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Blog 12/12

Last week, my class took a trip to the FFANY Shoe Show. It was in a beautiful building on the upper east side of Manhattan. I enjoyed going from room to room looking at different shoe companies and what they had to offer. We met with a rain boot company from Seattle, which is interesting for me because I am considering moving to Seattle for after graduation and that is a company I could possibly work for.

I liked how all of the companies were very different and focused on certain things. One company from the other side of world focused on sustainability and developing third world countries. Another shoe brand focused mainly on comfort. Others focused on style. I was very grateful for this opportunity.

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Last week my class took a trip to Fox Unlimited. I loved seeing all of the coats that they have created and how most of them were reversible. I thought it was interesting you can work with them to design your own luxurious coats. I loved that they work with an array of different furs such as rabbit, fox, and raccoon.

Feeling the different types of furs gave me a lot of knowledge. Now I know the hand difference between raccoon fur and fox fur so if my job includes these fabrics, I can select the best one for a garment. I also got to witness how warm real fut actual is.

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Blog 11/21/18

My class went to Stoll Knitting last week. I was very happy with this tour because our guide was so nice; she was very knowledgeable and even answered questions I had about Portland, Oregon since I am considering moving there after graduation and she worked there for Nike. I also got to witness the knitting machine beds at work.

I also had the opportunity to loop knit pieces by hand. It was an interesting experience because I knew beforehand what full fashion knits were but didn’t understand the looping process. I’m glad I had the chance to look at many different types of knit garments.

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Blog 11/14

This week my class went to ABC Home. It was a huge store with everything you could ever think of to need for your home. They even had clothing. I thought this store was unique for having a quiet room for guest to get away from the hustle and bustle that is New York City. Every floor was beautifully arranged as well.

We heard from a worker at Cisco, a sustainable furniture manufacturer. We heard about how their products only use natural dyes and do no emit toxic odors from harsh chemicals like other furniture brands do. Everything came with a pretty hefty price tag, like the $5,000 lamp. All in all, if I had a lot of money I would do my shopping here!

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Blog 11/7 - Todd Snyder

This past week the entire NYC Studio had the pleasure of hearing a lecture from Todd Snyder, a men’s fashion designer in New York. He was a very humble man and told his story jokingly about how he was just a kid from Iowa and, “Who would wanna hire me in New York City?”. He told us that with hard work you can go anywhere in this industry and you have to be willing to do pretty much anything; meaning lame tasks like sweep the floor.

I did not get any photos of the lecture, since I felt it would be rude to do so while he was speaking. I’m not sure he even wanted his picture taken. By the end of his lecture he opened the floor for questions. He got quiet a few and and talked about how hard it can be to manage an entire store in NYC.

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Last week my class was taken to 5th Avenue Woman, a jewelry store in NYC. Upon walking into the store, there was countless necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings. Spot lighting was used around the room to show case the beautiful stones and jewels. The owner was kind enough to speak with us about running a business in the fashion industry and gave us a few inspirational words. At the end, she was even kind enough to sell some of her wholesale items to us. Many girls walked out with beautiful, one of a kind jewelry pieces.

I learned a few things from the owner that I did not know beforehand, she passed around a card with the real trade names of stones. I had never heard of howlite, malachite, or rhodonite before. She also told us about how to tell if a pearl was real or fake. If the pearl is cold, then it is likely that it is real; pearls generally stay cold to the touch. She said you could also bite them too as a test, but not the best idea.

-Lauren Takacs

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This past week my class and I took a trip over to Dover Street Market. I had no idea how inspirational of a place it was until we got inside the store. There were several floors and each had a zany theme about it. The first floor we visited had the Supreme collection, which Dover Street Market sells the new launch every Thursday and people line up outside to be able to shop it. I heard that the collection usually sells out within the hour. I also heard it is one of three shops in the New York City area that carries the Supreme collection.

After hearing the employees talk, I learned that many fashion trend forecasters come to this market for inspiration. In fact, sort of every type of individual comes here for inspiration. Hip hop artists shop at Dover a lot as well. If someone wants to launch a collection, this is the spot to do it because it is placed on a pedestal in the fashion world here for everyone to look at. Dover also just started carrying The Row men’s line, which no other store currently carries - talk about exclusive!

-Lauren Takacs

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Last week we did not have class due to Fall Break, and therefore did not have a study tour meeting. Instead I will blog about my New York experience so far. I am a design intern at Rachel Antonoff and am loving it. I work with celebrity stylists and help coordinate an outfit for a celebrity to wear to a press event or for a magazine to photograph.

