Julia:)

The Van Gogh exhibit was so fun! When we walked in there was a room for reading blurbs, then you passed into the room with pictures and 3d stuff, lastly the immersive presentation. The immersive room was a 45 minute show of Van Gogh paintings, sayings, music, architecture, and more. It was such a cool experience, I would recommend anyone go. I think that was the most calming thing I have done in NYC. The music and the moving pictures on all four walls made me feel so peaceful. Athena and I sat down on a circle rug and stayed in there for probably the whole show. After going to this I definitely want to try other immersive museums in the city. 

Today in class we all presented our blogs and spoke about our favorite three. The Met, Prada, and TexWorld were probably some of the top hits in the class. There wasn’t a lot of variation due to the fact that the semester was half remote, so in person field trips were definitely a different experience then remote Zoom ones. I picked alumni board, The Met, and TexWorld. I honestly really enjoyed the alumni board, it is so nice to see the range of jobs that these women now have in the industry. I loved hearing about the freelance opportunities and connecting with them via LinkedIn or social media after. It is so weird our summer in NYC has come to an end this week. I am staying personally till the 15th of August, but most students are leaving the 31st of July. Athena and I live together and our AirBnB did not let us leave that early, but at least we can explore more! I found it interesting to here everybody’s personal opinion of NYC and if they would be moving back after graduation. I don’t remember anyone saying they hated it, most people want to move back after, which is perfect for fashion. First week I definitely didn’t love being here, but I have come to really appreciate it and love different areas of the city, maybe just not Time Square (haha).

We went to Texworld which was a display of SS 22 clothing, colors, and fabrics. It was really cool to see trends for the future seasons. I did not expect to see clothing in there. I love the fun colors that was the third display. I love pastels they make you think of being a kid again. The first display was more calming colors which I also liked because I always wear very neutral colors. Kai Choy, creative director at Doneger Group joined us to explain each display and the colors he chose for that season along with the fabrics. I am a big fan of nylon or spandex incorporated fabrics and there was a lot of those in each display. The set up of the whole trade show was really cool! 

One of the cleanest streets in NYC, not to mention the most astonishing window displayed I have witnesses, 5th Ave was definitely a sight to see. We walked around the streets looking at the window displays and such. Each was so unique and eye catching. The trends were very apparent after looking at a couple. I love how layering, bold colors, and different patterns are trending. Bubble Gum Pink is a huge color right now. After walking around we went into Prada and the director of their flagship store. He walked us around the store and explained the reasoning behind the visual merchandising decisions. Their first room is the accessories and purses because purses are their best sellers and accessories are items people always pick up and touch and are instantly interested in, plus usually on the cheaper side of what they have to offer. Next he led us to women’s shoes. The Prada combat boot was front and center because that is the shoe they cannot keep on the shelves. It is their best seller. Then he led us upstairs to where the nylon bags were that are trending right now. They had a ton of black ones he said because the color ones are always out of stock. The limited edition pock a dot one to my surprise was cheaper than the original, but it was because it had no strap. Then we went on to look at women’s clothing. The holey sweaters are a big trend and they are creating more street style clothing now due to a new younger audience they have attracted. He said without smart phones they would not have this younger audience. People are constantly coming in, showing a picture off their phone and asking for it. Most of the time, it is already sold out because those are the top sellers and have been out for a few months. If you want an item you have to go get it when it is released. He said people will call from other states and drive all the way there just for the item. He said they do not put items on hold, at least for top sellers because of how fast they sell out, but they can pay over the phone. The men’s department was in the basement with every category from accessories, bags, shoes, and clothing. I found it very interesting how men’s and women’s clothing at Prada looks so similar. It is kind of sad that all the men’s things get shoved into one room in the basement. I was very grateful for the tour it was an awesome experience!

Until now, I honestly did not know a company that just sold fabric flowers existed. To be fair, they are the only ones still standing. There used to be hundreds of them and now they have all gone out of business except this one. The owner talked about his grandfather being a survivor of the Holocaust and that maybe the business is still alive because of him. He also talked about the hard work his dad and aunt put into it and their dedication and controlling nature made for good business and meticulous execution of every project. The people they have worked with from Marc Jacobs flower dress to Sex and the City to so much more. Walking in I was amazed to see how many famous people were on their walls with their flowers. Beyonce was even on there and the owner said it took searching to even find that photo. It is so weird to think half the time they don’t even meet with who they are designing for and sometimes it is even a ‘mystery project’ and then he sees it in the media. When we went in the factory he showed us Alexander Wang flowers that were designed with multiple different petals to become a weird, big flower. I was most shocked at how small their team was. I expected to go back to an assembly line of people and only saw three. There was a guy doing hot press, an intern, and two women making the flowers. The machines were really cool I loved learning how they worked. At the end I got a little bird pin!

