Fashion Designer Resume Example & Writing Guide

What is a fashion designer?

Fashion designers create original clothing, footwear, and accessories, from the initial sketch of designs and fabric selections through to providing instructions on producing their unique designs. If you’re targeting a fashion design career there are plenty of exciting opportunities, including roles in the film and television industry.

Why use this fashion designer resume example?

Creating a compelling resume can be a difficult task. As a fashion designer, you need to focus on what sets you apart from your peers to make a positive impression on a hiring manager. Our resume example and style guide will walk you through the process of highlighting soft and hard skills, experience, and accomplishments to ensure you stand out.  

The professional profile is your initial pitch, so it needs to grab the attention of the hiring manager and promote you as the perfect person for the job. Our resume example shows exactly how you can highlight your experience in fashion. Keeping your profile direct, succinct, and impactful will ensure the hiring manager is compelled to read on and review the rest of your resume.

Areas of expertise in our resume example are prominent to capture the hiring manager's eye. This provides a snapshot of your core skills in the fashion field via a bulleted list that will jump out to the hiring manager in the initial resume scan.  

The professional experience section balances paragraphs with bullet points to make contributions prominent.  Achievements are important in demonstrating how you can add value in your next role.    

How to write a great fashion designer resume

1. For your fashion designer resume to be successful, you need to open with a strong professional profile. Highlight your hard (industry-specific) skills.

2. Scrutinize the job description for keyword inspiration. You can use these keywords across the resume, but make sure you incorporate keywords relevant to each job opportunity in the areas of expertise section. This will help your resume perform well when parsed by an applicant tracking system (ATS).  

3. The all-important professional experience section comes next. Start with your most recent experience and work back to earlier roles, covering up to 10 years of your work history. Focus on using action verbs at the start of each sentence, such as conceptualized, orchestrated, and prepared. Follow this by bullet-points of specific accomplishments and wins in the fashion field, including facts and figures.

4. Outline your highest qualification in fashion design in the education section. If this is a degree, include the degree conferred, educational institution, and location. You can omit the graduation date if it is over 10 years ago. Follow this by detailing any relevant technical skills.

5. Proofread your entire resume before you submit your job application. Spelling errors, typos, and grammatical mistakes show a lack of attention to detail, which is not the professional image you want to project as a fashion designer.

Which skills are relevant for a fashion designer resume?

When outlining skills on a fashion designer resume, make sure they are relevant to the opportunity by checking the job description to identify in-demand skills. Here are some skills to include:

• Market research

• Flat sketches and illustrations

• Design production

• Product development

• Seasonal trends

• Team development

• Merchandising

• Brand management

• Project leadership