Introduction

Fashion is associated with daily lifestyles therefore continuous development of professional careers and educational qualification would help to improve knowledge of an aspirant fashion designer. Students with the dreams of becoming faction designers are mostly prioritising the glamorousoutcomes related to the fashion industry however the real scenario is completely different. The fashion aspirants should need to improve their skills in a way that the designs would be widely accepted and would be able to maintain sustainable goals so that it can last in the market. Therefore, every aspirant in the fashion design world needs toimprove their knowledge about design, social psychology and the sustainability management processes to improve the factors.

Section 1: Personal Reflective Plan

Personal reflective statement

My goal is to become a celebrity stylist and to offer different high quality products and services from my own fashion studio. I would also like to be an active  social  media  fashion  influencer  by posting  photos of my designed outfits and would hope to  share  knowledge which  related body  image  with  fashion.  A master’s degree student of fashion management, I got the opportunities to attend Shanghai Fashion Week and China Custom Fashion Week and internship at Nike. Both the experiences were very helpful in clearing my doubts about the professional scopes and development. I attended fashion weeks during my undergraduate course. Moreover, I  got the opportunity to arrange  different types of  events in my  college  life  as  I was Vice Minister of the Student Union’s Culture and Art Department. Therefore, I got the insight of different required skills during these events and consequences.

I felt that to become a fashion influenceror celebrity stylist, communication and interaction is very important. However, being an introvert, it scared me a lot. Therefore, the requirement of skillsmade me overwhelmed. I feel that my hardworking and enduring attitudes would help me to achieve my goals.

As I am an introvert, I could not express my feelings and emotions in the designing teamwork’s. The internship required different skill sets like quick decision making, emotional intelligences and development of reasoned judgements. Moreover, social communication skills and understanding of current trends are required for the development of better and high quality designs. Designs and drawings are required to be perfect; however, my drawing skills should be developed properly. The trend of the market needs to be analysed by everydesigner but I have zero knowledge of it. Therefore, the designing skills and some technical knowledge need to be improved. Moreover, I want to improve my social media usability skills for better and higher level of services.

During my college days, the events helped meto improvemy team coordination skills.  On the other hand, attending the fashion weeks gave me the understanding about designer brands and the maintenance of different types of fashionbrands’ image among the   customers. The Nike internship helped me to understand that dealing with customers is not very easy and we need to focus on communication and requirements of the participants.  Therefore, it can be said that every experience of internships and event organisations either helped me to enhance my capabilities or detect my flaws.

Events and internships would help to improve the development of different factors in the development of better and higher quality analysis. On the  other  hand, with the  help of  those experiences  I could  understand both of  my  strengths  and  flaws.

Hence, to overcome the flaws; I would require better training and development for enhancing my skillsin drawing and understanding the market trends among the customers. On the other hand, I could understand that soft skills like decision making skills, problem solving attitudes and improvement of emotional development would help to improve the skills. In the following section; personal and professional development

Personal & professional development plan

Learning objectives	Activities to achieve the  objectives	Supports  and resources	What would be  the expected outcome	Timeline
To understand the factors in the market trends and fashion preferences in the current situation	With the help of different readings or fashion journals, the knowledge can be gained by me. Regular fashion news updates from different online and offline sources would be used to improve the knowledge about fashion trends.	WGSN  annual trends Color patterns should be followed. Annual reports of fashion brand icons like Gucci and Prada would be analysed for maintaining the factors in the fashion.	It can be observed that the factors associated with the fashion preferences in the market would be understood.	10 weeks
To improve the  usability of  social media in fashion world	Online survey and analysis of different fashion communities and groups in social media would help to improve the ideas of fashion. Social media trend analysis would help to improve the knowledge about fashion trends.	Conducting online  survey Online content analysis Social  media analysis  tools Website analysis  metrics	Data analysis tools learning	12 weeks
To improve the sustainability factors in the designing  for  making  long lasting products	Better education and studying proper sustainability factors in fashion designing would help to improve the insights related to sustainability in fashion.	High quality academic resources and articles related to fashion would be used. Following different sustainable designing brands, the ideas would be clear.	Maintenance of fashion sustainability in different designs.	13 weeks
To  improve technical knowledge about  designing,  color  patterns in the current  situation	By attending workshops of different online drawing software’s learning and designing, the fashion designers would improve their skills. Learning from different online sources with the development of different ideas related to body image theory and concepts.	By learning and developing ideas from academic resources.	The expected outcome of the activity is related to the improvement of my skills which can understand different body types and how fashion accepts body positivity.	10-12 weeks
To  understand the   consumer preferences and market trends	With the help of different types of academic research, I could able to improve different types of consumer preferences and behaviour in the fashion industry.	By learning different types of theories and concepts.	Improvement of ideas related to the consumer preferences.	5-8 weeks

Table 1:Personal & professional development plan

Source: (Self-created)

Section 2: Annotated Bibliography

Fashion is an ever changing trend for the development style among different individuals across the world.  Moreover, the fashion industry would need a better and higher level of education. In addition to that, knowledge and education related to fashion would improve skills and artisans. Fashion would help to improve artistic and craftsmanship. 

