Where to Find Inspiration for Your Next Design

Before diving into creating glamorous fashion designs and exquisite illustrations, the journey begins with finding inspiration. However, inspiration can be elusive at times. It seems simple to come up with creative ideas now and then, but doing it consistently, every day, is a different challenge. Even professional fashion designers encounter creative blocks due to a lack of inspiration. Their daily pursuit revolves around creativity, discovering trends, and bringing fresh ideas to life.

This article will show you 20 amazing sources of inspiration for your next fashion collection, arranged from A to Z. Let’s dive in!

Architecture

Next time you’re out, really look at the buildings around you. Notice their lines, colors, and structures. How can you turn these elements into clothing designs? A sleek skyscraper might inspire a form-fitting dress with clean lines, while a cozy cottage could spark ideas for chunky knits with intricate patterns. Don’t forget about bridges, fountains, and other urban structures – they’re full of inspiring shapes and textures!

Art Museums

Visit local galleries or explore online collections. Which artworks grab your attention? Why? Use these feelings to fuel your designs. Maybe a bright abstract painting inspires a bold print for a summer dress, or a sculpture’s flowing curves influence the shape of an evening gown. Take notes or quick sketches to capture your ideas. Remember, art isn’t just about visuals – think about how it makes you feel and translate that emotion into your designs.

Books and Music

Let your favorite stories and songs guide you. What would the main character wear? How can you show a song’s mood through clothes? A romantic novel might lead to flowing dresses with soft fabrics, while rock music could inspire edgy leather looks with studs and zippers. Don’t just think about the obvious – consider the setting, time period, and overall atmosphere of the story or song. The main thing here is that you don’t even need to like the music style. All you need to do is show in your design work how it made you feel.

Fashion Magazines

Flip through magazines like Vogue, Elle, or Harper’s Bazaar. Look for common themes in colors, fabrics, and shapes. Use these as a starting point, but add your own twist to make designs unique. Pay attention to not just the clothes, but also the styling, accessories, and overall mood of the photoshoots. These can all provide valuable inspiration for your designs.

Observe how other designers are building their collections and analyze the key elements – fabric, fit, colors, shapes. Use the key elements to create your own version of the designs. Mix and match ideas and never use just one designer as reference. Always use magazines with cautions – there’s a fine line between “inspired by” and “copied”.

Fashion Shows

What better way than to get ideas and inspiration straight from the “kitchen” where things happen? Watch online fashion shows to see the latest trends straight from the designers. Pick elements you like from different collections and mix them in your own way. Look beyond just the clothes – notice the music, the set design, and the models’ walks. All of these elements contribute to the overall vision and can spark ideas for your own designs.

Remember, inspiration is okay, but copying isn’t! The easiest way to make sure that you’re not a copy cat is to combine elements from 2-3 different designers.

Food

Your next meal could spark a great idea! Notice food colors, textures, and how it’s presented. A colorful salad might inspire a vibrant print for a summer dress, or a layered cake could lead to a cool jacket design with interesting panels. Think about the textures too – the crispness of a fresh apple could inspire a crisp, tailored shirt, while the softness of whipped cream might lead to a billowy, romantic blouse design. Even the way food is plated can give you ideas for how to arrange details on a garment.

Go Shopping

Visit stores or shop online to see what’s popular right now. Pay attention to how clothes are styled on mannequins or models. This can teach you about current trends and how to put outfits together. Look at the details – how are zippers placed? What kinds of buttons are being used? How are different fabrics combined? These small elements can spark big ideas for your own designs. Don’t forget to check out window displays too – they often showcase creative ways to present fashion.

History of Fashion

Look back at fashion through the years. Old styles often come back in new ways. Try giving a vintage look a modern twist in your designs. For example, you could take the silhouette of a 1950s dress but use modern, high-tech fabrics. Or maybe combine the bold colors of the 1980s with more minimalist, contemporary cuts. Understanding fashion history can help you predict and create future trends.

History Eras

Before our time, fashion didn’t change every year. Clothes used to be extremely high quality, time consuming to make and expensive. Explore how people used to dress throughout history. Learn more about your favorite era- Ancient Egypt, Greece, the Renaissance and make a collection influenced by it. But remember – in order to look modern and relevant, you can’t use everything as it was – always give it your own twist!

Interior Design

Look at interior design for color combinations and texture ideas. A cozy living room might inspire a sweater in similar tones, while a modern kitchen could lead to a minimalist dress design. Notice how elements are combined – this can give ideas for mixing fabrics or styles in clothing designs. Details like curtain drapes or rug patterns can spark ideas for garment movement or interest. Check out tutorials on ‘How to Draw Lace‘ and ‘How to Draw Leather‘ for accurate textile representation.

