themanhattanite

[themanhattanite]

Sarah Bray

Sarah Bray is the Editor-in-Chief of Gotham and Beach Magazines, regional publications focusing on the luxury lifestyles of New York City and the Hamptons. Sarah spoke with us about her career journey and how she worked her way from a college blog and the accessories closet at Vogue to her current position as the head of two magazines. I’m at a point in my life where I’m obsessed with hearing people talk about their career journeys, because it reassures me that everyone’s path is unique and winding and unpredictable. There is no one “right” way to get to where you want to go; you just have to be willing to put in the work, and Sarah embodies that.

Sarah graduated from Southern Methodist University in 2011 (only 7 years before I’ll be graduating), so it was inspiring to hear about how much she accomplished in such a short amount of time. Back when she was in school, Sarah started a blog showcasing the style of SMU students, and it is still run by students there today. The blog was her way of combining her love of journalism with her love of fashion, and it made a great portfolio piece when she started applying to internships and jobs. I think Sarah’s blog a great example of creating an opportunity for yourself instead of waiting around for one to come to you.

Sarah’s best piece of career advice is to always say “I can do that!” when someone in your workplace, especially your boss, needs help. This advice should be taken with a grain of salt, though; you can’t always say yes to everything. Making yourself useful looks great to those around you and could get you the extra responsibly, recognition, or even promotion that you’re looking for. Sarah also made a good point that internship work, though trivial, teaches you more about the industry than you may realize. She has firsthand experience with the typical frustrations, after interning for Vogue, where she had to deal with long hours and stressed-out supervisors. She now tells her own interns to keep their heads up when the work gets hard or boring. Just working within the industry, in however small of a capacity, is a huge step and great experience.

[themanhattanite]

The Doneger Group

Having used their services since my freshman year of college, seeing the inside of the Doneger Group’s offices was an interesting experience. It’s always a bit weird (but cool) to see the behind-the-scenes of a business whose product you use a lot.

The primary thing I learned about Doneger from their presentation is that they have a lot more going on than just Doneger Creative Services or DCS, which is the component that we have access to through Kent State. While DCS gives a broad overview of future trend predictions, Doneger has an entire merchandising team dedicated to pinpointing the details that retailers should focus on within those trends. There’s a chance I’m wrong, but I believe that the university is only subscribed to DCS, so this was the first time that any of us had seen the merchandising side of Doneger.

I really enjoyed when Roxana came in to speak to us about her position as a merchandising strategist in the dress department. It’s always nice to hear from people just a few years ahead of me, as it reminds me that the struggle of college will be over soon. It also motivates me to work hard so that I can have a position that I love. It’s also nice to hear how common it is for people to graduate with a certain degree or have a certain internship and end up doing something completely different with their career. This is something I’ve been worried about lately, as I think I want to make a pivot away from fashion for a while. Another important takeaway for me was hearing about how Roxana got a new position on the international team at Doneger simply because she showed interest and asked. Sometimes getting a new job, promotion, or responsibility is as simple as taking the initiative to tell the right person what you want. Of course, it’s not always that easy, but you should never discredit the power of making yourself and want you want heard.

[themanhattanite]

Chelsea Galleries

Gladstone Gallery – Robert Mapplethorpe

This might sound terrible, but I was actually introduced to Robert Mapplethorpe through the teen drama show Gossip Girl. In fact, Gossip Girl introduced me to pretty much everything I knew about New York and its culture before I moved here. One of the main character’s mothers posed nude for Mapplethorpe when she was younger, and her new, uptight husband was not okay with it. Anyway, it was cool to see Mapplethorpe’s work for the first time in real life. I was personally taken aback by the breadth of his work. As I said when I was there, some of the pictures I would consider hanging in my home, some I would definitely not. Roe Ethridge, who curated the exhibit, did a great job of placing contrasting pieces next to each other in order to give viewers an idea of the diversity of Mapplethorpe’s subjects.

Berry Campbell Gallery – Raymond Hendler

Out of all of the artists featured in the galleries we visited, I would say that Raymond Hendler’s work was closest to my personal “aesthetic”. If I go for a mid-century mod vibe in my *hypothetical* future home, I can see myself hanging something of Hendler’s above the buffet table in my dining room. I know that’s an oddly specific vision, but that’s how my mind works. The different styles of art that I’m drawn to make for a very strange mixture; some of my all-time favorite styles are impressionism and rococo portraiture, but then I also like funky abstract/expressionist work like Hendler’s. Something about the colors, large brushstrokes, and tangled forms mixed with simple shapes is incredibly soothing to me. I love looking at the transformation of an artist’s works over their lifetime, and Hendler’s was an interesting one. His early abstract pieces were absent of the bold squiggles and shapes that became his signature later on.

