(Fashion Flashback – Originally posted on 2/19/09 –  It was just over a year ago when this article was originally posted, and we thought in honor of the recent Oscars and our popular new post on the fashion calendar,  it would be a good time to revisit a trend that is unfortunately thriving in the fashion industry. The below post should shed some facts on the issue of knocking off and you may want to click here for more details on the topic. It is certainly a fine line, between knocking-off somebody’s work, versus using high-end fashion as inspiration for affordable , trendy items for the masses.)

Being in the midst of award season and fashion week, we all are coveting the exquisite yet ridiculously expensive fashions on display.  While many of us cannot afford couture, we turn to more affordable brands to give us our fashion fix.  Although there is a grave difference between making style affordable to the masses, and straight up copying another designer’s product.  Many designers and brands have made a name for themselves by knocking off high-end designers.  Chief among them is the brand ABS, who quickly parades their red carpet Oscar knockoffs on morning shows across the country following the Academy Awards.  Recently, ABS and fashion label Faviana, débuted gowns inspired by Michelle Obama’s inaugural fashions on the Today Show.  Couture evening wear is not the only garment class being copied; actually every category is subject to copycats.  Stores like Forever 21 and H&M have made multimillion dollar businesses out of knocking off designer looks for less.

Many would argue, as we did here, that all fashion is in some sense copying from elsewhere.  Designers, high-end and low, all get inspiration from somewhere and are influenced by what they see in their daily lives, including from fashion rivals.  Next time you wander through a mall or department store, see if you can find a garment that is not in some way similar to an existing design; be it in color, fabric, silhouette, or overall aesthetic. But back to the original issue, what about those brands whose true intention is to knock off a particular item as close to the original as possible.  The most common question we get is, “is that even legal?”  In short, yes unfortunately, it is legal.

Unlike most products in the United States, fashion design is not protected by intellectual property law.  While your trademark is protected, like the Levi’s V embroidery, Lacoste’s alligator, or Louis Vuitton’s interlocking LV, the actual garment design is not.  Copyright law which protects most artistic works, has an exception for functional creations.  So, if your garment is wearable, which of course it is, then it is not protected by law.  There is some good news for you graphic designers, graphics like screen prints or original patterns do seem to be covered as artwork.  People will often remark, if you have a great design idea you should get a patent for it.  Unfortunately, patents only apply to completely new inventions, which as we mentioned above, fashion design is never completely original.  This is the reason for the Victoria’s Secret patent “pending” bra campaign.  Additionally, in the fast paced world of fashion, by the time the US patent office approved you, your design would no longer be on trend.  For more information on the issue of fashion copycats here is a great site counterfeitchic.com

Today we have a shopping treat from our dear friend, down the block, Tricia Lewis. Tricia works for the 34^th Street Partnership, a non-profit business improvement district that manages a 35-block area surrounding 34^th Street. She writes a blog, Fashion Herald, to promote retailers in the district and provide a resource for shoppers.  So many of you work in the neighborhood and know 34th Street is the place to shop around here, whether you have to run out at lunch to snag some make-up at Macy’s, stop by Banana Republic to pick up a shirt for your man, or mostly for all you designers, to trend research, check out competitors, and see how your products look on the racks. Well, there are lots of changes going on down the street and Tricia is going to fill us in!

It was great timing for 39^th & Broadway to ask me about new stores coming to 34^th Street in Midtown Manhattan, as there are so many upcoming changes that even I was getting confused!  It is, truly, turning into musical stores down there. Let’s talk 34^th Street between 5^th & 6^th Avenues, what is considered the prime block:

Aldo moved down 34^th Street next door to the new Geox store, in a brand new space at 29 W. 34th;

Aeropostale moved into the old Aldo space at 15 W. 34^th (Aeropostale also has a store just down 6^th Avenue in Manhattan Mall, and their new tween concept store, P.S. by Aeropostale, opened in Manhattan Mall last spring);

Spanish retailer Desigual is moving into the old Bakers Shoes space; (We are super excited about this one, if you haven’t been to their Soho store check out their website here and await their 34th Street opening)

Bakers Shoes is moving down the block on 34^th Street;

Korean retailer Who.A.U. is moving into the old Kira Plastinina space on the south side of the street;

An 18,000 Esprit flagship is opening soon at 21-25 W. 34^th next to Aldo and Geox; (So thrilled for Esprit – we are having 80’s grade school flashbacks already!)

