. Her line of collection was dominated by colors like white, apatite, agate, jade, opal and black onyx. The garments were accessorized with intrinsically crafted jewelry and bags.

Savio Jon

This designer emphasized heavily on the comfort factor of the garments. Savio Jon is well known for his simple yet attractive clothing lines which are high on value and seductive quotient. Unlike other designers he preferred his garments to hang loose around the body instead of body hugging/tight fitting clothes. He used free flowing fabrics like fish net, mul, chiffon, georgette and crepe.

Pinafore silhouette, long lean maxis, oversized blouses, deep shoveled armholes, low back and front necklines, were some types of garments he presented. In evening wear he glamorized the tubular silhouettes with shimmers. The ranges of colors choosed by him for his collection were beige, grey, brown, black, pale yellow and white. Thus the colors were also sober and subtle.

Payal Singhal

Payal Singhal for the first time presented her collection in Lakme Fashion Week. Her designer collection for women were designed keeping in mind today’s working women’s needs and comfort level. Stylish yet affordable was the key element associated with her collection. She beautifully used cutwork, satin, georgette, jacquard, tulle, cotton, crepe, taffeta, brocade and seersucker in club and partywear for dresses and tunics. Her display of outfits on ramp descended gracefully from daywear to glamorous evening wear. She started her showcasing of designs in oyster white color then, tea rose, yellow, coffee, watermelon to grapefruit color. Display of tunics and blousons were coupled with melon, gold or silver tights. The signature outfit was the oyster white kaftan embellished with golden embroidery.

Sanjay Malhotra

Sanjay Malhotra named his spring/summer 2007 collection ‘Dejavu’. The key phrase which inspired him for this collection was Life through my rose colored glasses. He instead of sticking only to free flowing usual feminine fabrics, even experimented with fabrics like fur, leather, voiles
, denim, suede and laces which were highly appealing to today’s power packed independent women. The beautiful mix-n-match of these fabrics in sober as well as striking colors presented a collection that was bold enough yet stylish and wearable. Few of the many outfits displayed by him were- ivory colored mirror jacket with chiffon sleeves, colorful corset skirt accompanied with net petticoat, tunic with fur edge, etc. His collection was for the woman who likes to seek attention of the crowd and be different.

Clive Rundle and Sun Goddess

Clive Rundle and Sun Goddess were two international South African designers who presented their collection at Lakme Fashion Week. Fusion was the key style of their outfits. Extravagant layered dresses and skirts, jackets, evening wear, loosely fitted shirts and trousers, long coats and tops were part of their garment showcase. Their choices of colors were mainly creams, cherries, plums, peaches, sapphires, maroons and mauves. The free flowing pleated and layered outfits depicted the south African culture and fashion essence through them.

James Ferriera

James Ferriera made his debut at Lakme Fashion Week. He named his collection ‘Bombay Tokyo’. His collections were inspired by Maharashtra’s rich textile heritage.

The collections were divided into seven segments which were even named. The sari, an ode to devnagari, the hardy traditional towel, black magic, the sholapur story, warli and diwali were the seven names given to the segments.

Traditional warli paintings and paithani motifs were done on the clothes. Very uniquely he transformed the traditional forms of maharashtrian clothing into contemporary designs, like nine yard saris were intelligently converted into tunics. Marigold and leaf motifs were used on black shirts with cowl necks.

To describe in a nutshell his collection used ethnic fabrics and designs on garments with style and attitude. The outfit presented during finale had black georgette garments with glittering Paithani embroidery designs on them.

Conclusion

This event is marked by presence of celebrities and traders all across the globe. Also it provides a platform for the budding designers to show their talent and establish themselves into the high profile fashion industry, for the already established designers to show their collection and maintain their popularity level. The above mentioned review is for few of the many prominent and talented designers. The nutshell description of the designers suggests that this celebration of fashion and style is a sure shot success for India’s designers and promote the export business too. The very presence of film stars on the ramp of their favorite designers and in the audience is the crowd puller factor of this celebration. Lakme Fashion week is extensively covered by media and promoted also.