Gagosian Gallery – Jeff Koons

Jeff Koons is where my love of “funky” art stops. While the paintings were incredibly large and detailed enough to be mistaken for photoshopped images (and made me very hungry), they made me feel quite uncomfortable. I know that’s a weird reaction since they’re supposed to be fun and upbeat pieces, but it felt borderline fetishist to me. Just the mixture of random body parts with food and with hair and with people in animal costumes with their mouths replaced by food…no. Nope. Pass. I’ll continue to love Koons for his iconic balloon animal sculptures, but I’ll also hold a mild bit of concern for him now.

Pace Gallery – David Hockney

First of all, the Pace Gallery is an incredible space, and it was the perfect size to host this David Hockney exhibit. The premise of the exhibit was centered around two large pieces comprised of digitally altered and combined photographs of Hockney, his paintings, as well as other people and objects in large rooms. The paintings featured in these gigantic paneled images were hanging in the gallery around them. To me, it almost seemed like a very interesting take on a self-portrait. While Hockney’s work is not of my personal taste, it was cool to see his love of color and obsession with the angle of landscapes. It was also super cool to see the exhibit before it made the cover of the New Yorker. I saw the new issue and was like “I know that painting!!!”

[themanhattanite]

My Role at Vignette: Copy Editor

As one of two copy editors for Vignette, my job is to take half of the editorial team’s written pieces, read them, and correct any spelling, grammatical, or factual errors. My fellow copy editor will take on the other half of our team’s submissions. We will then pass the proofread and corrected pieces on to the editorial team’s managing editors for final approval before they are handed over to the production team.

I think I am well suited for the position of copy editor because I am very precise with my spelling and grammar (a stickler, if you will). Ever since I took an unusually intense grammar class in middle school, I have been strict with myself and others about these things. If I ever get points off of essays or other written assignments, it’s rarely for spelling or grammar mistakes. I get some weird joy out of making papers perfect, so I look forward to that aspect of this role. The actual editorial-writing part of this role won’t be my favorite. I actually don’t like writing as much as I like correcting writing, if that makes sense. I wonder if copy editors at large publications have time to write their own pieces, or if they simply read over the work of others.

Katie Shafsky is a copy editor for media company POPSUGAR. POPSUGAR is a website that churns out daily pieces on entertainment, fashion, beauty, fitness, food, and related news. That’s a lot to review! On LinkedIn, I found other copy editors for POPSUGAR, so it’s good that she’s not alone. The website is updated with new stories every few minutes, so I’m sure being a copy editor for a company like that would be a little more fast-paced than being one for a traditional magazine that only creates one issue a month.

I will use this experience in my professional development to learn how to better collaborate with others when working on large, time-sensitive projects. As the editorial team, we have to come up with 10 pieces that are unique but tell a cohesive story in just a few weeks. I have to take direction from the managing editors and critique from the entire Vignette team without taking anything personally. I also have to manage my time so that I am able to write my own piece with enough time left over to read and edit everyone else’s. Though I don’t see myself working on any editorial team in the future, I can definitely take aspects of this role away with me.

Image is my own.

[themanhattanite]

Dover Street Market

“Shopping” at Dover Street Market New York was quite the adventure. I’ve never seen a store meant for adults merchandised in such a weird yet whimsical way. Maybe I don’t get around to luxury stores enough, as I’m sure there are some other crazy-looking ones out there, but walking through this strange wonderland of clothing and objects and questionable architectural choices definitely caught me off guard (in a good way).

I’ll start with my favorite brand in the building, Gucci. Gucci had this cute little attic-like space on the top floor that instantly became my closet goals. Flowers on the ceiling and flowers on the floor…it really spoke to my soul. I don’t think I’d ever gotten a chance to touch and hold pieces from one of my favorite designer brands before (my other favorite being Dolce & Gabbana), so I had to remove myself from the area once or twice to calm down. I really try not to think of myself as a shallow, materialistic person, but when my visceral reaction to seeing beautiful and excessively expensive things is to make weird sounds and basically have an emotional breakdown, I might want to be more honest with myself…or just stay away from said beautiful and excessively expensive things.

