#NationalBookDay 7 Books For Aspiring Fashion Designers

Happy National Book Day! These are the books I have found to be essential in your fashion library. Whether you are a newbie fashion designer, fashion school graduate or considering becoming a fashion designer, these are the books to inspire your creativity and upgrade your skills.

"Reader's Digest" Complete Guide to Sewing: This book has all the basic skills and directions for almost any sewing skill you need to create samples for your first collection. The copy I had was an earlier version of this one. This edition is updated with better graphics and handy as ever. You can't be a fashion designer if you don't know how to build an actual collection.

Drape Drape and its sister series Pattern Magic were originally published in Japanese, now available in English. If you mastered basic sewing skills, these books offer a deep dive into creative silhouettes for the true designer.

If You Have to Cry, Go Outside: And Other Things Your Mother Never Told You is written by PR maven Kelly Cutrone of People's Revolution, a top firm in the industry for many years. You might also remember this agency from reality shows The Hills and Kell on Earth. The book offers tough love and blunt talk about taking responsibility for yourself in the fashion industry.

Confessions of a Window Dresser is written by Barney's creative director Simon Doonan. He has written a bunch of memoirs, but this was his first and my favorite. His wit and colorful accounts of characters and fashion remind me of the passion you have for what you do when all else seems ridiculous.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty  I own a ton of fashion and art books for inspiration. It's my weakness. If I had to choose one, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's tome from the Alexander McQueen exhibit is my favorite. The fashion is already breathtaking, but the photography and art direction only enhances it.

The Fashion Designer Survival Guide, Revised and Expanded Edition: Start and Run Your Own Fashion Business If you ever needed a textbook for everything school didn't teach you, this would be it. The original edition was written by Mary Gelhar, a fairy Godmother of sorts behind the Gen Art organization that launched the careers of many a hot designer in the 1990s and 2000s. The updated edition has current production sources, advice from top designers and guidance for producing a business plan and fashion show.

Happy #NationalBookDay and get your fashion design careers going!