Foot Locker is moving out, and an Original Levi’s store is moving in at 43 W. 34^th.

Bare Escentuals opened a new boutique last spring on the south side of 34^th Street, and don’t forget the addition of JCPenney in Manhattan Mall last summer.

There are fewer changes down the block: at the corner of 34^th & 7^th, Tourneau is moving out and Swarovski is moving in its new concept store, Crystal Source. But the future is full of exciting opportunities for 34^th between 7^th and 8^th Avenues. Older stores  (including two Conways), are moving out, and lots of space is opening up, which further fuels rumors of popular big retailers coming into the district. I could speculate, but let’s keep it to fantasy:  JCrew, Topshop, and American Apparel are just a few I’d love to see on 34^th Street. (Yes Tricia, lets make this happen! Also, anybody else wish we had a good restaurant around?)

Why so much growth and change, particularly in a down retail climate?  Mainly one major factor: pedestrian traffic. In the 34^th Street district, it’s huge.  Imagine, at our busiest corners, almost 9,000 people pass through during rush hour, and an estimated one million people pass through the district a day. Fifteen subway lines converge on the area that includes the Empire State Building, Macy’s Herald Square, Penn Station, and Madison Square Garden. You can imagine how attractive all this is to retailers: for example, the Gap at 34^th & Sixth is the largest volume store in the country

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So yes, the reason why some of us New Yorkers are cursing while walking down Broadway and 34^th (maneuvering our way around crowds and tourists staring at the Empire State Building), is the same reason why retailers are eager to join the block. My recommendation? Walk down Broadway Boulevard and through pretty Herald and Greeley Squares, so then you can enjoy the ride!

Our thanks to Tricia for all the insider scoop and be sure to check out her fantastic blog, Fashion Herald!

]]> http://www.39thandbroadway.com/34th-street-evolution/feed/ 5 http://www.39thandbroadway.com/links-la-mode-31/ http://www.39thandbroadway.com/links-la-mode-31/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:55:21 +0000 admins http://www.39thandbroadway.com/?p=4985

Do you get spring fever? Oh man… the itch to run around outside in flowery prints and frilly laces gets greater and greater each passing day. To heck with chunky sweaters! This week we have a load of great spring style posts, Holier Than Now checks out cape coats, if you’re strapped for cash Out of Order gives the perfect 45min spring skirt tutorial, so cute! And girly clothes not your thing? The Demoiselles have a great homage to gender-bending unisex looks. So on this rainy weekend, sit back and enjoy the best fashion blog posts from around the web, better known as, Links à la Mode.

It stared with a recent article in the NY Times and the rumblings continued online and throughout the city, is the Garment Center about to become the new “it” neighborhood?  For those of us familiar with the neighborhood, it certainly seems to contain all of the proper elements.  Lower rents then surrounding areas (check), large loft spaces (check), artist and designers (check), a certain grungy feel (check), old school mom and pop shops (check), plus, unlike Williamsburg or LIC the Garment Center is centrally located.  We’ve written many times before about the shrinking of the Garment Center as domestic clothing manufacturing has moved overseas leaving our neighborhood factories vacant.  Thankfully much of the area has zoning protection to support the local fashion industry.  However, due to our close proximity to the theater district, many smaller theater companies have started infiltrating the Garment Center.  So in addition to fashion industry designers and artists, there’s also a growth of actors, musicians, costume designers, and directors.  As Shira Beckerman the Director of the Pearl Theater Company told the NY times, “If you walk through the area it sort of looks like an arts district developing.”

While it’s hard for us to imagine our neighborhood (directly between two of the country’s biggest tourists spots, Times Square and Herald Square) becoming the next SoHo, it’s not exactly unthinkable.  Add in an overpriced nightclub, indie bookstore, a gastro pub, a pop-up art gallery, and we’re a haven for hipsters. In some ways that could be very good for the neighborhood, as long as our workspaces (which should be protected for the fashion industry) don’t become high-end lofts for wealthy parents to buy for their recent grads. Perhaps the Garment Center can improve and update their grungy hip factor, while at the same time protecting our manufacturing and fashion core.

