Careers in Fashion: What is the role of a Visual Merchandiser?

Welcome to the primary installment of our sequence, the place I will pull again the curtain on the various and dynamic careers throughout the style trade. This trade isn’t nearly glamour; it’s a worldwide behemoth, projected to be price an astounding $1.84 trillion in 2025 and persevering with to develop!

Whereas the position of a designer usually springs to thoughts when individuals take into account careers on this trade, the reality is that the style world is comprised of an enormous array of different job alternatives. In my e-book, Historic Dictionary of the Style Trade, I extensively discover these various roles and their important features throughout the trade.

On this new weblog sequence for College of Style, I’ll broaden on that exploration, offering an in-depth take a look at numerous style careers and immediately pointing you to related UoF classes that may aid you embark by yourself style journey.

Historic Dictionary of the Style Trade, Second Version

What’s Visible Merchandising?

Visible merchandising is a kind of design disciplines that profit each retailers AND style designers, alike. Whether or not you’ve got your individual model and are fortunate sufficient to afford your individual retail retailer, OR you’re a model who plans on promoting to retail shops, our 9-part visible merchandising sequence offers useful info that will help you succeed. Visible merchandising is the very plan to make use of to speak to the client what the model is all about.

The Psychology of Visible Merchandising

So, all of it begins outdoors the shop, with the doorway and retailer home windows. You’re strolling by, and abruptly you see a terrific show window that makes you cease and look. What did the trick?

Perhaps it was the proper costume or coat that you just’d been pondering you want to discover. Or… possibly it was the colours within the show, or one thing enjoyable about it. Or possibly, it was even a sale signal. If it made you determine to go inside, that’s a profitable show window.

Examples of colourful & eye-catching retailer home windows (Photograph excerpt: College of Style video)

And, after we stroll right into a retailer, we normally know inside about three seconds whether or not we need to keep there and store, or whether or not we simply need to flip and go away. We all know instantly whether or not we’re going to discover one thing we like, or whether or not it’s going to be a waste of time. It’s all concerning the retailer’s inside design. Does it look organized, in order that we’d really feel assured about shifting round simply with out asking for assist? Or is it a messy retailer the place we’re not clear on learn how to discover issues?

Instance of a messy & uninviting in-store show (Photograph excerpt: College of Style video)

In retail visible merchandising, there are two important elements of the shop inside to consider: merchandising presentation and visible merchandising. Though they work collectively, they’re really two completely different actions. To maintain the shop recent, each components must be up to date incessantly. That encourages clients to return again to the shop usually to see what’s new.

Instance of an attention-grabbing, in-store thematic merchandising presentation and visible show (Photograph excerpt: College of Style video)

The Planogram

In-store visible merchandising begins with the planogram. The planogram is an in depth set of drawings of a retailer with two foremost objectives: to plan the use of the house, and to make choices on the place to position all of the merchandise.

Instance of a retailer planogram (Photograph excerpt: College of Style video)

Visible merchandisers like to make use of textures that distinction with the merchandise, as a result of they spotlight the qualities of the merchandise, and assist clients see them.

The profitable use of colour and texture in retailer home windows. (Photograph excerpt: College of Style video)

Utilizing Line, Form & Stability in Visible Merchandising

Traces and shapes are the essential constructing blocks that visible merchandisers use in placing collectively a merchandising show. We see them on tabletop shows, on partitions, and in show home windows. Traces and shapes will be created by clothes on mannequins and on clothes hanging on racks or partitions, and so they may even come from the cabinets and the shop furnishings.

Stability signifies that each line and form of the show works to assist the entire show, and each half is integral to your complete show. We should be capable to look across the complete show, and all of the strains will hold main our eye again to the central focus.

Using line and form in visible merchandising (Photograph excerpt: College of Style video)

We hope you’ve loved this little snippet of what you’ll study as you make your manner by our visible merchandising sequence. With over 5 hours-worth of instruction, and tons of of retailer show photos, you’re certain to be impressed and enlightened on the position of the visible merchandiser. Heck, it could even encourage you to need to pursue it as a profession!