We began the trip looking around the mall through the store windows to see what was trending for the season. It was pretty obvious what the trends were for the season. A lot of bright colors along with some nudes, black, and white. Bubble Gum pink is a big color this season, which I love because that is my favorite color. Jumpsuits are definitely in. They are very minimalistic with comfortable fabric. Bralette tops are definitely in. Simple bralette tops with button up collared long sleeves and boyfriend shorts is a trending look. Monochrome has definitely made its way into this season as well. Seersucker maxi dresses are in for sure. Midi and maxi dresses that are made to be comfortable yet cute and sexy. For shoes puffy sandals are definitely a must have. Everything this season is about comfort and minimalistic style and I love it! I have always been a fan of staples and monochrome outfits. I like keeping it basic and I like to be comfortable everywhere I go. I think doing simple pieces with a range of neutral tones and pops of color is enough for choice and different styles, but not something that cannot be worn after the season ends. The minimalistic, sustainable style is definitely peaking through this season and I love it and hope it last a long time, which WGSN says it will.

Aritzia we had a tour of the store and some back history. They are a Canadian Brand with headquarters in Canada and maybe one in NYC near the Soho store. They started Skims before Skims was a thing. Their vegan leather is one of their hot topics right now, along with shoulder pads, and contour clothing. I have honestly never shopped this store, but I loved it! You can feel the quality of their clothing is amazing and will last. Everything they had was so soft and thick material. I loved how it was all staple clothing that most likely would not go out of style. Their dressing rooms were so pretty and I loved the store layout. I did try on some stuff and loved everything I tried on! 

Had a great experience at The Met for the first time. Walking up those steps I was just thinking about The First Monday in May movie we watched two days prior in fashion media. I was very confused on where to go, so I just went random directions and followed what I thought looked cool. I loved the abstract art part. I am very into abstract art and wished I could have every piece to put in my dull Airbnb for the summer (haha). I thought the Egyptian section was super cool! The structures were insane and to see mummies was surreal thinking there is hundred year old bodies preserved in there. After walking through you definitely appreciate the work that goes into keeping it open. How they keep it so clean, immaculate, and fully staffed and secured amazes me. I don’t know how people do not get left in there at night. I was amazed how they transport these pieces of history and art overseas and they do not break them. I appreciate the Met Gala for fundraising to keep it open, it is definitely a breathtaking venue for a Gala. The rooftop also had amazing views, I very much appreciated that. I was so surprised by the amount of people waiting at the doors to get in this morning. I thought we were going to be the first ones there. I had a fun time in there. It took a while to find our way out, but eventually we made it!

Today eight alumni came into class to speak with us about NYC, where they work, and how they got there. I was super excited to talk with them. They had all taken very different paths, which was cool and they all had a lot of great advice. I liked how they were all at different parts in their career and graduated different years. I expected it was going to be people who all graduated last year. I had a good amount of questions to ask them. As an intern right now I am currently in PR, but I am also very interested in social media, styling, and freelance opportunities. About half of them did freelance, which was great insight. They said connections are very important for freelance and taking any job no matter how small. They said if you are given a freelance job and you don’t know how to do it, still take it and figure it out because thats one more connection you made and one more thing to put on your resume. It seems that they all got into freelancing later in the career, which meant they worked corporate first. I also was very interested in Emily’s temp job in the photo studio. I think working in a photo studio would be a lot of fun as a stylist or such. I am glad we had the alumni come in I learned a lot.

Today we went to mood on our first in person field trip for Study Tour! We started at the furniture fabric store where Jose talked to us about the fabrics, fabric swatches, and their other stores. He told us they are currently in the works of opening a store in Miami and that the owner was there today. He said they closed fully for two months, but still had online orders. He said they have not been making a lot of money, but thankfully they are picking up traffic even though usual years summer has less purchases. He talked about the second floor and how those fabrics were close out sale meaning that fabric was the over produced stock and that it is now discontinued so you couldn’t reorder it. He talked about Project Runway and how the first time they filmed they kept the store open, but people ended up coming in and taking too many pictures, so they now close the store. Project Runway usually tells them the day before they come to film, so nobody knows. He said they just finished filming their new season on Tuesday. Then we went up the elevator to the fabric store and it was really cool. They had everything it was very interesting.

Shelda Hartwell-Hale from Doneger joined us to talk about the new website. I was unable to attend class because I was moving to NYC for study abroad, but I did my own research. She is VP of Directives West. On March 1, 2009 Doneger acquired Directives West. Directives West is a buying office and was a so called friendly competitor to Doneger. Doneger gained west to east coast access when acquiring this company considering they are based in LA and Doneger is based in NYC. 

More recently TOBE has partnered with Doneger to become TOBE TDG. This  company merger has created a consumer culture insights agency. Tobe was founded in 1927 and Donegar was founded in 1946. They deliver business with “creative strategies on branding & positioning, consumer engagement, merchandising & curation, design direction, and marketing & messaging”. They work with businesses in all industries from fashion to beauty to health and wellness to hospitality to real estate and more. TOBE TDG evaluates merchandising direction with the help of its partnerships and collaborations. It is weird to see Doneger not called that anymore and the website look totally different.

