Aspiring Designer? Here Are A Few Things You MUST Learn
When life gives you lemons.. it may just be your dream job. For Love and Lemons designer, Cassandra, knows this all to well. Read on to hear how an Instagram post, coincidence, and a secret weapon that made her stand out from the rest landed her this stellar role. She speaks candidly about her rookie mistakes plus how you can avoid them, and gets real about what they don’t teach you in fashion school.
For Love & Lemons Fashion Designer, Cassandra Chin
Hi Cassandra! Please tell us about your current role and your main responsibilities as a designer.
I'm one of the designers at For Love and Lemons. My main roles as a designer are designing into ready to wear, Skivvies, Swim, and knitwear collections. We're a small team so I also help with tech packs, fittings, and production.
We know no two days are alike, but walk us through what a typical week looks like for you.
On a weekly basis I'm either designing into one of our collections, developing new fabrics or prints, working on tech packs, assisting in fittings or researching for new collections. Contrary to popular belief fashion design is actually quite technical so I feel like it is 20% designing and 80% technical. Fittings usually take up most of my day, at For Love and Lemons it's super important that we get the fit right to fit a wider range of girls. It is also really important that we build a strong relationship with vendors so I am usually emailing with fabric vendors and outside vendors throughout the day.
Did you always know you wanted to be a designer? How did you land your role at FLL?
I've known I wanted to be a fashion designer probably since I was a little girl! It is kind of in my blood! My parents own an alterations shop in North Carolina so I've grown up around seamstresses and sewing machines. Even when I was little my favorite part of the day was getting to choose my own outfit.
A couple of years ago I saw that FL&L had posted on their Instagram that they were hiring for an assistant designer and I knew right away I wanted to apply. However FL&L had a lot of followers and I knew I had to stand out so I did a project for them to have ready for the interview. I think that definitely helped me stand out from the other candidates and added a personal flair to my interview. I also had previous knowledge of swimwear and baby clothing from a past job and it was a coincidence since FL&L was about to launch both swim and baby collections.
What was the biggest rookie mistake you made when just starting out?
One of the biggest mistakes I've made was not interning enough when I was in school. I think internships are so vital, you really get hands on experience that schools don't teach you. Also I think with more internships it is definitely easier to land a higher position job when graduating from school. For instance, when I am looking to hire I definitely look for candidates with more internship experience.
What is something you learned on the job that school didn’t teach you?
I was definitely naive when I started out and thought fashion design would be super glamorous and that's definitely not the case! I think for fashion designers it is important to have good taste and know your customer base but also have a good technical skill set as well. For my job in design I've had to learn about production, business, and technical design, which I didn't learn in school.
What advice would you give to anyone just starting their career in fashion design?
It is super cliche but learn as much as you can! Whether it be through internships, schooling, mentors or teachers. You can only grow through learning and you're never too old for learning. Definitely take advantage of your resources!