So You Want To Be A Fashion Designer: A Kids' Guide to Fashion Design, Fabric, Trend Forecasting, and the Creative Visionaries Who Sketch, Sew, and Sh - Paperback

WINNER of the Literary Titan Gold Book Award

From the So You Want To Be A... Series - 2026 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, Grand Prize Winner

What if the next great fashion designer is sitting in your living room right now, sketching outfits in the margins of a notebook? This ultimate illustrated guide was made for exactly that kid - the one who already sees clothing as self-expression and wants to learn how to become a fashion designer who shapes the way the world gets dressed.

So You Want To Be A Fashion Designer takes young readers ages 10-14 and beyond inside one of the most creative careers on the planet. Page by page, it follows a design from a rough concept pinned to a studio wall all the way to a finished garment on the runway. Kids and teens will discover why the fashion industry dreams up styles two full years before they feel perfectly of-the-moment, how a single haute couture gown can require more than a thousand hours of handwork, and where high heels and the world's rarest wool actually came from. For kids, this is the ultimate starting point for exploring design careers.

Along the way, readers meet trailblazing designers like Coco Chanel, Virgil Abloh, and Issey Miyake - visionaries who proved that fashion design is about far more than pretty clothes. It is about culture, identity, style, and giving people the power to say something about who they are without speaking a word. Understanding their journeys helps young readers become more thoughtful about the fashion and style choices that shape everyday life.

But this is not just a book to read - it is an invitation to start creating. Inside you will find hands-on activities for building real creative skills, from launching your own design sketchbook to draping fabric and redesigning the clothes you already own. A full glossary of fashion design terms decodes the language of the studio, and a "want to learn more" guide points kids and teens toward the books, websites, and programs that turn fashion curiosity into genuine design confidence. Think of it as part field guide, part career guide, and part creative spark all in one.

Whether your young reader is a future fashion designer mapping out their first collection or simply someone who senses that what we wear carries meaning, this guide for kids sparks curiosity, builds confidence, and opens a door to an entire creative world. It belongs on shelves alongside the best nonfiction for girls, boys, and teens who love art and design.

Part of the acclaimed So You Want To Be A series of career-exploration books for young, curious minds.

What do you want to say? Wear it.