A new discovery for me at Dover Street Market was Simone Rocha. From across the room, I was drawn to the Simone Rocha section because the clothes appeared as if they matched my old-school feminine aesthetic. When I took a closer look, though, I realized Rocha’s pieces were a little more off-beat than they appeared to be at first glance, which I’m not mad about. In that way, I think the merchandising of Dover Street Market was done incredibly well; all of the brands in the building complemented the Comme des Garcons offerings and spoke to Rei Kawakubo’s vision and spirit. One of my favorite pieces from Simone Rocha was a cross between a tulle dress and a T-shirt dress. It was essentially “formal in the front, casual in the back”. I don’t know, but it was cool. Simone Rocha also won the award for heaviest dress in the store; she had one that was so heavy it would give me back problems. Talk about quality fabrics…

Lastly, I’ll admit that I did not do research about Dover Street Market beforehand, so it was news to me that it was literally curated by Ms. Kawakubo herself. I was all like, “Wow, there’s Comme des Garcons on every floor!” Yes, Mackenzie. Yes, there is. I fell in love with Rei Kawakubo after seeing the exhibit on her work at the Met last year. Now that I think about it, there was definitely a similar vibe at the exhibit as there was at the store. (It all makes sense now.) While I do really appreciate the Comme des Garcons brand and its rejection of the basic, it is even more off-beat than Simone Rocha, to the point where some of the pieces were triggering my OCD. Yes, I can do asymmetry, but only half of a gigantic collar on a dress? Nooooo. If I’m paying that much money for a dress, I better get the whole dang collar!

[themanhattanite]

Some Current App Musings

Texture: A New Way to Magazine

I’m not an avid magazine reader, but I think the up-and-coming app Texture is an incredibly neat idea (and so does Apple, who recently announced they were acquiring the company). Each month, you pay a $9.99 subscription fee for access to hundreds of popular magazine titles from a wide range of categories. While doing a trial run of Texture, I was surprised to find myself coaxed away from the magazines I usually read (Elle, Harper’s Bazaar) in favor of new publications or ones that I used to read but don’t anymore. For that reason, I think Texture would be a great place to go if you’re looking for a new magazine to read, but you don’t want to blindly subscribe to one. You could get a month of Texture and essentially use it as a “try before you buy” for magazines. If you regularly read or have been subscribed to multiple magazines offered within the Texture catalog, then you might get enough value out of it to stay subscribed for $9.99 a month. Bear in mind that a Texture subscription comes to almost $100 a year, and a lot of yearly magazine subscriptions are only $10-$15. If that math works in your favor, then go for it. Personally, I will not continue using Texture after my trial ends, but I still think it is a winning concept. The iPhone app was easy to use, fun to explore, and visually beautiful: a terrific reference for how library-style apps can (and should) be done.

My Top Three Fashion Apps (In No Particular Order)

1. The Hunt

Have you ever seen a random picture on social media of something that you want to buy but had no idea where to find it? Maybe you had even searched for that particular item for hours with no luck. Sucks, doesn’t it? The Hunt is your solution. On The Hunt, you post a picture of what you’re trying to find, and your fellow Hunt users help you find it. I’ve used The Hunt both to help others and be helped myself, but I’ve also found that it’s a great place for discovering emerging trends in the fashion community. Additionally, I’m a fan of The Hunt because their marketing team came to my college campus (Kent State University) and set up a table with some swag and fun promotional activities, what I thought was very smart of them. I love apps that recognize how important of a demographic college students are and market directly to us in fun, interactive ways (another example of this being Yik Yak, back when they were still a thing...RIP).

2. Depop

Though they are common today, Depop was one of the original fashion resale apps on the market and the first one I ever used, years ago. If eBay was the one that revolutionized how we sell used items on the internet, Depop was the one that did so for mobile apps. They essentially copied the look and functionality of an Instagram feed, so that unlike eBay’s disorienting and unattractive UI, users have a clean, simple, and scrollable feed of new items for sale from their favorite shops. You can like and comment on item photos too, so it’s really just Instagram for used clothes. Also, prices tend to be incredibly low because sellers are desperate for more room in their closets, so you can score some amazing deals that you won’t find anywhere else!

3. Cladwell

Okay, I’m biased toward Cladwell because I interned there, but it’s honestly an incredible fashion app that deserves more attention. Cladwell tries to help you solve the problem of “too many clothes, nothing to wear”. It’s a personal styling app where you create a virtual replica of your closet from a convenient database of item photos that are already in the app. Cladwell will then give you three outfits a day based on the weather and your day (i.e. it’s warm outside, and I’m going to work). What sets Cladwell apart from similar styling apps is that it focuses on sustainability. Cladwell lets you know what percentage of your closet is currently going unworn and what items you’ve never worn even when they’ve been styled for you. This encourages you to only keep the things that you love, in hopes of turning you into a more conscious consumer (“Will I really wear this if I buy it?”).