“The pathway to success is not straight up, it’s going to be a lattice” said Loren as he took a lower job to become a buyer. He said the hard work definitely get noticed and when he goes to get that next position his resume would stand out among the others with the experience and commitment he has had in the past. Listening to every speaker I have learned that moving job to job is very common. Once you make connections and get your foot in the door you are opened to a plethora of opportunities. Everyone is always talking about the many companies they worked for and the different positions they had. I love that the fashion industry is like that. I always assumed you got that one lifelong job, that you one day would get sick of and feel unfulfilled in, but it was too late to leave or too scary to quit. I love that you have so many opportunities to move companies and departments and positions and its not out of the ordinary.

This Tuesday in NYC Study Tour, Christopher Olshan joined us on zoom to talk about his job, luxury goods, internships, and how to make your way up in the fashion world. Chris works as Chief Executive Officer at The Luxury Marketing Council Worldwide. He started off his conversation talking about luxury goods and how the pandemic has changed the value people put on luxury goods. During the pandemic, we were stuck in our houses unable to go see friends, travel, dine, and more. Therefore, people who owned luxury goods realized these watches and purses and heels that once held such value to them, had no value except taking up space. If you wanted to check the time, Chris said, it wouldn’t be on your 100,000 dollar watch, rather your microwave digital clock. Therefore, the company had to rebrand and resituate themselves and came to him. They asked him how do they make an appeal to the audience they once captivated. His answer was value. What value did a Hermes Birkin Bag have to a wealthy person? The answer was make the product so that it has emotional value, good craftsmanship, functionality of the product, and how the luxury company is making an impact on the world (their mission statement). Rebranding luxury after the pandemic is a huge step towards better fashion in my opinion. I feel throughout the years it has lost actual value, as he said the more millionaires that are created every year, the less craftsmanship and actual value these luxury goods have. 

I loved how open he was about the internships that they had at his company and even allowed us the opportunity to apply for the fall. He was very transparent about how hard the work is and how he is tough on the interns. I love this approach, even though it may be scary, learning in an environment that is so high pace, expects a lot, and tolerates very little gives you the opportunity to prove to yourself and a huge company that you have the skills, work ethic, and time management skills to get any job done, therefore you are almost guaranteed a job in the luxury industry after. 

Michelle, a curator at F.I.T had a recorded video on Youtube where she talked about the history of fashion. We watched a video called 100 Years of Fashion posted by the Museum of F.I.T. The video went through signature pieces throughout history such as Rosie the Riveter and the boiler suit which was popular during WWII when women joined the workforce. It is crazy to think how iconic fashion can be in our history. Fashion symbolizes culture and what is going on in the world. Utility Suits for women would have never been invented or stylish if it weren’t for the war and women joining the workforce. Last year boiler suits were brought back into style and were the new hottest item. I have to admit I love the boiler suit I bought during that trend. 

History of fashion is important for many reasons, one being that history has a habit of repeating itself. Old trends are always brought back into play in later years. For example, high rise jeans, shoulder pads, grunge, and more. 

I liked hearing one of my classmates talk about Marc Jacobs and how he was fired from Perry Ellis for his 1993 Grunge collection. In 2018, he reissued this collection knowing its popularity had done a total 180 from hating the line to high in demand.

Jamie Seiden from Nordstrom’s Rack came in to our zoom class to talk about her position and the company. I learned a lot about the different departments, the future of fashion, and the brand. I was very interested to learn that Brick-and-Mortar plays a huge role in their brand, especially Nordstrom’s Rack as it targets an older customer base. When the pandemic hit they did their best to make use of their in store employees and space by creating fulfillment spaces within these stores. They did lose about 2 million dollars worth of orders due to the pandemic and not being able to ship out or receive products. I love how they worked to keep their employees employed and made the most out of a hard situation.

Jamie talked about how she got her job on Indeed, which gives me hope. When applying to big brands like Nordstrom for jobs or even internships I feel as though you are usually overshadowed since they have tons of applications on hand at all times because who wouldn’t want to work for these huge brands. I knew networking was important in the fashion industry and sometimes I felt as though it was the only way to get the dream job, but she reassured me as to not think in that manner. I loved when she talked about working for a start up and how she found that internship very useful and one of her favorite experiences. I have worked for multiple start ups and love the freedom and creativity that come with the job. She taught us a lot about the brand, the different departments, and her experience in the fashion industry.

Evan Chisholm joined our zoom meeting on Thursday to talk about his background, how it got started in the industry, and what it is like working for Nike. He answered a ton of questions and gave us a lot of good insight. I found it very interesting that he participated in fashion competitions and scholarships and won. Through these winning he paid for college and such. He did a performance footwear design program and earned a certificate from FIT. I liked hearing his approach to the fashion world because when applying to Nike, he had such a focused concentration in the fashion world which made him stand out among other applicants. I do not know exactly what I want to do in the fashion world so my resume consists of a bunch of different things, while instead he really narrowed his down to athletic footwear. He worked at Bombfell and is now employed at Nike.