I’ve got a question.
Who is better paid (on average): patternmakers or stylists?
Yesss. Patternmakers.
Bad news for stylists—sorry, but…
A stylist with good patternmaking/draping skills is PRICELESS.
PRICELESS.
Why?
Because… I’ll tell you a story.
One day, many years ago, someone named Jean-Louis Dumas, CEO of the French luxury brand Hermès, said to Vanity Fair, a famous US magazine:
“We don’t have a policy of image; we have a policy of product.”
It was 2007, and Hermès stock was between 80 and 100 euros.
Ten years later, it had grown 600%—and it’s continued to rise ever since.
As of this update in April 2025, Hermès International stock is worth more than 2,200 euros.
(See image)
It’s the only luxury house in the world like that.
Even COVID didn’t affect this brand. The stock dipped on March 17th, right after France locked down, but bounced back from 592 euros to 670 euros per share in just one month. UP—when all their physical stores were closed.
All this because, as Mr. Dumas said in 2007, they sell PRODUCTS, not IMAGES.
And they will continue to sell their products forever.
People wear products. They don’t wear images. You can’t wear a picture, right?
A stylist or designer alone produces IMAGES and IDEAS—sketches, moodboards, concepts…
Patternmakers produce something you can touch: wearable PRODUCTS. They make REAL garments.
Draping and patternmaking skills will always bring in cash, because people who know how to cut a good garment with their own hands will always make money.
Why do I think so?
Just ask any designer friend—they’ll tell you how hard it is to find someone who can make a good garment.
A garment, yes—but a good muslin?
ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to find someone who knows how to make a proper muslin.
Ask designers or bespoke luxury business owners, and you’ll see.
For a good patternmaker, they’re like:
The contacts of these people are precious—and nobody wants to share them.
People with manual skills are always in demand in the fashion world, and no AI will ever replace luxury patternmaking skills.
And the best part about patternmakers and draping professionals is that—unlike many professions where you basically stop getting hired after 45—the older a draper or patternmaker becomes, the more valuable they are. Experience = value.
It’s the opposite for stylists and designers, right? Nobody wants the grey-haired designer today.
Even Alber Elbaz couldn’t find a job after leaving Lanvin. And he was a genius.
But a skilled person who masters patternmaking and draping—especially a GOOD STYLIST with strong draping skills—will instantly find work. The thing is, nobody fires them. They stay in the same brand forever.
Even now, when brands say they’re not laying off staff, it’s not always out of kindness—it’s because it’s incredibly difficult to find and train a replacement. Better to pay them 2 months of salary, especially since they already work tons of overtime (like all of us in fashion).
Now, you can master these high-end draping skills and become one of those well-paid professionals who become more valuable with age—like a good French wine.
Learn the right skills, once, from the right person: our teacher, Aurélie Vibet, worked 10 years at Christian Dior Haute Couture as a highest-grade master and is now a technical director at IFM Paris, Institut Français de la Mode — the most prestigious French fashion school.
Learn directly with Aurélie—with personal support—so you don’t waste time making mistakes. Master the right skills and find a job or a side income.
Aurélie knows how to make garments the right way, and she can make ANY garment in the world—even very complicated ones.
So, do you still think you can’t make money in fashion?
With high-end patternmaking skills, your experience, and your unique personality, YOU CAN.