(Part One)

A while back we mentioned that skinny jeans were hazardous to your health, well now, we’d say the fashion calendar is a hazard to our industry.  In our business the fashion calendar and the time from development to market, has gotten so tight that it is strangling our creativity and killing our profits.  The old system of fashion collections being shown on the runway six months before they hit the store, or featured in fashion magazines months before the consumer could purchase them, or even merchandise on the floor a season before the customer could feasibly wear it, is all part of an outdated and broken system.  While the last issue is no longer a major obstacle, as thankfully we are not forced to buy wool coats in July anymore (especially thanks to online shopping), the other two issues, especially fashion week, are major problems.

There was a recent article in the WSJ addressing the issue of getting clothes from catwalk to closet, faster.  The six month delay allows fast fashion chains like Forever 21 and H&M time to knock off designers and have the more affordable imitations available in stores even before the originals.  To combat this issue some designers have begun putting their collections into production before they walk the runway and made them available for sale immediately following their shows. Designers Norma Kamali, Cynthia Rowley, and Burberry have recently tried this tactic with extremely lucrative results.  The WSJ also mentions that part of the problem is the designer’s collections are featured in Vogue or Elle and the customer sees them, but by the time they are available in stores they no longer appear fresh and new to the shopper.  We would also like to add that the role of fashion blogs have tightened the calendar even more, as the shopper does not have to wait a month for Vogue but can go online immediately and view the pieces within 24 hours of the show.

For most designers and brands, fashion week do not equal sales, as very few actually show during the week. And for those that do show, much of the actual selling and ordering takes place in the showroom. While fashion week gets the media attention and is a PR darling for the high-end designers, many of us know that far more of the world’s apparel gets sold during market week not fashion week and sales often get done in private showings not on the runway. However, to the shopper and of course to fashion’s marketing, PR, media, bloggers, and celebs, fashion week is the Holy Grail. But many of us realize the current model is no longer effective for either end of the industry.

It seems to us a decision needs to be made as to the purpose of fashion week and if that purpose is advertising and immediate retail (not wholesale) sales than put photographers and bloggers in the front row, move the calendar forward to meet the production requirements, schedule fashion week closer to the actual season when goods hit the floor for shoppers to purchase immediately. If the intent is to use fashion week as industry event to generate internal buzz and initiate wholesale buying then it should be kept that way, and moved back to the Garment center. The problem is for many years fashion week worked for both sides of the business, but that is just no longer feasible. Between online shopping, new media, consumers buy now mentality and the increasing production times for oversea manufacturing, fashion week can no longer accommodate both needs effectively.

As you may have noticed, we marked this post as “Part One” that is because the fashion calendar is not just detrimental to fashion week and high-end designers, but also for the rest of the apparel industry. Those of us working for big brands, private label lines, vertical retailers, and everyone from Walmart to Saks are suffering from calendar woes as well. These designers, due to production issues, bureaucracy, and the micro-managing of creativity, are also suffering. They companies require designers to design a year or more ahead of calendar. The product then suffers and often looks dated and unoriginal, while the designers end up like this.  So stay tuned for a follow up post from this perspective too.

We suspect many fashion designers and industry professionals, got sucked into the allure of the fashion industry while watching the Academy Awards as children. The Oscars is the night that high fashion shines and these gowns are often responsible for inspiring (inspiring = good, knocking-off = bad) other designers and brands. The colors, textures, draping, and jewelry that are shown tonight will greatly influences what will be in stores shortly. If Jessica Alba walks the red carpet in a one-shoulder pink bubble dress tonight, you can be sure every department store will have a one-shoulder pink bubble dress in their Prom department this spring.

To get you in the mood for the big show, we found this excellent slide-show from LIFE magazine of classic 1950’s Oscar moments. Click here to see the full set and see our favs below.

Lately the Red Carpet has lost a bit of the “wow” factor as celebrities have exchanged their unique styles in favor of wearing a stylist’s picks. While ensuring a level of taste and preventing some disasters (Demi Moore & her biker shorts) stylists have also reduced individuality (Cher, Bjork & her swan dress) and of course, they have also subjected us all to the Rachel Zoe Project.

We are hoping tonight to be inspired and fall in love with fashion all over again. Will you be watching? Who are you looking forward to seeing?

