The feeling of well-sewn hemlines softly skim across your skin as you wear a cotton t-shirt; a stereotypical, yellow measuring tape snugly wraps around your waist ensuring a piece fits your body; looking at a design or graphic on a garment made with so much intention, creativity, and innovation that the hairs on your arm stand up; details of distressing, slinky, subjective, silhouettes and textiles that unexpectedly complement each other.

These are all experiences one might undergo when in a “high-quality” clothing store or in the presence of a fashion designer. But, in such an oversaturated world of clothes, what even is a fashion designer? Whose clothes are you really buying and seeing on the runway?

Billions of clothes are produced every year, but that doesn’t mean every brand has a single designer behind it, in the traditional sense. Despite being an artisanal art form for many designers, the business of fast fashion, fashion dropshipping and using this creative avenue as a means to “side hustle” is bigger than ever before.

If you’re simply shopping at Zara, you’re actually consuming under a “Just-In-Time” manufacturing model where production is driven by trends and market research, not designers. Their collections are refreshed almost bi-weekly in order to keep up with whatever new items are gaining virality. Pretty neat, despite the lack of creativity.

If you’re a real fashion head, you’re likely paying some attention toward runways, local and emerging designers, or the arena of creative directors where the situation continues to get more convoluted.

From personal experience, I’ve begun to see a pattern of people framing themselves as designers, despite not being the ones who physically sew or digitally design their garments. Still, it’s shown and celebrated on runways. At an off-calendar New York Fashion Week (NYFW) production, I interviewed a “couture” designer about his process where he said, “I’m just an ideas person and I have a team that brings it to life.”

This threw me into a spiral.

It’s not any different from a Creative Director-to-Atelier scenario at a luxury brand like Balenciaga or Gucci, but it felt tainted to call this person a designer who wasn’t actually executing.

Who really constitutes being a designer? What are the boundaries to this term as the fashion market continues to grow? What are the moral implications to understanding these boundaries?

Fashion Designers (with a Capital F)

Designer Ethan Christe of Denver-based streetwear brand, Warming Worldwide, weighs in. Christe started as a graphic designer in 2015 and then went to fashion design school in 2019 at the Institute of Creative Entrepreneurship, Fashion, Arts and Design (ICEFAD) in the Philippines.

Photos Courtesy of Ethan Christe.

“I used to think anyone that made clothes was a designer, but there’s more to it than that,” Christe explained. “A Fashion Designer, to me, understands fabric, can measure a model, make and cut a pattern tailored to them, and be able to sew it together.”

In the words of Mr. Warming Worldwide and his favorite fashion influence of Virgil Abloh, this is the difference to being a Fashion Designer with a capital F.

Without the technical skills, “You’re just a Decorator, which is not a bad thing,” Christe prefaces.

Christe started Warming based on a friend’s text using the word, this morphed into a logo and brand representing duality in perception, overcoming adversity and moving toward balance. In true grassroots fashion, he created his own graphics, screen printed all of his own work, made his own patterns and sewed everything by hand.

Photos Courtesy of Ethan Christe.

But as the business scales toward the luxury streetwear sector, he hopes to begin outsourcing the manufacturing of his designs to save time and focus on creating new pieces.

In 2023, the streetwear fashion industry was estimated at a market size of 194 billion USD, with expectations to continually grow. In a growing industry, arguably over-saturated with “designers” not committed to their brands, I asked him how his business would then differ from any of the other thousands of screen-printed street brands that are out there, and continue to emerge.

“I mean there really isn't a way to know the difference right away. All my shit is nice but consumers [in a younger demographic] don’t really care about that,” Christe said when talking about his in-person, community-focused skating events. “I feel like the end product is more important than letting people know that I worked super hard on it, I think that's so corny…Like yeah, everything on my page is made by me, but, I don't fucking feel the need to say that.”

But in a time where, according to one Reddit User, “Anyone with access to Photoshop and OneHourTees thinks they're the next Virgil,” that kind of transparency may be necessary to understand and define the boundaries of Fashion Designers (with a capital F).

Creativity, Couture, and Cutting Corners

Lamark Cole, couture and celebrity designer describes a similar sentiment. Cole has been creating garments since 2020 with no technical background or education, simply learning on the fly from mentors and teaching himself along the way.

Photos By CNS Photo. Courtesy of Lamark Cole.

“I see the industry moving in a great direction as far as connecting, networking, and being passionate with other individuals who love this art form,” Cole said. “We all are artists and we all have different points of view and mental spaces. It's so important to understand the positions we are in and respect each other, it will kind of help everything move along.”

Bridal and Haute Couture celebrity designer Kenneth Barlis also sees positive strides regarding more individuality in designs, causing us to “break down what we can or should wear.”