Image Sources: Texture, The Hunt, Depop, Cladwell

[themanhattanite]

Tariq Fiaz

Friday, March 23rd, 2018

Tariq is currently the Design Director of REVO Collection and private label outerwear brands for Excelled, a menswear company. Tariq gave our class lots of career advice, which was great, because I need all of the perspectives on navigating the professional world that I can get right now.

One piece of advice that really stood out to me was “don’t pretend/BS your way into a position”. I have mixed feelings about this, because I’m a firm believer in faking it until you make it. I felt a bit under-qualified for the internship I accepted last summer, but it turned out to be one of the best learning experiences of my life. I wouldn’t have had that life-changing experience without faking it a little, and I’m glad that I did. There’s obviously a fine line between lying your way into a position and just applying for positions that you don’t feel 100% qualified for. I think it’s important, when looking for a job or internship, to apply for ones that you feel are a bit of reach for you; you might end up pleasantly surprised!  At the very worst, you’ll get a no. Of course, you don’t want to show up to the first day of a new job not knowing anything, but it’s okay to learn some things as you go along and not be perfect right out of the gate.

One point I did agree with Tariq on was that getting a job is very much a “right place, right time” kind of thing. In the past, I’ve let myself get very frustrated at not receiving the exact position that I wanted at the exact time. I’ll spend forever wondering why I wasn’t good enough, and I’ll often take rejections personally (especially those following interviews, where I’ve actually spoken to someone from the company). I know that sometimes there’s no huge reason why a position doesn’t work out; it just wasn’t the right place at the right time. I’m trying to get better at accepting this and trusting the process...trusting my process. Everyone’s path is different, and there’s no one “right way” to achieving your career goals. That’s helpful to remember.

[themanhattanite]

My Last Spring Break

For my last spring break, I met up with my mom’s side of the family in Charleston, South Carolina. They drove down from Ohio and Michigan, and I flew in from New York. We stayed in the same beach house on the Isle of Palms that we stayed in together 8 years ago. We all had a hard time believing how fast the time had flown, because we celebrated my 13th birthday in that house, and now we were celebrating my 21st.

Then:

Now:

I loved my last spring break because I was able to spend it with my family. We honestly could have gone anywhere, and I would have been happy to be able to make new memories with them. Living in New York, I only get to see my parents once every few months and the rest of my family even less often. It has been hard and has taught me to really appreciate the moments I do get to spend with them.

What I hated more than anything about this spring break was saying goodbye. I used to wake up every single morning for 18 years of my life and see my mom, and now I’m crying in the airport after she drops me off because I don’t know when I’m going to see her again. As my grandparents are getting older, it’s also really hard saying goodbye to them.

I wish that the weather had been nicer, honestly. While Charleston and South Carolina are gorgeous places, they’re not very warm in March. I think we had one good day the whole week where it wasn’t raining and was in the 70s so that we could go to the beach. I’ve been to Florida so many times that it bores me, but I understand why it’s the go-to vacation spot for Midwesterners, because it’s actually warm and sunny come spring break time. Even with the weather, I can’t really complain. I wouldn’t consider myself a “beach person” anyway, so one day and a slight burn was good enough for me!

Images are my own.

[themanhattanite]

Modern Vice

March 16th, 2018

Modern Vice is a shoe brand operating out of the Garment District in Manhattan. There, they have a showroom / retail store / factory where all of their shoes are made, by hand, right here in New York. Despite having the odds stacked against them, companies that still manufacture their products domestically might actually end up ahead of the curve in the near future, considering the new tariffs on Chinese goods being proposed by our current administration.

I'm definitely not as much of a "shoe person" as some people are; I probably own around 20 pairs and end up rotating between the same 3 (that I'll repurchase over and over). Even so, I thought Modern Vice’s style was so fierce and unique that I ended up leaving the place with major shoe envy. It wasn’t hard to tell why the unapologetic brand boasts some high-profile fans.

It was inspiring to hear Jordan, the founder of Modern Vice and its family of brands, talk about starting the business out of his familiarity with shoemaking, having grown up around his immigrant father’s shoe factory. Personally, I don’t think I’d ever be brave enough to start my own business, so I have a high level of respect for people that do. Even though I’m not an entrepreneurial person myself, I try to learn as much as possible from people that are, because I believe there is still value in being able to take risks for the sake of your dreams, to put yourself out there and make yourself vulnerable to the world in hopes of being able to do something that truly makes you happy. I remember hearing someone say that if you’re not working to make your own dreams come true, then you’re working to make someone else’s dreams come true. I feel that.