Don’t forget to check back, right here in this post for our Oscar updates, plus photos of our best and worst dressed!

*Update 6:55 – Love Elizabeth Bank’s Versace gown, the whole look is stunning. Giuliana Rancic, eat something! Vera Farmiga, love the color, love the technique, hate the dress, totally overpowers her. Sigourney Weaver looks lovely but a bit Christmas gifty.

*Update 7:12 – Sandra Bullock looks gorgeous(hair, make-up) but not loving the dress, it looks a bit showy and not flattering. Poor Sandy can barely walk! Diane Kruger looks so modern and fresh, definitely a favorite look for us. Amanda Seyfried looks like a beautiful ice queen, adore the funky bangles. Faith Hill, oy, the goth look with a spider web bag? Not feeling it. Miley Cyrus looks horrific, a bustier top? And why must she always slouch and chomp gum?

*Update 7:23 – Sarah Jessica Parker, WOW, over the top, fashion forward, Chanel of course, and we adore it! Charlize Theron, what is she thinking? It’s like scary taffeta breast plates attacked her.

*Update 7:38 – Matt Damon, George Clooney, Jason Bateman all yummy! Queen Latifah not a flattering fit, but a beautiful color, although her hair seems orangish, right? Looks like Meryl Streep brought it this year, no more frumpy Meryl, she went glam and old Hollywood.  JLO what happened? The Ice Capades have come to the Oscars.

*Update 7:55 – Demi Moore, gorgeous. Gabby Sidibe not so much. Does anybody else want to know why Jay Manuel and his frosted tips are giving fashion advice? Ugh!

*Update 8:13 – Cameron D looks stunning, the gold is just perfection. Penelope Cruz, how can we look like you? Jake Gyllenhaal, grrrr.

Enjoy the Show!

This image is what the factory will receive in order to create a print for t-shirts, or really any apparel item that needs artwork printed. We found this image here, with the title, Create A Complete Apparel TechPack. The article has tons of valuable advice, especially for a newbie to apparel graphic design. Although, the title is odd since this is not an apparel techpack at all (no fabrications, no specs, no sizing, no trims, no construction details, etc) this is simply the artwork page for a complete techpack.

Now, this particular designer covered many bases and even laid out separate screens for each color, which thankfully we have almost never had to do. However, we did see some oversights. First and most obvious, the artwork has no title, no number, and no colorway number, labeling your work is crucial especially if the item goes to production. Second, there is no image of just the artwork with dimensions and measurements. The author gives great advice by saying that you should proceed as if your printer is a six year old and be fully detailed, yet the placement info was lacking. The only measurement was from collar down and that was marked as, “approximately 2 inches” in fashion a measurement can never, never, never, be approximate.

There is mention that the artwork will be used for a variety of sizes. If so, on a XS this print will be more a full coverage print but on a XXL it will be a smaller placement print and placing it 2 inches down for the larger size will look bizarre. The artwork should be adjusted for size or the placement should be varied. Another concern is the use of a foil print. Which is a fun accent for a junior’s tee but because of it, the artwork should be applied after the factory wash, or at the very least, inside out during wash, and again there is no info for this detail. Finally, we don’t see what the actual print is except for the foil color mention. Is it water based, rubber, heat transfer, pigment, what? If it is a standard water based screen print, than the light off-white color is going to be distorted since the pink ground color is darker. Is that the intent of the designer or should there be a flash under it to improve the lighter color? Again, there is no mention of these issues in the details.

Oh yeah, one last random comment. Did anybody notice that the garment is labeled American Apparel, yet the company is clearly Vanilla Star? Since when can Vanilla Star afford domestically made product? And since when do they not produce their own pieces? Hmmm we’re hoping this was just the graphic designer’s guess. But really, by the time you get to the point of developing the artwork the actual garment shouldn’t be a mystery.

Overall we thought they gave a ton of great advice, and a very thorough tutorial on how to create graphics for apparel. What did you think? Anything you would do differently? Any advice we gave you disagree with?

We randomly stumbled across this little gem online and thought it was time for a lighter post on here.  Anyone who works in the fashion industry is sure to get a laugh. Thanks to joke diary for supplying a giggle in the midst of a hectic work week!

