elizabeth

I am starting back at school this week, so while classes slowly kick into gear, I thought I would tell you a little about my winter internship.

I worked from January through March at Aeropostale, a brand for teenage girls & guys. I worked in two departments as a design intern: women's wovens (woven tops/bottoms/outerwear) and women's accessories (footwear, bags, swim, dorm).

My responsibilites varied from breaking down presentation boards, doing filing of CAD print outs, running errands through the building (taking samples to the merchant teams & the production teams), organizing samples, putting together trend & presentation boards, and setting up for presentations.

What was great was the chance to work on things like tech packs and technical flats. The tech pack is a packet of information that is sent to the vendors. It includes the flat (a technical sketch of the product) and all the specifics needed to produce the item, from color, fabric type, hardware, etc.

Flats or technical sketches, however you may call them, are done in Adobe Illustrator. I got to do a good amount of this on the job. It was really exciting to me because that is an area we only briefly cover during school. Getting a professional, industry-standard take on the sketches I was doing was a great learning experience.

I can't show you and of the flats I did for Aeropostale, as we were working on products that are not yet in stores (during the 3 months I was there, we finalized fall designs, worked through Holiday 2010 designs, and began work on Spring 2011). However, I'll show you two flats of garments I made for my portfolio. I drew these in Illustrator using the skills I learned at Aero.

Overall, it was a lovely experience (also, a paid internship), and I would recommend anyone to apply. Many fashion enthusiasts set out in life to create their own brand/empire, like a Marc Jacobs or Michael Kors, but few realize that jobs like this, in a corporate brand setting, make up for most of the fashion industry jobs.

Let me know if you have any questions!
Love, Elizabeth

Tags: aeropostale | internship | flats | sketches | fashion design | corporate jobs | industry | responsibility | employment | design

elizabeth

Hello hello!
It has certainly been a long time since I was last here... a few too many weeks for me to count. I must apologize for my very sudden absence from the site, but rest assured that I am here now!

Once school ended for the quarter, I thought life would slow down a little bit, but boy, was I wrong! In the midst of holiday/family madness, I was offered an internship position in NYC for a well known American teen clothing brand. Very exciting, but very scary. I'd only been to New York once or twice for very short periods of time, and I only had 2 weeks to move there for the job! I went into a tailspin trying to get my life organized, find housing, etc. I got up to New York about 4 days before I started my job, and found housing 2 days before I started.

After my job started, I once again assumed things would calm down. I mean, I'm working a 9-6 daily schedule. It should be easy to find time to post, right?! Wrong, apparently. Between my hour commute, trying to see and do as much in the city as possible, and being completely exhausted from work, the very little free time I had to myself was spent catching up on sleep.

I am 8 or 9 weeks into my internship, and I have 2 left once this week ends, which is absolutely nuts, because it's gone SO fast. I realized I needed to catch everyone up on what's been happening, and I also need to get into a good routine of posting before school begins again at the end of March!

So, bear with me as I catch up on all the other student blogs and see how this amazing site has grown! Stay tuned for posts about the end of the Fall school quarter, and the pictures of my final tailoring project that I promised so many times.
You should also stick around to hear about my INCREDIBLE day at New York Fashion Week (seriously...amazing...both Michael Kors and Tim Gunn had their arm around me...).
I'll also give you a little more detail about my internship job, what I've learned, and how I'm preparing for my summer internship.

Love always,
Elizabeth

Tags: internship | nyc fashion week | tailoring | sorry | oops

LaurenLovesFashion

When the mailman delivered a brown package to my doorstep, I almost cried with excitement. I had ordered The Teen Vogue Handbook on Amazon.com. I actually told my parents that I wanted that particular book for Christmas. But I was impatient and ordered it myself. I believe in order to be successful in the fashion industry; you should start a library of art and fashion books.

Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte says, “As a designer you need to have a library of visual references, so ask for fashion and art books for your birthday” (Teen Vogue Handbook).

The Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider’s Guide to Careers in Fashion

I wanted TVHB (Teen Vogue Handbook) because I would always (and still do) waste hours online, searching for answers how to make it in the industry. I admire Teen Vogue and would love to work for them one day. When I heard Teen Vogue was coming out with a “How-to” handbook, I squealed with the thought that I was going to get an insiders scoop. The handbook is truly “An Insider’s Guide to Careers in Fashion.”

Spoiler Alert: Don’t go any further if you want to wait and find out for yourself what is in TVHB.

The first section of TVHB is about Fashion Designers. Personally, that is what I am most interested in. The designers featured are: Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, Marc Jacobs, Thakoon Panichgul, Stella McCartney, Alexander Wang, Tory Burch, Phillip Lim, Patrick Robinson of Gap, Reed Krakoff of Coach, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler, Justin Giunta, Blake Mycoskie and Karl Lagerfield.

A few of the designers who stand out to me (the most) are the following:

Marc Jacobs- He is incredibly good looking. I admit I have a crush on him. Besides that, I admire his hip sense of style. I admire what he’s done with Louis Vuitton also. From a young age, Jacobs always put his own twist on things. He stated in TVHB, that he used to decorate chinos that were required for camp. Jacobs went to Parsons to get his education, but he admitted that it is not required for you to get a formal education in fashion to make it in the industry.

Stella McCartney- As spawn of a Beatle, it is only right that she has glitter going through her veins. It’s great how she has incorporated her environmental activism into her designs. She has vowed to never use leather and fur. “I don’t understand why beautiful creatures should have to die for someone’s coat- it’s medieval and barbaric.”

Patrick Robinson- I have to give a big shout out to the Bay Area! Robinson is the Creative Director of Gap (headquartered in San Francisco). If I end up attending San Francisco State, I’m going to pursue an internship with Gap.

