Careers in Fashion: Cool Hunter
Fashion is an industry that offers a wide range of possibilities. One of the newest is the profession of cool hunter. A cool hunter’s primary mission is to travel the world in search of innovation and fresh ideas that can be found on the street. Her task is to observe and discover items that may seem unremarkable to our inexpert eyes. This discovery could be the centerpiece of a designer’s next collection, as the cool hunter mainly works for big companies and designers.
Always on the lookout
As a general rule, any major label includes one or more experts on trends among its fashion team. You may ask, what are the trends and how are they defined? This is a difficult question. The trends are based on the overlap that occurs in the collections of various designers. For example, if several collections show Scottish plaid, this pattern becomes a trend. But who decides to use this pattern? The answer to that question is exactly where the cool hunter comes in.
A cool hunter works 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is one of those jobs where it is impossible to switch off. The ability of these people to pick up on certain elements is amazing, and although obviously this skill can be learned, cool hunters are driven by some sort of natural instinct or intuition. The cool hunter is always on the lookout, always alert and scanning her surroundings, since she never knows when she might discover something surprising, fresh and new.
The romance between designers and the cool hunter
Before hitting the runway, the trends must take shape, and that collaboration between the designer and the cool hunter is essential. After scouring the entire world, the cool hunter has many ideas to offer the label’s designer. These ideas do not come just from the different looks she found. In fact, the clothing is almost an afterthought. The cool hunter pays attention to decoration, architecture, how to wear a specific garment, the colors, the makeup, the hair ... it is all important to her. Once she has her portfolio of ideas, she shows it to the designer, and this, in turn, creates new inspiration that adds to the creativity and ideas that can be drawn upon from the label’s past collections.
The cool hunter is a decisive figure when it comes time to shape any fashion collection worth its salt. Without a doubt, it is a job that is 100% fresh and creative.
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