Annotated Bibliography

Murzyn-Kupisz, M. and Hołuj, D., 2021. Fashion design education and sustainability: Towards an equilibrium between craftsmanship and artistic and business skills?Education Sciences, 11(9), p.531.

Sustainability would be played in the development of better quality fashion impact in terms of environment, social and economic management. The article has analysed that the fashion education should be included in the secondary education in school for better craftsmanship among the people. Therefore, contemporary fashion issues would help to improve the quality of fashion education among the aspirant designers. Multidimensional factors in the educational factors would improve the quality for education and sustainability. The research  paper has analysed that the  constant  pressure in the  contemporary  development of the  fashion and  designing  would  help to improve the  factors which are  indispensable  for future fashion graduates and would change the  perspective  of the future  stylists . 

It was observed that the knowledge, attitudes and skills or competencies would improve the continuity and acceptance amongst the buyers.  The importance of fashion education has been analysed in the research paper. The authors have found out that a successful fashion designer would not only produce some aesthetically pleasing products but also some sustainable designs. The report has analysed that the fashion educators should improve the designs for different garments and creative compositions so that the fashion aspirants would cope with complex marketing techniques and enhanced competition. Therefore, a sense  of  fashion  is  needed with the development of  proper  ideas  related to fashion and designs along  with   public and  financial  support. The research has analysed the factors related to the COVID-19 protocols with development of the demand and supply relation in the fashion market. Hence, the researchers have analysed that both awareness and education would help to improve the level of understanding about fashion. 

Nash, J., 2019. Exploring how social media platforms influence fashion consumer decisions in the UK retail sector. Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal.

Social  media has become  one of the  most  effective  ways for the development of  fashion statements among the  consumers  for better and  higher productivity . It has become a critical mechanism for the retail industry in fashion. Consumer-decision making process would improve both X and Y generations in the retail fashion industry. Both internal and external motivations would affect the choices of the consumers in the industry. Although social media platforms are not only media to communicate and influence decision making of the consumers especially in the high-street fashion development. In the high street fashion retailers, the numbers of consumers are proliferated in the sectors. Therefore, the fashion industry professionals would need to prioritise the factors in social media. Moreover, the fashion enthusiasts would help to improve the perceptions and would gain inspiration with the development of fashion intentions and expectations among the consumers. Findings of this research would help to improve the factors associated with the consumer decision making and brand personality. Therefore to establish an image for own brands, social media promotion and activities would be needed. Moreover, social media can be used as the tool for style personalisation. 

Duffy, B.E. and Hund, E., 2015. “Having it all” on social media: Entrepreneurial femininity and self-branding among fashion bloggers. Social media+ society, 1(2), p.2056305115604337.

The research has analysed that social media platforms have been used in the form of sell-curated factors in the fashion industry. Authors have analysed different factors like social inequalities and body-gender type influence in fashion blogging.  Although fashion blogging is not related to the educational perspective, it is one of the most effective ways to collect information about fashion trends and market development. Creative influence is not only related with obscuring different contemporary logic but also a representation of critical feminist perspectives. The research has analysed that body or physical maintenance would improve aesthetic labours among the consumers. The research has found out that the social media display of fashion would help to improve feminine subjectivity and emotional labours. It was also found out that the bloggers can influence the self-image and fashion trend management in the research. It was also analysed that social influencers can mediate better gendered emotion and deep acting labours with continuous expressions in moderate glam life. The research has also argued that the capitalist influence in the fashion media has increased brand- landed promotions and different self-creation sharing activities. Both aesthetic standards and existing economy have been influenced with the development of social media usage in the fashion industry. 

Burberryplc.com, 2021. Burberry Annual Report 2020/21. [Online] Burberryplc.com. Available at: <https://www.burberryplc.com/content/dam/burberry/corporate/oar/2021/pdf/Burberry_2020-21_Annual_Report.pdf> [Accessed 28 December 2021].

Annual report of Burberry in 2020-2021 has analysed that the company has performed well in social media. Prominent presence of Burberry in different types of platforms would improve the adaptability of the company. On the other hand, the company has created sustainable products for years. Therefore, the company has created different trends which are associated with a line of sustainability among the fashion market. On the other hand, the company has created different types of campaigns among the consumers to improve the markets in China and other countries. The campaigns would help to improve the interactivity of the company with the customers. With the help of different types of social media platforms, the company could relate with customers. Through the company websites, customer communication and interaction has been promoted. On the   other hand, it has been understood that the company aimed for the neutral and generalised approach of the company. Moreover, the company has analysed that diversity management is crucial in maintaining fashion sustainability. 

Britishfashioncouncil.co.uk, 2021. Annual Report & Accounts. [Online] Britishfashioncouncil.co.uk. Available at: <https://www.britishfashioncouncil.co.uk/uploads/files/1/BFC%20Annual%20Report%202019-20.pdf> [Accessed 28 December 2021].

