Back to Back Events

This was an extremely eventful week at the office for everyone. I felt like there were events every day of the week, with more than one at a time. Wednesday I was sent on a mission to find wigs that resembled the New York Met's pitchers for one of our clients who was giving away costumes of the players. It was probably the most random request I've ever been asked of, but after running in and out of what felt like 30 different stores, I found a few wigs that worked. At the end of the week, the woman who had asked me to do that ran up to me and told me that the wigs I found and the story I was helping made the New York Post, so that felt like a huge accomplishment. Overall, Wednesday was just the busiest day of running around and helping as many people as I could.
On Thursday, I was asked to come in earlier than usual to the office to help for an Undies.com event, and to stay late and travel to the Time Warner building to help work a Sugarfina event. Although it felt like the longest day of my life, both events were a lot of fun! For the first event I kind of worked as a bartender, packing people gifts of the panties and bras they picked out from the "bar". It was fun to interact with all the editors and get to hear more about this new client of ours. I even got to take some free merchandise home with me afterwards. At around 3:00 pm, I followed an account executive from the lifestyle team to the Sugarfina event at the Time Warner building. I would be helping to set up goody bags of the candy, and check people in as they came to the event. It was the launch party for the first NY Sugarfina location, and it looked amazing. It was a glorified kiosk that was seen immediately when entering the building. I worked with a lot of the employees at ABPR, and was able to get to know them better, which was great. Waiters were walking around serving the guests champagne and gummy bears with 24K gold flakes in them, and now I can say that I've eaten gold before...never felt so fancy. The event perfectly fit the type of brand the company aims to be, and I was happy I was able to attend the private event that was such a big step for the company. Even though it was the longest day of co-op so far, I feel like I got so much out of it and can't wait to see what the next few months bring!

Week 5 @ Freedom Rains

I really can't believe that a month has gone by! Just like last week, everyone is really working hard to finalize all the designs and sourcing for Fall '16. We're hoping to complete everything by the first week of November that way we can put prototypes into production. The designers finally had sketches ready, so this week I got to edit those and create tech packs to be sent out to our factories. Since we are obviously unable to create each piece by hand we need tech packs to act as instructions for our factories. Initially, they contain detailed sketches of the garment, a list of materials being used (including fabrics, trims, fusibles, etc), specific construction and sewing details, and measurements. It's a lot of work and everything has to be very precise or else our coats could come out looking completely wonky!

While we're mainly working on next fall right now, we also can't forget about Spring '16. We had another fitting this week to finalize the measurements for some of the Spring coats. Even though we're a contemporary line, I think it's great that we try to fit for the average woman and we're always adjusting to make sure everything is as perfect as possible. Getting the fit and silhouette right are definitely vital when thinking about our different customers. Not everyone is a 5'9, size 2 model who wants to wear a super fitted coat. We need to have something for everyone and cater to different body shapes. Furthermore, I also got to accompany the lead designer while running some errands to our pattern maker and some of our textile manufacturers' offices. I really appreciate that she values my opinion and we've been bonding over our shared Drexel experiences since she's an alumni! I also just feel like I'm learn a lot from watching her work and being able to sit in on meetings with her. I also found out this week that a color palette I developed for a line of packable raincoats at Saks Fifth Avenue while the designers were away in Europe got approved! Even though it seems kind of nerdy, I still think it's really cool that they liked the colors I chose for them.

To top off this week, my Mum came down for the day on Friday and we were able to go shop our showroom for coats. While the company is giving me one for free, I couldn't resist buying two more because my discount is so good! I really can't wait to wear them this winter. Of course, my Mum was also excited to see where I work and meet everyone. And speaking of Mom's, Zac Posen's own Mom came in earlier this week to pick out coats for herself! I was surprised at how normal she was considering her son is so fabulous (we even found that she takes the bus around New York). It was really cool to meet her though and she even welcomed me into the House of Z family!

I feel bad that I can't take a lot of pictures at work, so here's a photo of the view from my rooftop! Living in Manhattan really goes hand in hand with my co-op experience. I've gotten to do a lot of exploring and I feel more and more like a New Yorker everyday.

