Michelle Phan and Amy Astley
Kristen Joy Watts
The Teen Vogue editors
Kirby Marzec introducing Aliza Licht
Kirby's amazing shoes
Aliza Licht
The view from the 63rd floor of the One World Trade Center
Day two of Fashion U started early: 7:30 a.m. to be exact. When I arrived there were probably about 50 girls in front of me to check in. I soon realized I was lucky to be standing where I was in line because in a matter of minutes the line was hundreds of girls long (I say girls because of the 550 people attending, I would guess that ten or fewer were guys).
After checking in, I headed up to my first seminar, Michelle Phan, on the 64th floor. When everyone walked in the room, Express "swag" bags sat on each seat (I'm surprised I didn't take any pictures of them; I'll be sure to take some picks of mine soon). Regarding Michelle, she is just the sweetest. After listening to her, we all agreed that she should be a motivational speaker because she just made us all feel so great about ourselves and who we are. She also reminded everyone that it's impossible to be perfect all the time, or even if there's such thing as perfection (the closest thing being machines).
"Even machines need tune-ups." -Michelle Phan
After Michelle Phan, I went and saw Brian Phillips and Juliana Ribeiro speak. Brian is the founder and president of Black Frame PR, and Juliana is the VP of the fashion and lifestyle PR department. I enjoyed this presentation because I found it to be very informative. Before attending this, I really wasn't familiar with Black Frame, but I now know that they represent many fashion brands including KENZO, Nickolas Kirkwood, Rodarte, Opening Ceremony, and many more. They also gave us the top three keys to PR:
1) Relationships
2) Research
3) Storytelling
"Fashion goes beyond fashion." - Juliana Ribeiro
Next I went to see Kristen Joy Watts, the head of art and fashion at Instagram. When I walked into the room, small mugs labeled 'Instagram' greeted everyone (just in case I had forgotten where she worked). Kristen had a powerpoint for us with tips on who to follow in the fashion industry on Instagram; while that may sound a bit boring, she made it fun by inserting GIFS of Kanye West being Kanye West every few slides. After the powerpoint, she had everyone partner up and look through each other's Instagram's to see the story it told.
Lunch was after Kristen, where there were different lunch bags for everyone to eat. I enjoyed a chicken ceasar salad wrap with a warm chocolate chip cookie. While eating I noticed pictures from Instagram being displayed on a wall; I watched the pictures change, most of them were from Teen Vogue, Fashion U, or its sponsors, but after a few minutes I pleasantly surprised to see my pic with Andrew Bevan flash on the screen! I was ecstatic to see it because I never thought one of my photos would be shown. When I was done eating I explored the 63rd floor, which was basically a free space with some things to do during free time. The new Cinderella movie was one of the sponsors, so there were a ton of Cinderella themed things - the most notable being an official replica of the glass slipper from the movie. Along with that, there were some Cinderella inspired fashion sketches on the wall and the most delicious chocolates shaped like little shoes.
After lunch I directly went to the Teen Vogue editors panel, who consisted of Dana Matthews, Drew Elovitz, Elaine Welteroth, Erin Kaplan, and, of course, Amy Astley. It was so interesting to be able to listen to actual editor give personal advice. They answered a ton of questions, but a main question was: What makes someone standout?
1) Passion
2) Research
3) Body of work
(which can include your blog, especially Instagram, and other social media)
4) Resume
Other tips:
Get in where you can, then figure out where you want to go.
Babysit
Be familiar with edit tests - you will be tested
Ask for things
Then, when the editors panel was finished, I was off to go see Aliza Licht, aka the DKNY PR Girl. There was actually a bit of a mix up because she had switched rooms, so signs around the floor were sending me to a different room. However since my schedule said 'Aliza Licht' I just asked where her room was (although I was tempted to go see the blogger panel which was in the other room). When I eventually found my way to the correct room, there were small DKNY bags that contained a new lipstick and nail polish from Aliza's new makeup collection that will be released in May. Assistant Accessories editor Kirby Marzec introduced Aliza. I fell in love with Kirby's outfit but specifically her shoes; aren't they just amazing? I'd love to know what brand they are. Back to Aliza; in her presentation, she decided to do a specific case study of PR; she chose to present Cara Delevingne X DKNY. I found it really interesting to hear an actual example, especially how she had to deal with leaks and other trip-ups along the way. After, she had us try to come up with our own press release for a DKNY watch. It was much more challenging than I had anticipated (mainly because we only had minutes to think), but some girls really excelled and impressed with their ideas.
The last presenter was Mickey Rapkin, the author of the novel Pitch Perfect (which is probably more known for being a famous movie) as well as being a freelance writer for Teen Vogue, GQ, and other publications. He was hilarious and told a ton of funny stories about himself and some celebrities he's interviewed. Other than being very amusing, he also gave us some tips about getting jobs and such:
Seek out internships
Go online
Get an interview
And at the end of the interview (the type where you're asking someone questions for an article or something similar) always ask,
"Is there anything that I didn't ask you, that you wanted to say?" - Mickey Rapkin
Finally at the end of day and after all the speakers, we had a small mix and mingle. I talked with a few other girls, but I mainly spoke with and listened to Devyn Bell, a graphic designer for Teen Vogue. She was so cool and answered every questioned asked to her. I listened to a lot of the other girls questions at first, as they were so interested, and I just enjoyed listening, but eventually I told Devyn where I was from, how I'm hoping to attend FIT next year, and one day want to be a stylist. After explaining this to her, she told me that her sister actually graduated from FIT with the same major as intend study and now works as a stylist in the city. She was so helpful, sweet, funny, and amazingly fashionable (she was rocking awesome red lipstick, a studded leather jacket, mom jeans, and ankle boots). I gave her my card, and she was just amazing to talk to - in case you're reading this, thanks again for taking the time to talk with me and everyone else!!