I also sit in on meetings about the collection and where we want to take it. We talk with buyers about what they think will sell and what they want to buy. I also help source trimmings for the collection. I’ve worked with our factories in China about exactly how we want a garment produced.

So far I do like product development. I am interested in pursuing it as a career and am looking into what companies I may want to work for.

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Entry #5

Last week my class visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The fashion exhibit featured there was Heavenly Bodies.The gowns that I saw were stunning; they featured flashy beading and metallics, feathers, tulle, and interesting silhouettes. Some dresses dated back decades ago and others were more recent. All pieces had a religious vibe to them and seemed very royal. They were made by designers such as Thierry Mugler and Dior.

There were other pieces there as well that were not fashion. I enjoyed seeing the busts from ancient Greece. I loved seeing marble busts of Hercules and Aphrodite. I always wanted to view very old pieces such as those and was glad I had the opportunity to. I was impressed by how much this museum had; I would need all day to view every exhibit properly.

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Entry #4 - FIT

Last week my class went to FIT for a tour on fashion through the decades. We were shown an actual beaded flapper dress from the 1920s which I had never seen in real life before. We learned about how over the decades hemlines would go up and down and silhouettes would drift closer and away from the body.

In the dress pictured above, the silhouette is looser and falls away from the woman’s body. This was from the 1920s and women were going for a boyish look. They would chop off their hair into short pixie cuts.

Our guide also talked about Elsa Schiaparelli. I didn’t know who she was before this discussion. I had no idea Coco Chanel had a rival. I loved the designs I saw from Schiaparelli and thought it was interesting she was inspired by surrealism.

-Lauren Takacs

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Entry #3 - Rebecca Minkoff

This past week my class went to visit Rebecca Minkoff’s new store in SoHo. Their two week old renovated boutique feature tech savvy new features. Prior to arriving, I researched and learned that Rebecca Minkoff was originally from California. The manager of the store explained to us the meaning behind Rebecca’s collections: she tries to mix her roots of L.A. with her new self in New York City. I thought that was a great way for her to truly capture herself in her designs.

I was impressed with all of the technology in the store. I have never seen interactive mirrors before. I think that idea was genius and worth whatever the cost was. Customers could pick out whatever clothing they wanted and select the size from the mirror. The mirror would then tell them what dressing room to go to and who would be bringing their clothing to try on. A retail worker would go and get the clothing, and bring it to the customer. The mirror also tracks how many times a garment is brought into a fitting room and how many times the garment is actually bought.

I thought this idea was genius because it can show that a garment is tried on a lot, but not purchased. That way Rebecca Minkoff can realize there is something about the garment that people wish was different and change it to better suit the customer. All in all, I was very impressed with this neat little store!

-Lauren Takacs

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Entry #2 - Ross

This past week my class went to visit Ross Dress For Less, an off-price department store company. I unfortunately was sick and could not attend the trip. Ross is headquartered in Dublin, California and has stores throughout the country. Some of their competitors is Burlington Coat Factory and Marshall’s. Since beginning in 1982, their mission has been to bring their customers quality department and specialty store brands at great prices.

They are in fact the nation’s largest off-price retail chain, and therefore have high purchasing power. Ross’ buyers search globally for top brands and the hottest styles. Their buyers also work directly with manufacturers to score the best deals for their customers. Without a doubt, its this plan has greatly worked for them.

Ross thinks about a lot of ways to save money to pass on better deals to their customers. Therefore, Ross does “no frills” in window displays. This means no mannequins lining the windows of their stores or any other fluff. This also goes as far as no fancy fixtures or decorations in their stores.

-Lauren Takacs

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Entry #1

Last week I had the pleasure of going to Nordstrom’s buying office, located in the heart of the garment district. Prior to going there, I researched their company and found that they had a sister branch called Nordstrom Rack. This sister branch is off-price and targeted towards a different market. It seemed to me Nordstrom was trying to hit even more target markets to rake in more profits.

After checking out the buying office at Nordstrom, I learned quite a bit. I did not know that Nordstrom was behind HauteLook. I loved the diagram provided that explained the similarities between all of the branches in the company. For example, Nordstrom.com and HauteLook.com are both only ecommerce.

I appreciated how our speakers typed out specifically what each department is responsible for. This helped me assess my skills and feel where I would do the best work. I also loved how both speakers explained how they had messed up while doing their jobs and used it as a learning tool to do better next time. Their stories made me realize mistakes can happen at any job; just try to learn from them and move on in the next best direction.

-Lauren Takacs

**These are not my pictures.

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Hello! Welcome.

I am creating this blog for my class while studying New York City. I’ll be posting weekly updates of all the interesting fashion experiences from my study tour!