Your resume layout is crucial and should be tailored to your experience level. For those starting as fashion designers, it’s best to highlight your educational background first. Then, emphasize any industry-relevant certifications or skills you possess.
If you’ve already gained experience in the fashion industry, prioritize your employment history. Recruiters in fashion often value practical experience over academic degrees earned years ago. Always present your experience in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent role. And remember, a well-crafted resume header is indispensable.
Creating the Perfect Fashion Designer Resume Header
Believe it or not, there is a right and wrong approach to writing a fashion designer resume header. At a minimum, a header should include your name, location, job title, and contact information. This holds true across all industries.
However, for a fashion designer, including a link to your online portfolio is particularly vital. It serves as the most effective way to showcase your design work visually and significantly increase your chances of securing an interview.
Headers can also optionally include your home address, LinkedIn profile, and relevant social media handles. Exercise caution when including your address, as biases related to location might exist. Only include social media links if they professionally showcase your design work. An Instagram feed filled with personal photos is irrelevant. But if you utilize Instagram to display your designs and fashion-related projects, by all means, add it.
Ensure both your phone number and email address are hyperlinked for easy contact. Make it effortless for recruiters to reach you.
Here are examples illustrating effective and ineffective fashion designer resume headers.
This header is an example of best practices. It clearly presents the candidate’s name, location (city, state), professional title (Fashion Designer), and essential contact information (phone and email). Crucially, it features a direct, visible link to an online portfolio. This is paramount in visual fields like fashion design, allowing recruiters immediate access to the candidate’s work and design aesthetic. The clean and professional design of the header itself reinforces the expected aesthetic of a fashion professional.
Conversely, this header is less effective. It lacks a clear professional title, making it ambiguous what role the candidate is applying for. While social media links are included, they are generic and not explicitly design-focused or curated for professional purposes. The absence of a portfolio link is a significant oversight for a fashion designer, as it deprives recruiters of the most direct way to evaluate design capabilities. The cluttered layout and less professional font choice also detract from the overall impression, failing to project the polished image expected in the fashion industry.