Every speaker on Saturday was amazing, and I wish I was back there this Saturday. Tomorrow I'll post what I wore to TVFU Day 1 - I promise the post won't be as long!! See you soon!
Elizabeth xx
1) Relationships
2) Research
3) Storytelling
"Fashion goes beyond fashion." - Juliana Ribeiro
Next I went to see Kristen Joy Watts, the head of art and fashion at Instagram. When I walked into the room, small mugs labeled 'Instagram' greeted everyone (just in case I had forgotten where she worked). Kristen had a powerpoint for us with tips on who to follow in the fashion industry on Instagram; while that may sound a bit boring, she made it fun by inserting GIFS of Kanye West being Kanye West every few slides. After the powerpoint, she had everyone partner up and look through each other's Instagram's to see the story it told.
Lunch was after Kristen, where there were different lunch bags for everyone to eat. I enjoyed a chicken ceasar salad wrap with a warm chocolate chip cookie. While eating I noticed pictures from Instagram being displayed on a wall; I watched the pictures change, most of them were from Teen Vogue, Fashion U, or its sponsors, but after a few minutes I pleasantly surprised to see my pic with Andrew Bevan flash on the screen! I was ecstatic to see it because I never thought one of my photos would be shown. When I was done eating I explored the 63rd floor, which was basically a free space with some things to do during free time. The new Cinderella movie was one of the sponsors, so there were a ton of Cinderella themed things - the most notable being an official replica of the glass slipper from the movie. Along with that, there were some Cinderella inspired fashion sketches on the wall and the most delicious chocolates shaped like little shoes.
After lunch I directly went to the Teen Vogue editors panel, who consisted of Dana Matthews, Drew Elovitz, Elaine Welteroth, Erin Kaplan, and, of course, Amy Astley. It was so interesting to be able to listen to actual editor give personal advice. They answered a ton of questions, but a main question was: What makes someone standout?
1) Passion
2) Research
3) Body of work
(which can include your blog, especially Instagram, and other social media)
4) Resume
Other tips:
Get in where you can, then figure out where you want to go.
Babysit
Be familiar with edit tests - you will be tested
Ask for things
Then, when the editors panel was finished, I was off to go see Aliza Licht, aka the DKNY PR Girl. There was actually a bit of a mix up because she had switched rooms, so signs around the floor were sending me to a different room. However since my schedule said 'Aliza Licht' I just asked where her room was (although I was tempted to go see the blogger panel which was in the other room). When I eventually found my way to the correct room, there were small DKNY bags that contained a new lipstick and nail polish from Aliza's new makeup collection that will be released in May. Assistant Accessories editor Kirby Marzec introduced Aliza. I fell in love with Kirby's outfit but specifically her shoes; aren't they just amazing? I'd love to know what brand they are. Back to Aliza; in her presentation, she decided to do a specific case study of PR; she chose to present Cara Delevingne X DKNY. I found it really interesting to hear an actual example, especially how she had to deal with leaks and other trip-ups along the way. After, she had us try to come up with our own press release for a DKNY watch. It was much more challenging than I had anticipated (mainly because we only had minutes to think), but some girls really excelled and impressed with their ideas.
The last presenter was Mickey Rapkin, the author of the novel Pitch Perfect (which is probably more known for being a famous movie) as well as being a freelance writer for Teen Vogue, GQ, and other publications. He was hilarious and told a ton of funny stories about himself and some celebrities he's interviewed. Other than being very amusing, he also gave us some tips about getting jobs and such:
Seek out internships
Go online
Get an interview
And at the end of the interview (the type where you're asking someone questions for an article or something similar) always ask,
"Is there anything that I didn't ask you, that you wanted to say?" - Mickey Rapkin
Finally at the end of day and after all the speakers, we had a small mix and mingle. I talked with a few other girls, but I mainly spoke with and listened to Devyn Bell, a graphic designer for Teen Vogue. She was so cool and answered every questioned asked to her. I listened to a lot of the other girls questions at first, as they were so interested, and I just enjoyed listening, but eventually I told Devyn where I was from, how I'm hoping to attend FIT next year, and one day want to be a stylist. After explaining this to her, she told me that her sister actually graduated from FIT with the same major as intend study and now works as a stylist in the city. She was so helpful, sweet, funny, and amazingly fashionable (she was rocking awesome red lipstick, a studded leather jacket, mom jeans, and ankle boots). I gave her my card, and she was just amazing to talk to - in case you're reading this, thanks again for taking the time to talk with me and everyone else!!
Every speaker on Saturday was amazing, and I wish I was back there this Saturday. Tomorrow I'll post what I wore to TVFU Day 1 - I promise the post won't be as long!! See you soon!
Elizabeth xx
Love your recap of TVFU! We were in the same major - such a small world! :)
ReplyDelete-Brittany
tastefullychic.squarespace.com
Thanks, I'm glad you liked it! TVFU was such a great experience, don't you think? :)
DeleteElizabeth xx