[themanhattanite]

A Letter to Jamie Granoff

Dear Jamie,

I am currently working on a team of five to create a media kit for the next issue of Vignette, a student-run fashion publication based out of Kent State University’s NYC Studio. Our team is going through the entire branding process to come up with a narrative and identity for the seventh volume of Vignette. We will then condense our proposed brand into a media kit and present it to the rest of the magazine staff. To help this project run smoothly and to test out roles we might assume in the eventual creation of Vignette, each member of the team has taken an actual role (or two) from a standard publishing house. I am writing to you because I am our team’s Publisher/Marketing Director. As you are the current Director of Strategy and Marketing for PAPER, one of my favorite magazines, I wanted to ask you a few questions about your career and your role at the magazine, as I navigate my way through working on a magazine myself.

I’m not going to lie; marketing is never something I saw myself doing, but I fell into it anyway (with a last-minute internship and this project). Getting your bachelor’s degree in writing, literature, and publishing, would you say your career took a more unexpected path, or was marketing always something you had in mind? While working on a real-life marketing team isn’t the worst thing in the world, it’s not something that I’m very passionate about. I have this fear that one thing will lead to another, and I’ll end up down a career path that I never wanted to be. I know it’s a bit of an irrational fear, considering my career has barely begun, but having already worked in positions that I’ve loved and positions that I haven’t (to put it nicely), I know how much feeling like I’m making a positive impact on the world (or not) influences my overall happiness and sense of purpose. I can appreciate that marketing is how brands present themselves to the world and how consumers find out about products and services, but it’s also (often) about trying to convince people to buy things that they don’t need, especially in fashion.

Again, I see the value in marketing and know how no modern company could function without it, but my experience as a marketing intern has really turned me off from the whole thing. I see you started out as a marketing intern too, at PAPER, and you have stayed with them since. What was your internship experience like, and what has kept you at PAPER throughout the years? My dream would be to find a company that I love and can grow with for many years, like you have. If there are any secrets to doing so, I’d really appreciate them!

Best,

Mackenzie

Jamie’s LinkedIn

[themanhattanite]

Ellery Homestyles

Friday, March 9th, 2018

Ellery Homestyles is a designer, producer, and supplier of branded and private-label home products, namely bedding, throw blankets, and curtains. So much of what I’ve learned about the fashion industry can be applied to the home décor industry, as it is essentially “home fashion”. This trip to Ellery showed me just how similar the merchandising processes are for clothing and home. I had never really considered going into the interiors industry before, but now, I wouldn’t completely rule it out. One of my favorite parts of the tour was seeing how purchased art is turned into patterns for bedding (left photo). I can see myself really enjoying being a print buyer and creating a vision for how a sample of art could be turned into a marketable product.

I loved hearing some Ellery employees talk about their jobs, and I could sense the passion and excitement they have for what they do. My biggest hope upon graduating in a few months is finding a job that I am truly passionate about, not just one that I am doing to get a paycheck. Through the jobs and internships I have done so far, I’ve already experienced both sides of that coin, and I know firsthand how much easier it is getting out of bed in the morning when you know you’re going to do something that you’re passionate about. I particularly loved hearing from window and throw designer Deanna, as she talked about all of the travel she gets to do through Ellery for line inspiration and research. While I’m very much a homebody, I think having a job where I could go on a few (paid!) trips a year would be super cool. Growing up in a family that didn’t venture outside of Ohio much (or Florida for vacations), I’m only starting to realize how much of the world and even just the country I have yet to see.

[themanhattanite]

TrimLab

Friday, February 2nd, 2018

TrimLab is a trim development center designed to help emerging designers find the right fastenings and trims for their products. The showroom/workspace is run by AGH Trimsource, a company providing wholesale trims since 1897. While trim is not the most interesting thing in the world to me, I really appreciate the mission that TrimLab holds. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for young designers who are trying to start their own businesses in New York City; for them to have a welcoming place to go where they can get the advice they need from experts who aren’t trying to scam them is awesome. I think that, despite wholesale’s ultimate move to the web, TrimLab’s business model is great. It’s all about creating lasting relationships with designers, so that initial sales of a couple hundred pieces become sales of many thousands as the designer grows within the industry. The more the successful brands that work with TrimLab become, the better it is for both parties. Therefore, TrimLab’s mission comes down to relationships built on mentorship, support, and trust; I really respect that.