Two executives working in the garment center are having lunch together. Goldstein says to his friend, “Last week was one of the worst weeks of my entire life.”

“What happened?” asks Birnbaum.

Goldstein moans, “My wife and I went to Florida on vacation. It rained for seven days and seven nights, so my wife went out and spent thousands of dollars on the credit card. I came back to New York and found out that my rat brother-in-law accountant has been ripping me off for millions. And to top it all off, when I came in to work on Monday morning, I found my son having sex with my best model on my desk!”

“You think you had a bad week?” responds Birnbaum. “My week was even worse! I went to Florida on vacation with my wife and it rained for seven days and seven nights, so my wife went out and spent thousands on the credit card. Then, when I got back to New York, I found out that my rat cousin accountant has been ripping me off for millions. To top it all off, when I came in to my office on Monday, I found my son having sex with my best model on my desk!”

“How can you say that your week was worse than mine?” asks Goldstein. “It was identical!”

“You shmuck!” replies Birnbaum. “I manufacture menswear…”

(Forward on to a friend who works in menswear)

Here’s the question, is fashion important? Well, in short, YES.  Now, of course, we would say that since this is a fashion blog after all, and we do work in the fashion industry, and we are particularly supportive of NYC’s Garment Center, but is it really important to the rest of the world? And should it be?  Again, we have to say the answer is a resounding yes.  The fashion industry’s importance comes from its ability to consume your spending dollar in massive quantities, it comes from a lasting tradition of bringing women into the workplace, it comes from encouraging self expression for all individuals, it comes from its impact on the US economy as one of the nation’s largest manufacturing sectors, it comes from a long history in the Garment Center of promoting the immigrant’s American dream, and of course, it comes from the couture talent in creating wearable art.

As fashion industry professionals we have often heard comments dismissing fashion as a career, as a rather less than serious job, akin to a paid hobby. This attitude comes from the misrepresentation by mainstream media that fashion design is just fun sketching and then, poof, the product appears in stores. (For our full rant on that issue read this, Amazingly Stupid Fashionistas?)

Beyond the dismissal of fashion as a serious career, there is also the common notion that caring about fashion is rather shallow and vapid. In a recent post where we uncovered the ugly truth about Forever 21, we received a surprising amount a feedback mentioning, “well, I don’t really care about fashion” or “fashion doesn’t effect me.” The truth is, if you wear clothes (which we hope you all do) you should care, especially during this time of economic uncertainty.  We should all care where our money goes. People think long and hard before buying a house, they research when buying a car, but somehow clothes shopping just happens. As we mentioned before in our Label of Origin post, the least people should do when shopping is think about where their products are made. How you spend your consumer dollar directly affects our economy and sends a message to retailers, designers, and manufacturers alike. By not patronizing companies and brands that support sweatshop labor or unethical labor practices, you are impacting the greater world.

The angle most often overlooked is fashion’s impact on our national economy. While fashion evokes images of supermodels and runway shows, many people forget it is also an industry of great economic importance. In New York alone the industry supplies over 10 billion dollars worth of wages to its residents. The apparel and textile industry is one of the largest domestic manufacturers in the US, (and unlike the auto industry we did not get a bailout) it supplies over 700,000 jobs in manufacturing alone. When people question the importance or relevance of fashion, they often forget its significant role in our economy.  Fashion employs everyone from retail store clerks, to seamstresses, to designers, not to mention the majority of these jobs have historically been held by women and minority groups when other industries were not so welcoming. For anyone who has ever worked in a union, the fashion industry should matter. We set the standards in protecting workers’ rights and ensuring safe working conditions beginning with the ILG union in the 1920’s. Those pioneering women garment workers set the standard for today’s unions.

No matter who or where you are, the fashion industry affects you. Every morning when you look into your closet and choose to wear an item you purchased, you have affected your budget, our environment, somebody’s job, the national economy, and a company’s bottom line. Obviously we care about fashion for many reasons, including that it is our livelihood, but we get particularly frustrated when people claim that caring about fashion is unimportant. Besides styles and trends (which of course, we adore too) fashion and apparel have a long and storied  history of importance. So, we dedicate this post to anyone who has ever questioned the value of the fashion industry. And if you still feel fashion is irrelevant, why are you reading and complaining to a fashion blog?

