What things do you need to design clothes?

Answer 1

It depends if you mean on a small individual scale or a large commercial basis.

The most important things you need in all cases are :

1. an idea of who you are designing for (market),
2. samples of fabric or type of fabric that you may use*,
3. something to draw with and something to draw on (or computer software) and a way of showing colour
4. visual references for inspiration or fashion (might be of anything)
5. a basic understanding of anatomy and physical constraints of clothing. It is possible to work this out as you go if you carefully investigate what the implications of your designs are using fabric, and/or the toiling process.

Also:

• A dress dummy of some kind allows invention of styles, through draping and pinning, that would not otherwise be possible.
• Sewing equipment or dressmaker (sample maker). In almost all cases, except maybe fancy dress and unless the outline is quite simple, it is good to make an working version ('toile' say twarl) of the designs in fabric. Alterations that are then made to the design are considered part of the design process.
• Most people use a figure outline ('croquis' say crok-ee) to place under the page when drawing fashion.
• Designing clothes very often involves the designer "selling" their idea to someone who says 'yes, I like it, lets make it', whether this person is someone internally in a company, or your friend that you're designing a wedding outfit for. Presentation drawings are produced more neatly and clearly than initial design sketches, using pens, computer software or art materials that will represent the ideas well.
• A tape measure or ruler can be useful.

*important. This is a reference to help with questions such as how the fabric will drape, how will the fabric behave if I put gathers in the design, does it have stretch ... etc that will come up when you are designing. Sometimes in the fashion industry, sophisticated software is used to try and solve these questions.

So for equipment, a person could sit down with only a pen & paper, a swatch of fabric, and a coloured pencil and produce clothing designs. Clothing design is a game of prediction and art, so for good design it is the knowledge of technical aspects and social (fashion) understanding that go into the design as well as more importantly creative expression - whether showing love of colour, texture, sculpture - that the designer brings to it that make it a better standard rather than tools such as special drawing equipment.