My favorite part of the presentation was when Larry showed us videos of how his trims are made. From my understanding, Larry owns and manages the manufacturing of a whole range of fabric-based trims (and plush toys) available at TrimLab. Getting a look inside of any production process is fascinating, but this instance was especially cool because of how mechanically-detailed trim machines must be. What’s even more crazy is how old some of those knitting and weaving technologies are! It felt like I was actually watching an episode of How It’s Made. Larry’s biggest piece of advice was to take any chance you can get to visit the factories where your products (and product components) are made, as those are invaluable experiences and the best way to learn about the manufacturing side of the industry. I would love to see how the beautifully printed and embroidered silk robes that my internship company, Natori, sells are manufactured. Their factory is in the Philippines, so while it’s unlikely that I’ll ever go there, it would make for a nice vacation from NYC!

[themanhattanite]

American vs Global Fashion Media

In New York City, I am surrounded by such a rich blend of cultures. One of the many benefits of this is being able to access international products that aren’t widely available throughout the rest of the country. Food, clothing, and media from around the world are available here for those that want to stay connected to their cultural roots. In the spirit of curiosity, I picked up an international fashion magazine at a local store to compare it to an American fashion magazine. Fashion is a very global industry, so knowing the differences in how it is portrayed around the world is crucial.

The two print publications I chose to compare are Vogue Italia January 2018 and Marie Claire March 2018. For starters, the cover pages of these two magazines are drastically different. Marie Claire’s cover features Reese Witherspoon, a well-known actress, in a close-up shot. On the other hand, Vogue Italia’s cover features an unnamed model. Her entire body is shown, putting more emphasis on the outfit than the individual, the opposite of Marie Claire’s cover.

This may just be a difference between the two magazines in general, but Marie Claire’s content includes far more trend reports than Vogue Italia’s. Vogue Italia still has written pieces, but it seems to be incredibly focused on visual elements. The imagery of Vogue Italia is noticeably more revealing than that of Marie Claire and other domestic publications. That being said, there was a fashion spread highlighting edgy lingerie looks in the January issue of Vogue Italia, but there were a number of other exposing shots throughout the magazine that I couldn’t imagine seeing in a typical American fashion publication.

One of the most striking things I noticed about Vogue Italia was how few advertisements it has. The front of the magazine features a section of typical fashion ads, but after that, there aren’t many more throughout the rest of the issue. Even the opening pages of Vogue Italia don’t have as many advertisements as the beginning of Marie Claire (and every American Vogue). Marie Claire has no shortage of advertisements spread throughout the entire issue.

I also decided to compare the websites of Vogue Italia and Marie Claire to get a feel for the differences in online fashion media. The featured story on Marie Claire’s website homepage is “Can You Be a Feminist with an Eating Disorder?”, and the featured story on Vogue Italia is “Guy Laroche Collections Fall Winter 2018-19”. Right away, this shows that the focus of Marie Claire’s website is less about fashion and celebrities than their print version, while Vogue Italia’s website is still very fashion-focused. In addition to fashion and celebrities, Marie Claire has tabs for beauty, politics, and love, so they definitely feature a wide range of content on their website to provide their target consumer with a more complete experience. On the other hand, Vogue Italia maintains fashion authority among its target consumer with in-depth coverage of fashion news and runway shows.

In a similar way to its print counterpart, Vogue Italia’s website is much more image-driven than Marie Claire’s. The images on the Vogue site are large and central; they leave little room for white space. Vogue Italia’s homepage features one advertisement, only visible when you scroll up, and Marie Claire’s features four in various places. Once again, the American publication has far more advertising than the international one.

Image Sources: Vogue Italia, Marie Claire

[themanhattanite]

My Milan Fashion Week: Women’s (Cyber) Experience

As far as international fashion weeks go, we’ve had two so far: London and Milan. I think that London always tries its best, but there is simply no contest between the two cities. While London is home to some of my favorite off-beat RTW brands like Shrimps and Orla Kiely, Milan is just an absolute over-the-top luxury dream. By no coincidence, my two favorite international runway shows (so far) for the Fall 2018 season have come out of the Italian fashion capital.