Hope all our dear readers are doing well this weekend. To our fellow New Yorkers, think we got enough snow? We’re guessing many of you are snuggled up indoors, not wanting to brave the dirty city snow and the crosswalk slush pools. So here is something to keep you occupied, while curled up with  cup of joe, nice and warm inside. These are the latest and greatest fashion blog posts of the week from around the web, better known as, Links à la Mode.

British Style Bloggers – Cherish forever what makes you unique, ‘cos you’re a yawn once it’s gone
Cafe Fashionista - A step-by-step guide to looking luxurious even when lounging
Clutch22 -Up close and personal with Vivienne Tam as she expands her fashion+tech innovations to a new category
CMYKaboom – Independent Fashion Bloggers (IFB) ‘Tweet Up in the Tents’ event
Debutante Clothing - Vintage Jewelry: Q&A with Lucite line Circa Sixty Three
Fabulous Finds Gal – Moonstuck at the opera with photographer Bersa
Fashion Pulse Daily – Sonia Rykiel Pour H&M; the debut and the review
Holier Than Now – New Take on Florals (5 Under $50)
Idiosyncratic Style - A Girl’s Guide to Maternity Style
Independent Fashion Bloggers : Evolving Influence Recap : Part One
Individual Chic: – Would you have wanted a Computer Engineer Barbie when you were smaller? Or would you love one now?
Night Watch – 10 Questions with Model Clara Zapffe
Ode to Awe - Denmark based Alidra Alic’s Alice-inspired jewelry
Oranges and Apples – Rules for advertising and sponsorship on blogs
Retro Chick - The Ethics of Blogging
Smiles Go with Everything -10 Tips for Shopping on Ebay:  How to find great deals on awesome duds.
The Coveted – Visits Nine West HQ for a sneak peak of  AW10 shoe collections!
The Style PA – Gives Henry Holland a grilling ahead of his House of Holland show.
The Sunday Best – Do men get better service when they shop?
Wicked Whimsy -What to look for when buying vintage shoes
Workchic – Fall 2010 NY Fashion week collections: recreated runway to the office outfits

Finally, we can all afford some Zac Posen! Last night Zac launched his new lower priced line at Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC. The new line called Z Spoke (not crazy about the name, sounds like a new smart phone) is a women’s sportswear collection priced from $60 to $700. His goal was to make a line that is more accessible and affordable to the average woman than his runway collection. Part of that effort is in expanding his size range to include a size 16. “It’s a dream of my life to be able to make a collection that can work for so many different kinds of women,” he told New York Magazine. “This is about dressing America.” It is nice to see a designer embracing a diverse customer base, unlike our recent issues with Eileen Fisher who feels the opposite way as you can read here. Not to mention Zac’s design ability and taste level have not been watered down at all for this collection. What do you think; will you become a fan of his new line?

By the way for any of our readers who are looking for an internship and are Zac Posen fans, Zac Posen is currently looking for interns. So send your resumes here, Hr@zacposen.com

Today we have another fascinating interview for you. As usual we bring you a side of fashion not usually covered by mainstream media and certainly not covered during our recent fashion week. This fashion designer (who prefers to remain anonymous) has been working in the industry for about 12 years and has been responsible for many of the big brands you see at your local mall, department store, and even mass-merchandisers. Her range of experiences makes her the perfect person to share her thoughts on working as a designer in corporate America. At the moment she works for a mid-sized company overseeing two women’s brands and a huge private label business, her team of four assistants, associates and graphic designers do about 42 million dollars of goods a year.

1) Do you feel your formal fashion education helped prepare you for working in the industry?
Yes, definitely. I attended a traditional four-year university and got my Bachelor’s degree with a major in apparel design. I was very concerned that because I hadn’t attended Parsons or FIT I would struggle finding work or even be unqualified. Surprisingly, that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. In many ways I was better prepared because the grads from those schools were so focused on couture and illustrating that they were not well rounded. I had four year of fashion like them plus cad, graphic, and Adobe classes. At that time those schools were not even teaching any computer design, so I actually had a leg up. Plus, since I have a University degree if I choose to leave fashion, I believe it gives me more options as far as other careers or a graduate school.