Karl Lagerfield- He was done a spectacular job with Chanel. As one of my favorite brands, I admire the sense of class and youngness Lagerfield has brought to the label.

TVHB includes a list of materials highly recommended to make it as a designer: Sewing machine, sewing materials, muslin, pattern, designer biographies, art markers, Women’s Wear Daily, dress form, tape measure, sketch pad, etc.

Tips to break into the industry:

1) Going to a design school is highly recommended, but a liberal arts education is     very valuable as well (I would love to attend Parson’s or Otis. But I am attending a California State University in the fall).

2) Get a job in retail (Check!).

3) Find a way to incorporate your passion into your work.

4) Intern! Intern! Intern! The more experience you get in the industry, the more valuable you become.

5) Know your customers. Create a mood board, filled with visual inspirations.

6) Study the business side of fashion as well… it’s not all glitz and glam.

7) Follow the news. Keep up on trends and fads.

The next section is about Editors in fashion: I would love to work at a fashion magazine. I can only imagine the work and stress an editor deals with. Being an editor is a great responsibility.

The Beauty section is next…

An interesting part is the “Intern Tool Kit:” Some things that are required to succeed as an intern are the following: Back issues, mints, datebook, map, and flats.

Interview tips: Know your favorite designers, stylists and photographers. Have a well-rounded knowledge of the fashion industry. Be on time and come dressed to impress. Ask questions about the position, it shows enthusiasm and persistence. Give a hand written Thank You note after the interview.

The next section is very interesting. Stylists have an important role in the fashion industry. From styling a celebrity for an award show to styling a photo shoot, stylists are the ones who put together the outfits that we find appealing and eventually want to buy.

Stylist Tool Kit: Materials that may help you become a stylist are the following; Designer look books, style library, classic fashion films (Funny Face, Devil Wears Prada, etc.) digital camera, static guard, stain remover, pins, and a lint roller.

Tips to become a stylist: Study other stylists; decide what your trademark would be. Try to get a job working at a fashion magazine before you start freelance, learn insider scoops on styling. Develop a cultural reference base, study literature, art, movies; find inspiration in life. Pay attention what is happening on the streets; trends often begin on the street. Take fashion classes, sewing and basic clothing construction can be very helpful.

Models and Photographers follow…

Last but no least is the School section, which actually has some interesting information. TVHB lists multiple schools, both liberal arts and private, that have excellent fashion programs. Some schools that stand out to me are the following:

Academy of Art University, 79 New Montgomery St. San Francisco, Ca, 94105                                        (I have attended many events there, excellent program)

California College of Arts, 1111 Eighth St. San Francisco, Ca, 94107                                                (They loved my portfolio!)

Otis College of Art and Design, 9045 Lincoln Blvd. Los Angeles, Ca, 90045

Fashion Institute of Technology, Seventh Avenue at 27^th St. NYC, New York, 1001

Tags: teen vogue | fashion designer | stylist | editor | private school | liberal arts | internship | san francisco | new york

elizabeth

Hello again!
Since school is starting tomorrow, and the blog will become more about my classes, I wanted to dedicate a post to explaining the way my program works.
As I mentioned in the previous blog, I am in my fourth year out of five at the University of Cincinnati. UC is known worldwide for its successful cooperative education program (co-op). Most majors at UC have the option of co-oping, but it has been particularly successful in the college of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning (DAAP) where I study fashion. To co-op means to go on a paid internship for 10 weeks, instead of normally attending school. In addition to our academic advisers, we are assigned co-op advisers. These advisers act as liasons between students and companies to set up interviews and internships.
So, the fashion design program. As I said, it is 5 years long, due to the fact that 6 quarters are spent co-oping. The first year is when you do what is called "foundations studies." You take classes that, essentially, build the foundation for the rest of your education. You are in classes in DAAP with all the other majors as well - industrial design, graphic design, fine arts, digital design. Each class you take that year gives you a bit of a taste of all these majors. Color, Form, and Space, Digital Design, and Drawing. You also have the chance in your first year to knock out your liberal arts electives - the classes that the university requires you to take for graduation. These classes include basic English, math, and history courses. No sciences are necessary, which thrilled me!
During the 2nd-5th years, you mainly attend classes for your major. In my case, fashion. All the fashion students attend classes together for Fall quarter in year 2. Then, in winter quarter, we split in half. One half spent winter quarter at their co-op jobs, while the other half attended school. In the spring, we switched. And we continue to do that for the rest of our time in school. One half of the fashion majors go to school in the Spring and Fall, while co-oping in the Summer and Winter, while the other half is on the opposite schedule.
By the spring quarter of the 5th year, the final quarter, we will all have done equal amounts of co-ops and school, and all the fashion majors will attend one last quarter of school to work on their thesis. The senior thesis is a year-long project, involving concept inspiration in the Fall or Winter (depending on when you co-op) then production of a 6 outfit collection in the Spring. At the end of your 5th year, your senior thesis collection is showcased in a largely popular fashion show.
So that is the basis of the fashion design track. PLEASE feel free to contact me with questions! It's a lot of information and I want to make sure I'm not missing something!
In addition to fashion design, UC/DAAP offers a product development track, which focuses more on the business side of fashion. Since I am in the design track, I don't have a lot of information about that, but as we all return back to school, I will definitely work on putting together a post with specific details.
Below I've posted the official curriculum guide for graduation from the fashion design track. Again, feel free to contact me with questions.
Love, Elizabeth

Tags: internship | work experience | UC | University of Cincinnati | 5 year program | curriculum | classes | requirements | co-op