Do you know how to write an essay? Do you know how to compose an argumentative essay? Knowing the latest fashion trends is not the only think you need to become a successful fashion writer. Your career of a fashion writer can start already while you are at College. The first step is mastering the difference between an argumentative essay and all other writing assignments you get at college? Understanding your assignment is the first and the most important factor for doing it right. The same way is with the argumentative essay. To write it well, you have to understand what you are asked to write, and how you’re going to do it. You can either apply to an official site of a professional writing service to assist you, or you can do it by yourself using our recommendations provided below. The choice is up to you.
Before the dawn of internet, a career of a fashion journalist meant living in a big fashion capital, in addition to attending all of the industry events, from fashion weeks to press days. End of the day you would see your thoughts taking the pages of printed fashion magazines, sometimes four to six months after you write them. Today fashion writers need to deliver their reviews hours if not minutes after seeing the collection, but just as on any contemporary workplace have to master a massive list of tasks and writing assignments.
DESIGN SCENE team compiles a list of of principal writing tips, to help you improve your writing – beyond your knowledge of fashion.
How to Structure and Compose an Argumentative Fashion Essay
First of all, let’s find out what an argumentative essay is. An argumentative essay is a type of writing in which you convince the readers of your point of view on a specific topic. The easiest way to compose an argumentative essay for a student is to use already a settled structure. With an essay, it is a 5-paragraph structure, the simplest and fastest way, which can be applied to other types of essay writing later.
Literally, this structure consists of the following parts:
? Introduction;
? Paragraph one «for»;
? Paragraph two «for»;
? Paragraph three «against»;
? Conclusion.
Argumentative Essay or Fashion Review: Step-by-Step Guide
The first part of your writing process is all about analysing the topic and planning your further steps. For an argumentative essay, planning is essential as it gives a clear vision of how you’re going to move on with your arguments. Thus, the structure will be more understandable and logical for a reader as well. A teacher pays attention not only to what you write but also to the way you write it. So, take time and consider how you’re going to compose your essay if you don’t want to lose additional points for structure.
Analysing the essay topic is about highlighting what exactly is required to write about. Thus if reviewing a collection by a fashion designer, make sure to take a moment and get familiar with designer’s previous work. If a topic is short, you won’t have any problems. But if a topic consists of several sentences, you will need to highlight the keywords and base your understanding of the topic on them. Understanding the question of the topic helps you to answer effectively and to write faster. If you’re not sure you’ve completely understood the task, consult a teacher. Never start the writing process, hoping that you will figure out what you’re asked in the middle of it. With fashion – do not forget your readers are also looking for an advice between the lines, more than just hearing what you thought about a designer’s work.
The same is with the number of the words your essay should contain. A teacher doesn’t want to see a 300-word essay if you’re asked to compose a 500-word one and vice versa. Stick to the requirements you got. However, in today’s industry whether you work with fashion or news site – you’ll be required to write even shorter but eye-catching articles.
An argumentative essay is about proving an objective opinion. So, you have to provide both sides of an argument, even if you’re completely sure about your own opinion on this topic. Provide two paragraphs supporting the opinion, and one paragraph against that opinion. There are many ways to plan your essay – diagrams, tables, charts, etc. What we recommend is using a spider diagram as it allows to add as many points to your plan as you need during the whole writing process, without spending too much time on it. It is the quickest way of organizing your thoughts and ideas, and the clearest one for a student. Start with your own opinion, slightly adding different thoughts about the topic and points, which you definitely want to cover in the essay. With an argumentative essay, you should always ask «Why?» or «Why not?» whenever you have a new opinion or thought about the topic.
Note as many ideas as you can while reviewing the work of your interview subject or a designer whose work you are reviewing. It doesn’t matter if you consider something too simple or too silly to mention in an essay. It is important to write down even the most obvious ideas about the topic to see the whole picture. Then, you’re going to filter everything you’ve written, choosing only the strongest points. This will be the core of the whole essay. Great way to master fashion writing is keeping up with some the greats in the business, such as fashion writers Tim Blanks and Suzy Menkes to name a few.
Before writing a paragraph, compose a topic sentence, which summarizes everything you’re going to talk about in the next paragraph. It has to be a short and clear sentence or a couple of sentences. Such sentences help you as well as a reader to understand what is going to be in the next paragraph. But don’t include here any specific information. Express just a general point of view.
So, that’s all for one of the most effective ways of writing an argumentative essay at college or uni. Use our recommendations for your next writing assignment and it will be the easiest writing experience you have had.
All images from the stunning Giada Fall Winter 2018 womenswear show captured exclusive in Milano during the fashion week for DESIGN SCENE by photographer Eleonora d’Angelo – discover the full backstage shoot.