For me, Moschino tends to be hit-or-miss. I’ll either love an entire collection or not care for it at all. The last season I really enjoyed from Moschino was their Spring 2015 Barbie collection, so it was nice to find something new from Jeremy Scott to fall in love with this week. I mean, being a huge fan of 1960s fashion, how could I not love a collection inspired by Jacqueline Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and a retro alien conspiracy theory? I appreciated the mix of day wear and evening wear in the collection, as well as the unexpected combination of the iconic Jackie-O skirt set with biker jacket details. My one criticism is that the collection didn’t feel very fall/winter to me. Sure, there were coats and jackets, but they were in pastel and neon colors. This fall season, designers have gravitated toward lighter, brighter, and more cool-toned color palettes than usual. It’s not the end of the world, but it just feels a bit off to me.

I almost chose Gucci as my second favorite show, but that seemed a little too obvious, as it has probably been the most talked about show of the season so far (you know…with the carrying heads and all). Instead, I went with a show that hit the nail on the thematic head: Etro. Despite my often illogical adoration of repetitive and thematically-disheveled brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Etro speaks to my love of designers picking a theme and staying true to it with every piece in their show. Amidst what I’ve found to be a very severe-feeling fall season, Etro’s Wild West meets South Americana meets “ethnic futurism” theme is refreshingly comforting. I wouldn’t even consider the clothes to be of my personal taste, and they made me want to saddle up a horse and go on a prairie adventure or something (lol). The color palette and patterns were incredible and perfect for fall: warm, inviting, and homespun. I just can’t believe how much I have to gush about a brand that I haven’t given much thought in the past. Here’s to new discoveries this Milan Fashion Week!

Image Sources: Moschino, Etro

[themanhattanite]

T-Project

Friday, February 9th, 2018

This week in NYC Study Tour, we visited T-Project, an Italian materials showroom in the Garment District. The multinational company also offers consulting services in Tuscany, Italy to help American designers manufacture their products overseas. T-Project specializes in materials for handbags and shoes, but they have started to carry fabric for clothing as well. I was initially surprised by how small the showroom was (compared to the one at my internship), but then I realized that a materials showroom doesn’t need to be as large as a showroom for apparel; it’s not like there are models walking around the room with fabric samples or anything.

Despite being a merchandiser, I am still genuinely interested in learning about the design process and all of the elements involved with it, so it was really cool seeing one of the places where brands get inspiration for their products. I’m one of those people who could have happily spent hours in a place like that, just looking at everything. I particularly loved looking through the boards showing how major designers were using T-Project’s materials in their runway collections, so cool!

My favorite materials in the showroom were the non-woven fabrics. There were some natural ones, such as thinly cut wood, stone, and cork. There were also some super fun synthetic non-wovens, like unpopable bubble wrap. I’m obsessed. If I had anything made out of that stuff, I’d never be productive again. I also think we all not-so-secretly wanted a raincoat made out of the clear material that looks like it’s wet all the time. That was great.

[themanhattanite]

My 5-Day NYC Street Style Dairy

For each day of my 5-Day Street Style Diary, I decided to document the style of a different neighborhood or borough within New York City and find the things that make it unique.

Day 1: Midtown East

I started off the week in Midtown, where I live, work, go to school, and spend most of my time. Midtown is a name for the larger section of Manhattan below Central Park and 59th Street that includes multiple neighborhoods, including my own, Hell’s Kitchen. My whole idea with this blog post, though, was to venture outside of my typical stomping ground, so I spent the day in Midtown East, new territory for me. One thing that surprised me was how nice people were dressed there (people who weren’t obviously tourists, at least). I naively expected luxurious, expensive-looking style to be restricted to Uptown neighborhoods, but there were some over-the-top outfits right there in Turtle Bay. One of my favorite looks was the fur coat ensemble. I saw it multiple times throughout the day, with one of my favorite interpretations pictured top left. An ankle-length fur with Adidas sneakers and a giant tote...you won’t see that in Ohio.

Day 2: Upper East Side

This was a depressing day. I aimlessly wandered around the Upper East Side in hopes of being adopted by a rich, elderly couple, but I was ultimately unsuccessful. Though Gossip Girl is a fictional show, the people, places, and excessive style it depicts are all painfully real. As I was crying outside of the Elie Saab store on Madison Avenue, entire families clad head-to-toe in impeccably styled designer outfits walked by me, making the hurt worse. I spend hours upon hours studying laughably expensive fashion brands both inside and outside of the classroom, so I very well know that they exist and that there’s a sizable market for them. It’s still a surreal experience (for me, at least) seeing it all with my own eyes. So, yeah, even the casual outfits were ostentatious. Nearly every man was wearing a nice hat, and every woman had the perfect handbag for her outfit. I now know that you shouldn’t be caught dead on the Upper East Side without a designer bag to go with the moment.