Barlis has been designing since 2012. On the contrary to Cole, he attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles and now has a team of 30 people to execute his designs alongside him. His definition of designer falls into a broader context but still undermines the ideas of understanding clothing and business.

Photos by Reinhardt Kenneth for Glamour and L’Officiel and Tony Bee. Sourced from Kenneth Barlis Instagram.

“Personally, being a fashion designer is defined as someone who can touch someone’s emotions through clothing. This is the reason why I love making couture or one of a kind wedding gowns for my brides,” Barlis said. “Every bride has a unique love story to tell and I wanted to translate those stories into their clothing. In addition, I would say that the traits that are needed is the ability to listen and understand your client's needs before your ego.”

In Cole’s time in the industry, he describes seeing the word “designer” entangled in places it may not make sense, including screen printing and drop shipping scenarios. In these cases, he described the solution being to refer to someone as a business owner, rather than a designer.

“You're looking to profit from this. You're not looking to tell a story or share your vision, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to make money,” Cole said. “But then you also have to understand the respect of it all. Even with me, even though I didn't go to school for this, I put in a lot of time and work behind it. So it's kind of hard to even respect somebody who's calling themselves a designer when I know you didn't design this at the end of the day.”

To him, the definition of a designer is closely intertwined with Christe’s definition.

“A designer is someone who, if they're not cutting and sewing at the late stage, they at least know how to cut and sew at the early stage, actually creating their own pieces,” Cole explained. “At that beginning stage, you’re getting your respect, you have to put in the work. A designer is someone who's coming up with ideas that hasn't seen before, or you’re doing it better than the last person. You have a complete understanding of how the body works and moves, fabric textures, someone who can bring their vision to life.”

Not All Black And White

This may seem intuitive, but perspectives are constantly in flux. In a survey by Obscura, respondents' definitions of a designer all included key terms and skills such as pattern-making, sketching, sewing, creativity and authenticity.

One respondent said, “Someone who gives fabric/materials a new form through the design process.”

Still, respondents were nearly tied when asked, “Do designers need to know how to sew?” with 57% of votes reporting yes and 43% reporting no.

Again, a close call when asked, “Does screen printing/getting items manufactured overseas constitute being a designer” 53% of respondents reported no and 47% of respondents reported yes.

One respondent, Karysma Danaè, fashion stylist and industry insider, broke down her thoughts by saying someone in the business of screen printing is a designer by trade, but not by technicality. They describe that designers, much like Cole’s definition, have to know about construction even if they aren’t the ones mainly executing.

“A designer understands proportions of a body and the scale of measurement, whereas a wholesaler or mass producer understands size. Designs can’t be made on the basis of just a size. Designs are always made to a measurement,” Danaé said. “If you think about it, a wholesale or mass produced item once started out as an original design. The thing about that industry is that it’s just eternal copying. But, that’s a whole other conversation.”

Cole emphasizes the importance in making roles clear. He gives the example of stylists v. designers, and how “a designer creates, and a stylist assists in telling the message that the designer is trying to portray.” Still, stylists are being shown on runways alongside designers.

Other roles start to bend and play into Designer duties (shocker). Take the role of a Creative Director: As defined by Glam Observer, it has changed over time from simply designing collections to, “formulating and inspiring the design team with an overarching concept for the collections, becoming synonymous with the fashion house or brand.”

In Christe’s opinion, the CD should still have an awareness of construction and technical skills.

“Creative Directors are Fashion Designers because they work their way up to that point, but they just come up with ideas and pattern-makers make it for them,” Christe said. “Like Pharell is not a Designer, but he is the Artistic Director for Men’s Louis Vuitton. So I don’t even think it matters anymore to be a traditional Fashion Designer. It should in my opinion, but in terms of getting the job I don’t think it really does.”

Continuing the Conversation

Despite the complexities of a designer, there are some points we can all agree upon: Christe, Cole, and 84% of survey respondents agree that upcycling garments constitutes being a designer. Different roles like Stylists, Tailors, Decorators, Business Owners, and Creative Directors all aid in bridging the gap of confusion with just a little more clarity.

Nothing is ever black and white. I can’t give you all the answers. As we dive headfirst into the gray matter, where do we go from here? Who is a designer and who isn’t? Do new distinctions need to be made, to give credit where credit is due? How much due diligence do industry professionals need to pursue in regards to educating themselves? What impact is this having on the industry and its oversaturation?

These are all ongoing conversations to be having, but Cole describes the notion that transparency in the industry, on all fronts, is going to be key to fostering true community and organic collaboration.

“I feel like any true artist just wants to motivate and inspire someone, something inside them needs to be moved,” Cole said. “Just make it known, at least to the community, if not to the consumer too but they don't really care. But the community or industry for sure should understand the role you’re playing. I think the main thing is making sure the message getting across is accurate.”

Photos courtesy of Katie Tracy.