2) You moved here after graduation from the Midwest, do you like living in NYC, and are you glad you made the move?
Absolutely, this is where fashion is in the US. The city itself is inspiring and this particular neighborhood is so full of fashion professionals and resources. There is nowhere else you get that in such a concentrated area. The amount of opportunity is amazing here and I think if I had never tried, I would’ve always regretted it.

3) What one piece of advice, would you give to someone wanting to start a career in fashion?
Make sure you really want it, be prepared to work hard for long hours and low pay in the beginning, and get an internship.  The internship is a great way to get your foot in the door, especially for your first job, after that your work history and portfolio speak for themselves. I would also say, move if you need to. For recent grads, this is before you have kids, mortgages, medical bills etc, this may be the one time in your life to pick up and move to a big city or different country and not have much to lose. Oops, I guess that is a lot more than one thing.

4) You have worked for some major apparel companies in the garment center, what would like to see companies improve on?
Quality of life for their employees, better pay for everyone but salespeople, who frankly are already overpaid, and most of all I’d love to see Human Resource departments be mandatory for apparel companies and benefits greatly improved. My last company had so many incompetent people who got away with it, while qualified people got frustrated and quit, yet the owner never even knew what was going on until employee exit interviews. There was no HR, no way to notify anyone at the executive level what was going on. The owners of many mid to large apparel companies are so disconnected; they may breeze in and out of the office a few times a week/month and not even know who their employees are. I realize this is the case in many industries and at many large companies and that is why they have HR departments. We need that too!

5) What is you day-to-day schedule like as a designer working for a large corporation?
Well, I think that would surprise most people. I would say being a senior level designer is 85% business and 15% creative.

I spend my mornings following up emails from overseas factories. Seeing where they stand, what questions they have, what problems need to be solved that day etc. Then mid-morning my samples usually arrive. The assistants go through and check/spec them and any problem are brought to me. Any samples for production and fittings are giving to me for review as well. Then I usually meet with my team and review sketches they have and give them any design direction I prepared the night before.

Then I will meet with the sales team and hear the selling reports, what’s doing well in stores, what’s not etc. They will let me now what their buyers want more of, and what styles they are looking for etc. This is probably the most stressful part of the day. Lots of yelling by salespeople of what designs they want to see, how they hate this idea but want that, why one of them believes her request is more urgent then another’s, and how they all want stuff designed and sent to the factory asap.

After this I take an associate designer with me to fit any samples that need to be fit with the technical designer and patternmaker. Then I begin to work on the sales requests and come up with a game plan. At this point I try to eat lunch while working, as it’s usually around 2-3pm. I then pass on the sales info to my assistants and start them working on new sketches and techpacks to be sent tonight. Usually a fabric supplier or trend forecaster will stop in to meet with me, which I try to get done quickly. And often around 5pm-6pm the VP or big boss will want a meeting, have a question, or need a sample review, before they leave for the day.

Then after 6pm it gets quiet with only the design and technical teams left and I can get some work done. I start checking and reviewing my team’s sketches and techpacks, making my comments and corrections as needed. Then I will start finding design inspiration for tomorrow and doing some of my own sketching and techpacking. Finally, I will follow up on all emails and go through any budget, expense, or employee paperwork that needs to be done. Finally I will head home around 9pm-10pm!

6) What do you wish people would understand about working in the fashion industry?
How freaking hard it is! It’s a business, its manufacturing; it’s much more than style and shopping. Fashion is hard work but can be incredibly rewarding as well. I wish people, students especially, would realize it is serious business. Having interns who show up thinking it is all going to be styling outfits and going on shop trips, and whine when they have to track packages or get stuck measure dozens of pre-production samples, makes me crazy! Yes, there is fabulousity, yes, there are shop trips to Europe but they are not the bulk of the business and they don’t come easily.

Fried chicken (yum) conjures up images of scarfing down KFC during our late night college days. It certainly doesn’t fit into New York’s intense foodie scene, does it? And fried chicken is one thing you’d never see designers, and other industry professionals in the Garment Center scarfing down at lunch-time, is it? Well, it is now. Thanks to the opening of BonChon Chicken on 38th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.

Anybody familiar with Korean fried chicken knows how delicious it is, but also, that it’s far different from Southern American fried chicken. The frying process is different, there are a variety of sauces and flavors, and we think it is lighter and crispier than its American cousin. One of our favorite things abut Korean fried chicken is the variety of flavors, you have a choice of sauces and can even mix and match, like Spicy, Soy, and Garlic. We definitely recommend trying this more fashionable way to indulge your next fried chicken craving.

