Industry Insights from Mentor Richard Gray – Elevate Your Fashion Portfolio

Illustration of a person with red hair, yellow eye makeup, surrounded by flowers and ribbons, on a pink background with large purple and black text partially visible behind.

At HASOU Fashion Academy, we’re committed to nurturing the next generation of designers through meaningful mentorship.

Our esteemed mentor, Richard Gray, shares his top advice for curating a fashion portfolio that reflects your creative identity, professional polish, and vision for the industry:

Be Decisive:
Be decisive about what kind of work and role you are marketing your portfolio towards. Visually emphasise the design skills and creative processes you particularly want to be acknowledged, which give focus to your portfolio’s individuality and creatively personal point of view.

Visual Focus:
Use a dynamic and considered composition of your portfolio pages to create page layouts that have a purpose and a clear rationale for inclusion in showcasing your design development, personal focus, skills, and creative decision-making.

Clarity and Integrity of Visual Communication:
Ensure the 2D communication and resolution of your design work is fully aligned between design accuracy and unity in the communication of garments in your line-up drawings and technical drawings.

Your Creative Individuality:
The documentation of your working process, which is individual to you, and how your creative process and personal design focus are undertaken, can be as interesting, exciting, and enlightening as your design decision-making in your portfolio.

Ready to stand out in the industry? Create a portfolio that reflects your vision and narrative as a designer, and let your work speak volumes with clarity, intent and creative integrity.

An illustrated woman with red hair, exposed ribcage, and elaborate necklaces featuring colorful skulls, surrounded by white flowers and a white bird.

Illustration: Richard Gray