So, You Want To Work In The Fashion Industry? Career Tips

But what fashion industry role is right for you?

If any of you are looking to crack the fashion industry and build a career that Andy Sachs – from The Devil Wears Prada – would be envious of. But don’t quite know where to start, or where your best talents lie. Then Nintendo presents: New Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward, is a new game for the Nintendo 3DS that could help you to decide what fashion role is right for you. The 3rd installment of the fashion simulation series not only gives you the opportunity to manage your own clothing boutique, it also includes an additional four new fashion roles. So you can trial a virtual career in hair styling, design your own clothing or accessories line, become a make-up artist and even turn your hand to a spot of modelling.

At University I loved my retail career and if I had not moved home from Edinburgh, I probably would have continued to pursue a career in merchandising, perhaps eventually get a masters in fashion merchandising, which is something I often regret.

So, when Nintendo asked if I would like to test our their new fashion forward style boutique simulation game, my inner fashionista jumped at the chance to give it a go. In today’s post I have put together three diary entries of my journey and experience through the game, so those of you interested in fashion can get a feel for Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward and how it could help you to decide what role is best suited to you.

Diary Entry One: Starting My Career In Fashion

At the beginning of the game I was thrown into the hustle and bustle of fashion obsessed Beaumonde City.My first job was running the fashion boutique, selling individual clothing items to customers and picking out the right clothes for them to buy. Clothes are organised in categories and trends, such as sports, boho etc, which makes it easy to find what you are looking for and gives the sense of getting to grasp with how to organise and manage stock. I served a variety of customers, responding to request such as: “I’d like something flower patterned please”, or a sports fanatic looking for a new gym bag. Styling customers one by one and getting them to ‘Try on’ suggested clothing that fit their requirements and price range.

At this stage I most enjoyed being able to play with various shop interiors / exteriors to attract different customers and the dressing up of mannequins, to then have customers approach me for the exact same outfit! This aspect was reminiscent of what I enjoyed the most in my retail career in Edinburgh, being creative with the shop visuals, dressing and window displays. I also had to keep the boutique updated with stock by visiting the Exhibition Hall’s wholesale outlets, which was updated with new styles and brands to choose from. As it would be in real life, which kept play diverse and interesting.

Diary Entry Two: Experimenting With Different Fashion Roles

After around four hours of gameplay, I was unable to unlock the new fashion careers available in New Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward and I could switch between being a hair stylist, make-up artist, model and designer. What I loved about the game in each of these roles is that every time I was given a brief or expectation to follow, which is what would happen in the real world. I did actually find the make-up artist a little tricky at first, trying to exactly match what the customer was after from the image given on screen. And if they weren’t 100% happy, they would pay less. Equally, as the hair stylist I would be asked to create a hairstyle for say the ballet, and neede to remember whether or not the customer wanted a fringe, highlights, short or long hair style.

During play a fashion show was announced, which meant I had to prep entire outfits for the catwalk and instill trust in customers to come and watch! After the success of the first fashion show put on I was able to choose outfits, hair and makeup, as well as being able to model myself in the show. To do this I had to perform poses with real time buttons and add my own effects as I strutted down the catwalk. When playing as a model I was also able to go on photo shoots for brands, stand in various poses and again pick my own clothing, hair and make-up to try & sell what the brand was looking for. As I love deciding my daily outfits and styling looks for my blog, this was probably my favourite role to play. As I should probably admit that I am also slightly obsessed with model competition programmes on TV. I mean, who wouldn’t love strutting fiercely down the catwalk like Tyra!

Diary Entry Three: Choosing My Fashion Career Path

I started New Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward by serving customers, managing store stock and visual merchandising in the boutique. I then tried my hand at modelling, hair styling and being a make-up artist. And lastly I gave being a designer a go. I started by making my own unique t-shirts, working my way up to create my own brand of clothing, which is something I equally found fun. So, if perhaps fashion design / creation is more of your thing, you may find this process more interesting than the hair or make-up roles available in the game.

If you are anything like me, you may prefer hands on experience before deciding whether or not something is for you. And as it can be hard to dive straight in at the deep end with a fashion career and grab yourself an internship (due to what I can imagine to be a sea of applicants). For those of you who are interested in pursuing a career somewhere in the fashion industry, but you are not sure where, then Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward could help you to discover what you do and don’t like. For me, although I am aware this is virtual, the fact that the game covers all areas from customer service, visual merchandising, buying, styling and various other fashion roles. I can say that after gameplay, my favourite fashion pastime is still being creative with displays and putting outfits together!

Overall, the game is fun and has a realistic approach to challenges / tasks you may be faced with in a fashion focused career. To succeed you will also have to be dedicated to your customers and each role, working your way upwards to be a successful player in the fashion world. Which is always a great message to portray and work ethic to have.

If you would like to know more about the new Nintendo 3DS release – New Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward, you can visit their Facebook group page here, or you can watch the game’s intro video on Youtube. For those of you wanting to try the game you can even download a free demo on the Nintendo 3DS eShop (which is accessible via the handbag icon on the Nintendo 3DS menu). And for additional info, you can visit Nintendo’s Style Boutique 2 webpage here.

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to comment below with which of the fashion roles in New Style Boutique 2 – Fashion Forward you would want to find more information about? Or, if you have an interest in fashion, do let me know which career you are passionate to pursue?

*This post is in collaboration with Nintendo, but all thoughts and views are my own*