Now beware this is still fried chicken, so this is not a light lunch and BonChon is a chain so don’t expect fine dining. If you are a real foodie and like Korean fired chicken we have to recommend Unidentified Flying Chicken in Jackson Heights Queens, it is the BEST! One other random recommendation for our readers. Right next door and above BonChon, is Cozy Nails, one of the best places in the Garment Center to get a quick mani-pedi. As long as you don’t go on a Friday, they can get you in and out during your lunch hour and they do a lovely job.

We also adore Anna Sui who made it clear how unhappy she was that Fashion Week was moving out of the Garment Center. In her show we saw the usual wild pairings of colors, prints, patterns and textures in Sui’s fantastic trademark hippie-glam style. We also loved the more unexpected addition of the elegant retro flapper dresses.

We have a new obsession with Chris Benz, he is another local designer who believes, “our responsibility is to support the domestic garment industry.” We found this excellent video of him discussing the issue here:

Throughout the week many designers have made an effort to support local manufacturing and business and we would like to see that trend continue.

So what else did we like from fashion week? Well there was a lot actually, but here are some favs, with images courtesy of NY Mag.

Badgley Mischka                     J Mendel                    Catherine Malandrino

Diane Von Furstenberg         Carolina Herrera                    Marchesa

In case you haven’t heard, fashion bloggers are the new “it” crowd. Of course with our recent fame comes the inevitable backlash. The now infamous Independent article slamming fashion bloggers as, “little more than mouthpieces for fashion brands” got destroyed in the blogesphere. Not only is this untrue, but we find it particularly annoying how often fashion blogs are lumped together into one narrow definition. Fashion bloggers share a huge variety of experiences and information with their readers.  From the young girl posting what she wore to school, to a professional stylists sharing behind the scenes info at a high-end fashion shoot, to a stylish mom sharing tips on how to keep on trend while raising a family, blogs are as varied as the people who write them.  Now in the midst of New York Fashion Week, the bloggers whose focuses are covering designers, runway reporting, and excellent photography are shining in the fashion blogesphere and to perhaps the dismay of mainstream media, outshining them as well! We think it is partially this diversity of purpose, which sets fashion blogs ahead of traditional fashion media. Not to mention the Independent’s implication that bloggers are the ones that have “sold out” is ludicrous. Magazines have a clear cut intent to sell product and increase revenue, bloggers do not. In fact, many bloggers make little or no money from their blogs. And frankly, many fashion blogs are not trying to sell you a damn thing.

As many of our regular readers are aware, this blog is written from the perspective of people working behind the scenes in the fashion and garment industry. We cover issues of domestic production, fashion school, women in the workplace, and saving the garment center, far more often then shopping or trends. And we pretty much never directly address the issue of blogging. However, this week we feel we must give a shout-out to our fellow fashion bloggers who have made such a large impact on the fashion industry, in such a small amount time. In just a few short years bloggers have creating a new media. But to us, it seems like even more than that. We often cover the various professions and careers one can have in the fashion industry from colorist to patternmaker to designer. Recently we realized that fashion blogger can be added to that list. Like many fashion industry professions, bloggers are predominately underpaid females with a passion for fashion. The fashion blogger as a career is hard to define, but many have grown their own blogs into careers or have become professional bloggers for larger media outlets.

This week, aside from infiltrating many of the fashion shows at Bryant Park, fashion bloggers have flocked to the IFB conference. If nothing else the success of IFB (Independent Fashion Bloggers) led by wonder woman Jennine Tam, clearly shows the growth of this new outlet. The all day conference covering issues like marketing, SEO, writing, advertising, FTC and much more was quickly sold out.  Perhaps it’s only a matter of time before these topics become curriculum in a fashion blogger major at Parsons? Aside from the tents, this was the event to be at during fashion week. For anyone looking to begin a fashion blog or expand the one they have, please follow this link to the IFB site for tons of info, plus excerpts from the conference should be up soon.  This fashion week has made clear that fashion blogging is a growing medium of influence and importance to the fashion industry. So cheers to all of us for that!