Week 5: Preparing for Spring Preview

This week at Bollare consisted of preparing for next week's preview. The past three days have been very busy and pretty stressful. The fashion team and I have been steaming and packing away all spring samples in the showroom bring to the preview. We are constantly getting in new shipments that need to be sorted through to see what will be shown at the preview. It is a great experience to get to see how such amazing events like these are prepared for. The events team has also been working extremely hard to plan the entire two days by ordering decorations and food. We will be having pastries and refreshments, such as donuts, for the editors coming to the event. The event will take place on Monday and Tuesday of next week. I'm very excited to be preparing for it and attending it. I am very appreciative to be able to play such a large role in helping out with the event!

Week 5

This week definitely needed my computer skills to complete the tasks that I was assigned this week. My mentor/boss was sketching up new jewelry sketches for her spring/summer line and I was asked to research inspirations for her new line. I was able to use Drexel resources, and was able to access Fashion Snoops. This website is the most helpful and should be used to its advantage because it helped a lot with my research. Fashion Snoops had detail shots of every designer that did the spring 2016 and resort 2016 runway. I was able to gather enough images for several inspiration boards. Once   she finally designed new designs, she asked me to color chart all the different pieces that belonged to the jewelry. This allowed it to be easily interpreted to her manufacturers. In order to complete these tasks, I had to use Adobe Illustrator and photoshop. Thank goodness all those computer design classes which helped me a whole bunch in completing these tasks. Not only did I brush up on my Adobe skills, I impressed my boss even more by completing the tasks she didn't even think I was capable of!

XIX Most Fashionable Women : Nicole Miller

I can't believe it's the 5th week of co-op already. Yesterday I helped out at an important event that Nicole Miller has annually that recognizes 19 women who are fashionable and philanthropic in the community of Philadelphia. I got to help set up for the entire event with other interns and volunteers, greet people, set the gift bags and other goodies on each chair and so much more. I only helped set up for about 2 hours and we got so much done in that time. It's crazy how hectic it can get when planning events but I definitely know that I like being on my feet instead of being in an office all day. It was also fun because I got to wear my Nicole Miller clothes and got to see everyone's gorgeous outfits. This definitely makes me more excited for helping out with other events, especially the one I will be going on in November in Maryland! This Sunday I will also be helping out at another event called Bellevue Gets Engaged. It will show off all the new Bridal wear and I'm so excited to see all the beautiful dresses. 

Week 4

At work this week, it was a lot slower, but a nice break from the typical pace of things. I found the most delicious bagel and coffee shop only a few blocks away from work on 3rd Avenue so I've started to make that a morning routine before heading into the office. On Wednesday I was sent to a Kerastase event, but only to help pack everything away; although I did get to take home the left over desserts, which wasn't too bad. My mentor surprised me with an ABPR bag full of products from our clients, including a hot pink Clarisonic Mia which was so nice!
The rest of the week consisted of me meeting up with friends and walking around the city. Christina whose also interning in NY, and I went to the adorable restaurant Jack's Wife Freda and spent the entire day walking around Soho. It's so fun exploring this new city, yet so nice and easy to commute back to Philly to visit other friends whenever I'm a little homesick. I can't wait to see what other amazing places I'll wonder into.

Week 4 @ Freedom Rains

With the design team back from Europe, things have picked up a bit around the office and everyone is motivated to get ahead on the Fall '16 line. It definitely feels more normal to have everyone back and working in one place again, though I was excited to see the results of the trip. The designers returned with thirty sample garments that we'll be taking inspiration from in regards to fabric, trim, silhouette, etc. We had a long meeting with the entire office discussing the success of the trip, modeling the samples to everyone, and showing the takeaways of each piece. Although they largely bought coats from brands like Moncler, Max Mara Weekend, Vivienne Westwood (which we sadly cut apart to take fabric samples from) and Versace, but also dresses from Stella McCartney and Jill Sander. Our lead designer explained that any dress can become a coat if you just use your imagination, which is so clever and I never would have thought of! It was definitely fun to try on and photograph all the samples, as well! I think having all of them in our showroom gives a more solid vision to what next year's line might look like.

I'm also really excited because the floral print I've been working on is going to get produced into a fabric, which will obviously be turned into a coat later on! This is definitely something I will be adding to my portfolio and I feel like a small piece of me will be going into the collection. I also get to work with the mill that will be developing the fabric and handle the order, which is a great learning opportunity. This week we've also been finalizing which fabrics will be used for the line, which is a bit strange because the designer's haven't really started sketching. In a way, we're pretty much working backwards.