Jewelry & Accessories

Use your favorite accessories as inspiration. A necklace’s intricate pattern could become a unique embroidery design on a dress, or a bag’s unusual shape might influence the cut of a jacket. Look at how different materials are combined in jewelry – this can give you ideas for mixing textures in your clothing designs. Even watch faces or earring shapes can inspire interesting pocket designs or collar shapes. Remember, sometimes the smallest details can make the biggest statement in fashion.

If you use an accessory as inspiration, try to create a design that will matches with it in an unique way with it including shape, color and texture resemblance.

Music

Create outfits based on different music genres. What would a country singer wear versus a pop star? Let the music guide your designs. Think about the attitude and lifestyle associated with each genre. For example, jazz might inspire elegant, flowing evening wear with unexpected twists, while punk rock could lead to edgy, deconstructed pieces. Don’t forget about album cover art – it’s often a great source of color inspiration and graphic elements you can incorporate into your designs.

Nature

Just look around – we live and breath in a world that lives and breaths itself! The nature offers us a million things to be inspired by – plants, animals, the sky, mountains, valleys, deserts, rivers, lakes, the list could go on forever.

When you’re lacking inspiration, try taking a walk through a nearby field, park, forest, or other natural space.

Observe shapes, textures, colors, and patterns around you, and sketch rough ideas. For example, imagine a cloud: design a sheer, soft dress or a puffy coat with rounded elements resembling its shape. Consider a t-shirt with cute playful printed clouds or pants in a white-blue gradient like a cloud.

Photography

With billions of images and photographs online, we have an endless source of inspiration—the unique magic that inspired each photographer. Drawing inspiration from photos ensures your ideas remain original and distinct.

Examine the composition, color palette, and overall balance of an image for ideas. Consider the story behind the image and the emotions it evokes. Then, envision how these elements could be integrated into your design project through fabric choices and intricate details.

One of the best online source to find inspiration from photos is Pinterest.

Zoom In on Clothes

Pick a single clothing item like a dress or a pair of jeans and look closer. Research its history – how has the design changed over time? How do we wear it now compared to the past? To improve your fashion drawing skills, get familiar with different types of zippers, neckline shapes, and stitches. These are the building blocks of design, and the more you know, the bigger your pool of ideas becomes. Try sketching these details to really understand how they work in different garments.

Street Style

The streets are the best teachers in life and fashion! Take a look around while walking down the street. Make quick sketches or take pictures of interesting outfits you see. Keep up with influencers on Instagram too. This helps you learn what people actually like to wear, which you can then incorporate into your designs.

When you find a streetwear look you like, try sketching it as-is. Then, start experimenting – change the print of the shirt, swap the bag, or replace trainers with high heels. This process helps you create something new while being inspired by real-world fashion.

Style Blogs

There’s a wealth of fashion information online. Explore style blogs, design blogs, and YouTube channels about styling, sewing, and pattern making. These creators have already gathered info on the latest trends, fashion icons, and styling techniques – it’s all there for you to use and draw inspiration from.

Always try to develop each idea into at least 4-5 different designs. The first idea that comes to mind is rarely the best one, so keep drawing and exploring different ways to use your inspiration in clothing. This process will help you create truly unique and exciting designs!

Movies

At the theater stage and in movies, there’s more to enjoy than just the acting and story. While not all productions translate directly into fashion, most can spark your creativity if you let them.

Some movies like “Sin City” offer a distinctive visual style that can easily inspire fashion. Others might inspire you with beautiful landscapes or overall mood. You can also take the main character as your muse and design a whole fashion line for them. Pay attention to how costumes help tell the story and convey personality.

Traditions

Some places still wear traditional clothes daily, like the beautiful sari in India. ( Check out the ‘How to draw saree” step-by-step tutorial. )In other countries, traditional garments are rarely worn. Incorporating traditional elements into modern collections is a fun challenge!

Research is key when creating folklore or tradition-inspired clothes. Don’t copy exactly if you want to make them contemporary. Instead, take a few elements and use modern materials to achieve a similar effect. Try using traditional techniques in new ways or incorporate traditional prints in unexpected places.

Worldwide Culture

Many fashion collections draw inspiration from Japanese, Russian, or African cultures. This interest comes from their unique traditional clothing, hairstyles, colors, and patterns that differ from Western styles.

When inspired by a culture that’s not your own, show respect and do proper research. Avoid mistakes that might offend natives. If possible, talk to people from that culture to better understand it. Pay attention to clothing and textile choices, but also try to understand the reasons behind them. Why did they need those specific shoes? Why did women wear so many pendants? Why are the fabrics so colorful? It’s all about the proper research.

In conclusion, inspiration for your fashion sketches can be found everywhere! Simply train your mind to spot it in everyday life. Stepping away from your usual sources can lead to a world of innovation, so never be afraid to explore areas you’re no that familiar with. Remember, the key is to observe, learn, and then add your unique twist to create something truly original

Happy drawing!