Illustrator is a god-send for me. Its much easier to use the pen tool in illustrator and do more with it then it is using photoshop, and I know you have an interest in fashion, Illustrator would be a perfect match.

Illustrator I feel is much easier to learn because there aren't any real (ok some) "effects", you are basically drawing everything as you like.

http://mauriciomorales.net/ most stuff was made in illustrator and outputed to photoshop for presentation.