Beaded Jewelry Design - Part 3: Landing on the Fashion Page

Beaded Jewelry Design - Part 3: Landing on the Fashion Page

Beaded jewelry design has taken many accessory designers to different paths of success. Although the recognition pales in comparison to that lavished on fashion designers, the role that accessory designers play in the the fashion field has become, in many memorable cases, indispensable.

In general, fashion accessory includes bags, shoes, belts and jewelry. Through the years, the focus has shifted from one to the next. Every new season there seems to be a new "It" item, a fresh "must-have." Fashion jewelry has lately taken the distinction. The birth of the statement necklace and the piled-on bangles breathes new life to designer collections. Imagine Lanvin flowy and voluminous satins without the massive baubles hanging from ribbon straps. Or bejeweled bib necklaces and earrings absent over at Prada. Would Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer '09 be the same without the African-inspired, modernist neckpieces? These inspired creations have helped bring, if not outright defined, the looks that would go down fashion history and the holy archive.

There is no reason then for you aspiring fashion jewelry designers to doubt the importance of your craft to the fashion equation. More and more ladies are opening their options to accessorize. Indeed when one's personal style of dressing puts priority to simplicity and comfort, it is the necklace here and the bracelet there that elevate the look from drab to fab!

Now that you have your product and ideas on how to sell it as dicsussed in previous blogs, you can start working on getting your design featured in a fashion magazine. This in itself may be your most effective selling tool. While it is true that not everyone can have their fifteen minutes of printed fame, the possibility is always present when you open yourself to the possibility. The key is to believe in your art, give it as much exposure as you possibly can and wait until things start to shape up.

It was a case of one-thing-led-to-another for me. A friend introduced me to a shop owner who was looking for accessory suppliers for her new boutique in a high-end mall. As it turned out, she was also an editor of a home magazine and had for friends fashion editors. She was floored by the outcome of the collaboration we made enough to have it featured worn by an actress on the cover and a few inside pages of a men's magazine! Although the irony of it didn't translate into inquiries, it was a thrill to see my work featured on a magazine.

Much later on I got a text message from a lady who introduced herself as a fashion assistant for another fashion magazine geared towards the college market. When asked about how she learned about me, she said she must have gotten my business card in a bazaar I had joined. Again, when you give your product exposure, it leads to more exposure. It all came very easy. She only needed to e-mail me the questions about my business and products to which I dutifully replied, of course, along with a few product shots and presto! My company appeared as one of the featured online sellers on a regular segment the magazine has. The capsule article read like I was actually interviewed when in reality, we didn't even meet in person! We only got to finally see each other when she borrowed my actual samples for a photo shoot, this time for an editorial and other segments for the following month's issue (my fashion jewelry and bags spread throughout eight pages!) . Since then I have noticed a considerable amount of traffic in my Multiply site, more inquiries, added sales and my very first utilization of a courier service for an order "door-to-doored" to Pangasinan!

Being featured in a magazine is also a great way to test the acceptability of your design. It became apparent to me that a couple of designs got almost a unanimous inquiry. Since the magazine is targetted to a particular market, the reader response ultimately becomes a pretty accurate radar of design-market match. To see the magazine feature, you may visit http://cerashop.multiply.com.

So go and create! Be passionate about your craft and watch where it takes you from where you started with your beaded jewelry design.