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Bridging Fashion and UX: A Journey of Transferable Skills and Critical Thinking

Every career has unexpected twists and turns. My story began in fashion design and sculpture, industries driven by creativity, emotion, and an acute understanding of human experience. For years, I thrived on the challenge of bringing abstract ideas to life, whether creating garments that told a story or sculpting forms that captured the essence of the human condition. Yet, despite creative freedom, I yearned for something more: the opportunity to use my creative skills to solve real-world problems and create meaningful experiences for people. This desire led me to UX design, where I found a balance between art, technology, creativity, and critical thinking.

The Power of Transferable Skills: What I Brought with Me

At first glance, fashion, sculpture, and UX design may appear worlds apart, but they share several fundamental principles.

Empathy and Human-Centered Design

In fashion, the goal is to create pieces of clothing that resonate with people by expressing their personalities and enhancing their confidence. Understanding the user’s needs, emotions, and pain points is critical. For example, during the pandemic, I created a sustainable fashion brand using surplus cotton stock. The challenge was designing unisex garments, communicating with suppliers, and creating multiple prototypes, all while keeping the user in mind. Similarly, in UX, empathy with users and understanding their specific needs help define a problem. Whether it’s tailoring a garment or an app for accessibility, empathy plays a key role in design fields.

Creativity and Problem-Solving

Both fashion and UX require creative problem-solving. Designing sustainable fashion, for instance, requires negotiating with suppliers, finding cost-effective solutions, and adapting the design based on available resources. Similarly, in UX, designers must find innovative solutions to usability problems to create delightful user experiences. And, just like how a pattern or fabric needs refinement, a user interface often goes through multiple iterations before it is perfected.

Attention to Detail

In fashion, every stitch, fold, and fabric choice contributes to the final product. Similarly, in UX, every element of design, from color schemes to navigation paths, affects the user experience. When I created a sustainable fashion collection, I used Adobe® Illustrator® to develop technical specification sheets. In UX, I transitioned to Figma™ for wireframing and prototyping. The meticulous attention I learned from fashion transfers to UX to ensure every aspect is both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

The Fascination with Real-World Problem Solving

What drew me to UX was its emphasis on solving real-world problems. In fashion, designers must consider how materials fit the body, how people feel wearing them, and how a garment can enhance their daily experience—whether by offering comfort, efficiency, or functionality. Similarly, UX shares these goals but approaches them through the lens of technology and interaction design. Moving into UX, I shifted my focus from creating physical products to designing digital experiences that solve problems in innovative ways.

Whereas fashion can certainly have a direct impact—like making someone feel confident, comfortable, or efficient—UX tackles challenges that are uniquely tied to technology and functionality at scale. The success or failure of a UX design can determine whether a product is usable or inaccessible to millions of people. For example, a poorly designed navigation app could leave someone stranded, or an ineffective medical interface could hinder a professional from providing critical care. The stakes in UX are often higher because the tools we create don’t just enhance a user’s experience; they can directly shape how people achieve their goals, access services, or solve critical problems in their lives.

This shift from aesthetics to usability was exciting because it allowed me to work on solutions that combine creativity, technology, and real-world impact in profound ways.

Comparing the Processes: Fashion versus UX

When I worked on making unisex patterns for my fashion line, the iterative process of prototype testing and refining was similar to UX’s wireframing and usability testing.

Both fields involve several stages of creative ideation, prototyping, and refinement. In fashion, ideation might involve sketching designs, selecting fabrics, and then prototyping garments, whereas in UX, ideation involves wireframing, creating user flows, and developing low-fidelity prototypes.

Both approaches rely significantly on feedback and iteration. In fashion, a prototype might undergo multiple revisions based on how it fits or moves, just like how a digital product is tested for functionality, refined, and retested in UX.

Here’s a step-by-step comparison of frameworks in both fields:

  1. Empathize: In fashion, you consider how a person will wear the garment and how it will make them feel. In UX, empathy helps you understand user pain points and needs.
  2. Define: In fashion, the process starts with defining key design elements such as fabric, silhouette, and intended purpose. In UX, this step involves identifying user needs and determining how the product will function to address those needs.
  3. Ideate: Fashion designers sketch concepts, and UX designers wireframe interfaces and map out user flows.
  4. Prototype testing: Both fields rely significantly on iterative testing, whether it’s with physical garments or interactive digital prototypes.

Points of Collision: Where Fashion and UX Overlap

The point at which these fields collide is in the process of empathy. The focus is always on the user or wearer. Comfortable, flattering, and functional translates to ease and intuitiveness of use. Balancing aesthetics and functionality means that a beautiful garment that doesn’t fit or function well is just as problematic as a visually appealing app that’s difficult to navigate. All designers must ensure that form meets function.

The feedback loop is another significant point of collision. Feedback from clients or wearers informs adjustments to a design, just as usability testing and user feedback inform changes in UX design.

Creativity and Critical Thinking Know No Boundaries

My transition from fashion to UX design is a testament to how transferable skills and critical thinking can seamlessly bridge fields that may initially seem worlds apart. I didn’t leave my past behind; instead, I integrated it into my new path, enriching my work in UX with the empathy, creativity, and attention to detail I honed in fashion. Whether designing garments or crafting user experiences, the heart of my process has always been human-centered, focused on solving user-centered challenges through a balance of aesthetics and functionality.

This journey taught me that creativity knows no boundaries and that each pivot is an opportunity for growth. Embracing the digital world allowed me to expand my creative thinking while continuing to work collaboratively with teams and clients on projects that have meaningful impact.

For professionals at a similar crossroads, remember: Your background is your strength, and the skills you’ve cultivated in one area can become a unique advantage in another. The most rewarding paths are often the unexpected ones, and by trusting in your abilities, you can find new ways to apply your skills.

Paula Chirinos Katz

Paula Katz is a results-driven professional with over six years of experience in design, product development, and digital transformation with a focus on luxury markets. Katz’s expertise in user-centered design, trend analysis, and digital strategy positions her to support business growth and data-informed decisions.

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