Day 3: Williamsburg

While the Upper East Side had a noticeably older demographic, Williamsburg had a noticeably younger one. Williamsburg, Brooklyn may have been home to scrappy 20- and 30-something artists at one point in time, but today you can’t live there without having quite a bit of cash. It’s still hipster territory, but now it’s rich hipster territory. The style is still more artsy and experimental than that of Manhattan, though, which I can appreciate. One of my favorite pictures from the week is of women walking through Williamsburg, one in a cow print vest and one in a bubblegum pink puffer coat. Casual but fun. I had time to stop in a few of the endless vintage stores in the neighborhood, and they were incredible (expensive, but incredible). In Williamsburg, an outfit isn’t complete without something vintage, something with a story. I feel like that’s true for a lot of Brooklyn neighborhoods; fashion there has to be personal, it has to have meaning.

Day 4: Staten Island

Going to Staten Island for the first time was a very interesting experience. I didn’t know what to expect outside of the fact that it wouldn’t be as fashionable of a place as the some of the other boroughs. By nature, it’s a residential area; very few people make the journey there for work or fun. What shocked me the most about Staten Island was how Midwestern it felt...and looked. After a foggy ferry ride, I took the Staten Island Railroad to a small town not too far from the dock. There, I could have absolutely sworn I was in a sad little suburb back in Ohio (maybe I was just feeling gloomy because of the rainy weather). With the Midwestern feel of the place came Midwestern style: simple and to-the-point. The key item of the day was the puffer coat. Pretty much everyone was wearing one despite it not being that cold out. I got pictures of a few people who had some outfits that weren’t completely boring (the lady in the purple fur coat), but long story short, I wouldn’t go to Staten Island expecting to be blown away by style.

Day 5: The Bronx

Going to the Bronx was another first for me. It’s kind of shocking that after having lived in New York City for two months, I still hadn’t been to three of the five boroughs (I only have Queens left now). Like Staten Island, I’d argue that the Bronx is predominately residential, so the style you see on the street is truly the style of the neighborhood, not that of commuters or tourists. Unlike Staten Island, the Bronx didn’t look Midwestern at all. In my opinion, the Bronx has the most traditionally urban style of the boroughs. It’s almost like the street style there remains suspended in the 1990s and 2000s: bright colors, bold patterns, dressed-up track suits, and sneakers galore. Neon pants with a houndstooth coat? You bet. The Bronx also had more of a family feel than the other places I visited. Everyone was out on the street with their children and their parents and their friends (I went on a Saturday afternoon), so the style there felt more like a community effort than an individual one.

Images are my own.

[themanhattanite]

My New York Fashion Week: Women’s (Cyber) Experience

This Women’s New York Fashion Week was one of unapologetically bold colors, patterns, and silhouettes. Many designers looked to the ferocity of the 1980s to inspire their collections. This retro theme was especially apparent in my two favorite ready-to-wear shows of the week: Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford. My favorite thing about these shows is that even though they were both driven by the same era, each designer’s interpretation was fresh and exciting. There’s also an important cultural message that goes along with this 80s revival. The 1980s were the decade in which women began taking powerful roles in the workplace, as the information age and its office-centric culture began to boom. Gone were the days of women being restricted to the role of secretary; the shoulder-padded female “power suit” had arrived in all of its glory.

Marc Jacobs took the iconic power suit and exaggerated it by blowing it up in size. With the addition of wide-brimmed hats that masked the eyes, I almost think these ensembles were inspired by 1940s zoot suits as well. Marc Jacobs combined these oversized suits with classic 1980s colors such as teal and fuchsia. There was some serious color-blocking throughout the show, like in one of my favorite looks, number 26, where the jacket features 6 different colors, and the pant legs are different colors as well. Some other noticeably 80s elements in Marc Jacob’s show were metallic fabrics and large neck accessories like giant bows.

Tom Ford interpreted the 1980s more like a wild party than a workday. In my opinion, the neon animal print dresses and leggings should have been paired with some permed hair… Maybe that would have been overkill, but it certainly wouldn’t have looked out of place in the collection. Fishnet socks, gigantic earrings, and rhinestone-covered handbags accessorized the already intense outfits. Though I probably wouldn’t wear much from either of these runway shows, I truly appreciate each designer’s commitment to their theme and all of the risks they took in exploring it to the fullest. We’ve witnessed the 70s and 90s make recent comebacks, so I’m looking forward to looking back at the 1980s this Fall 2018 season.

Image Sources: Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford