JD Institute of Fashion Technology
What Luxury Fashion Brands Want in a Fashion/Creative Director?

A creative director role no longer begins and ends with only designing a collection, now there is much more than that in this job. He is now responsible for developing and executing the brand’s vision in their design collections, social media and in real-time presence. Creative directors have to always serve as the brand figureheads. Therefore, they have to be extremely analytical towards the brand’s performance and work. Earlier it was comparatively easy for a creative director to do his job but now due to increased competition, modern creative directors are expected to conceptualise everything related to the brand be it social media strategy, advertising campaigns or brand collaborations. A creative director is someone who is not just good at creating products and collections but also is able to apply his artistic qualities in the betterment of the positioning of the brand. A brand before actually jumping into finding a creative director that fits their brand, go for a hunt of creative directors in their own spectrum. 

Steps brands follow to find Creative director:

1. Promoting from Within: We instruct you to start your hunt for a creative director internally that is in your own company. Existing design people understand the working and the brand more effectively. Thus, helping to ease the situation by becoming a creative director. In order to promote internal talent, brands must have systems that groom the junior employees to take up tasks that require their leadership. The person must be able to brainstorm and make healthy decisions on their own. A Major insight into the real working as a creative director is required to be given to potential junior employees. Regardless of whether an employee for this job is promoted internally or recruited, a creative director should be someone who gets up with the management easily and sets up the entire team for success.

2. Looking for External Talent: An external search for an employee is the best route to take when a brand hasn’t established a proper system for an internal promotion or is in need of fresh talents in the company. Though, bringing recruiting someone from the outside of the company requires detailed screening yet it is one of the sensible tasks to do while recruiting. At first, external candidates are assigned a project that requires them to outline what they perceive about the brand and its vision. They will have to handle projects that require them to showcase more and more talent of theirs that make the hiring brand sure about the employee. This process helps both the candidate and the brand to decide whether this position is the right fit for either of them. It’s important to communicate about the working environment to the external candidate while hiring. 

3. Matchmaking: A new creative director doesn’t alienate the brand’s existing customers; instead they cater to them while also widening the reach of the brand. As the creative director role demands a lot of creative skill sets, therefore while hiring the top priority is to find talent that can create a lasting impact on the customers regarding the brand with their talent. 

Having said that, creative directors need to be polished in some of the skill sets that majorly helps in being a creative fashion director. Let’s get to know some of the skills that a creative director needs to have. 

Skills Creative Director Needs to Have: 

1. Creative Skills: Creativity is one of the most essential skills that a creative director needs to have in a fashion designing industry. It is required while formulating a fashion design concept for the brand. A creative director must be able to portray the vision of a certain style effectively in their designs. They must be able to generate new and fresh ideas that are appealing to the target customer base. A fashion design idea should be such that inspires and appeals to the target audience. 

2. Communication Skills: While it’s important for a creative director to have creative ideas, in order to communicate those ideas with the team the creative director must have great communication skills. A creative director’s idea can only take a real shape if he/she is able to communicate it with the other team members that are equally responsible for shaping the idea in reality.  Execution of ideas is very important while thinking of running a brand in the fashion industry. The creative director must also be able to listen to the creative ideas of other team members patiently. Networking and communicating is one of the major skills required to be a creative designer.

3. Leadership Skills: Many decisions that are made in a fashion designing company depends on the leadership skills of the creative director. After effectively having a conversation with the team members, a creative director must be able to make the final decision on behalf of the brand. The creative director must have a strong ability to take charge of the projects. Doing time management, pulling all tasks together and getting the work done majorly falls under the job role of a creative director. Thus, creative directors can’t afford to lose their leadership skills.  

4. Technical Skills: A creative director needs both technical and artistic skills in order to execute their creative ideas in reality. Having a skill set in operating graphic-design computer software is a must for a creative director. Designing allows the creative director to quickly jot their ideas down on paper. Utilizing technical skills helps creative directors to create and share fashion designing ideas. 

Creative directors have to graduate from Fashion Design Course and then take roles of an art director in a fashion designing company. No matter which company a creative director works in, they have to use the skills of creativity, leadership and technical skills. Fashion designing course at JD Institute of Fashion Technology helps focus on the creative approach to developing fashion designing in the fashion industry. At JD Institute of Fashion Technology, we encourage students to take up a Fashion Designing Course to have their skills sharpened through our Fashion programs.