 The report of the British fashion council has also included the importance of educational excellence in the fashion industry. Moreover the report has analysed that the social media performance and investment management would help to improve the effectiveness. Both influential parties and third groups would include consumers’ preferences in the fashion industry. Different types of social media influencers and social media users would be included in the development of better promotion. It can be observed that 3 million followers are involved with different channels like twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Different communication strategies would help to improve the touch points across multiple platforms. The social channels   would help to improve both creative content and impressions in the social media platforms.

Section 3: Literature Review

Fashion is a broad aspect which might include different factors in terms of personality and the development of insights. Therefore, the business owners in the fashion industry would improve the business communication and mind-sets. 

Theories and models  

Social identity theory  

According to the research of Chu and Sock (2020), social identity theory would help to improve the factors in the development of better and individual places in the society.  Both psychological and psychoanalytic theories would categorise three aspects such as social categorisation, identification and comparison. As per this theory the factors related to the perception of a person in the society might be restricted and categorised in different manners. Therefore, it can be said that fashion choices and preferences would be influenced with the help of the brand perception. Helal and Ozuem (2018) stated that social media is highly influential in the development of the social identity of a person and this would include appearance also. As a result the fashion voice and brand perception would be analysed in the fashion aware or conscious groups in the society. On the other hand, the fashion companies are using the presence of social media on the basis of social identity theory. 

Consumer behaviour theory 

Decision making is one of the most important factors in buying a particular thing from the market. Therefore, the factors associated with the consumer behaviours would be influenced with the development of the market prediction.  According to this theory, the satisfaction of customers would help to improve cost effectiveness.  The fashion industry would help to improve the factors in the consumers’ behaviours. Factors like discounts, offers and exclusive services would help to improve the fashion industry revenue.  Happiness and interests are also key factors which should be applied in the brand development in the fashion industry. Therefore, the fashion designers and stylists would help to improve the factors associated with consumer behaviours. Moreover, preferences of customers would help to improve the factors in the development of the customer buying behaviours. After the COVID19 pandemic, the business opportunities became more digitally appropriate. Therefore, the result of intentional marketing to manipulate or influence the consumer behaviours would help to improve business development.

 Self-discrepancy theory 

The self-discrepancy theory would analyse that there is always a difference between the actual self of a person to self-guide. Self-guide states that version which every person wants to be.  On the other hand, fashion is to some extent related to the body types which would connect the appearance of fashion. Due to the gap between self-guide and actual self, people are trying to improve their appearance and prioritise the factors related to external management.  On the other hand, Yu and Jung (2018) showed that the media exposure might affect or influence the body image of the customers. There are different types of perceptions associated with the development of the fashion industry. Therefore, body image can be considered as one of the most important factors in the perception and fashion management. Both self-schema and perceptions would help to improve the appearance of the person. Therefore, it can be said that the persons who are aware of the fashion might consider different body types. 

Impact of social media on fashion 

In the modern day systems, the consumer behaviours are related to the media presence of different brands. Therefore, the companies in the UK fashion industry have changed their approached with the help of different media such as printing and social media. For example, the name of Chanel was mentioned 9.6 thousand times in different media (Statista, 2021). 

Figure: use of media by the fashion houses in UK  

Source: (Statista, 2021)

The Economic Times (2021) stated that the social media use has increased in the fashion industry of the UK. The report also analysed that 11% of the fashion market increased its business in social media. It has observed that 30% of sales will increase in 2025 (The Economic Times, 2021).  Moreover, social media would help to improve the factors for business in the fashion industry.  

The perception of the buyers are analysed by the famous fashion brands with their online activities. Business Communication can be enhanced with the social media presence in the market (BBC News, 2021). With Facebook and Instagram campaigning, millions of customers are included with the marketing campaign. Therefore, it can be said that both online and offline communication should be improved. 

Perception of consumers in the fashion business  

There are different types of the contents associated with the business marketing of the fashion houses. Quality of different contents would improve the growth of followers. Both engaging contents and videos can be used as the promotional factors in famous fashion houses like Peacocks and Mark& Spencer. On the other hand, the engagement rate of the fashion brands can be maintained with the content creation by analysing consumers’ perception. Moreover, it can be said that using body pros and cons would relate the subconscious of body image among the consumers. Therefore, most of the fashion companies have introduced factors like diversity and sizes of consumers. For example, UK based Neon Moon, a lingerie brand included a plus size model with shaved head and a transgender woman to increase the perception of the body positivity with their advertisement (mic.com, 2021). They have also removed the sizes for the sake of the body positivity in the clothing lines. 

To improve the perception of fashion business marketing, the company would help to enhance the business communication. Moreover, it has analysed that fashion is related to both the   psychoanalytical and communicative perspectives. Therefore to improve both the factors, the companies would need to improve the factors for better and higher effectiveness for future aspirants. If a company cannot connect with the mind-set of the consumers and fails to meet the requirements for them, the market position of the company would be affected.