Monday:
Today was the first day of our virtual trip to New York. We viewed an exhibit on Eleanor Lambert at the fashion institute of technology. Eleanor is the reason we have the Met Gala, which is a fact I never knew of. This was to help her get a swing at the museum; she worked incredibly hard to have New York become known as a fashion capital. She’s started the COTY awards and was a cofounder of the Museum of Modern art. She is an inspiration to anyone who wants to be a part of fashion and I was glad to be taught about her.
Later that day, we met with Vogue magazine and it was interesting to meet with Sarah Spellings and Emily Farra, a writer and editor at Vogue. Emily and Sarah told us about their daily activities, how they were able to obtain their position at Vogue, and more. It was not satisfying to hear about how they obtained their positions. There are people who are working really hard to do what they’re doing and their positions was just given to them. Overall, this trip today was okay and I learned a lot of facts of the fashion history with Eleanor Lambert that was new to me.
Tuesday:
Today we attended a lecture with Francoise Bathie in Paris. We learned about Parisian culture and this was informative for me because this is more facts about the culture and its relationship to fashion. Paris has been known as a fashion city and over time, just as any other place, the fashion trend changed over time. Back in the day women wore corsets for the image of a tiny waist and this would be portrayed in tv shows and movies of these women and their clothing. Paris will continue to be a fashion capital because of the passion they feel for fashion. Their fashion identity is everything to them. We also discussed the role that the French government played, that ties into creating the fashion sense that Paris has to offer. Overall, this meeting was great, I learned so much about Paris fashion history. I would love to travel to Paris one day to learn more and to shop in their own stores.
Wednesday:
Early this morning, we attended a discussion Q and A with Francoise Bathie about Parisian museums. We talked about Saint Laurent and Chanel; I knew a little about these two already so it was cool to learn more in depth about them. Bathie mentioned that Yves has some credibility when it comes to Chanel’s success, but they seem to both put in an equal amount of effort when it comes to their fashion success.
After this meeting, we then met Linda Bretti of Linda Richards of Fur Design. Linda talked about her business and how she came a long way and it took her a while to get to where she is however, she had the help of a 100,000 loan for her business. She was very well spoken and loud and I believe that says a lot about her personality. She didn’t talk much about diversity and she avoided the question in a way but she told us about why she decided to use real fur. Faux fur is plastic and itchy whereas real fur is real and can keep you warm. Linda is in a good position and she worked for everything she has. Knowing that people seem to move up in the fashion industry quickly makes me wonder if it would be that easy if I tried.
Thursday:
This afternoon we met with Andrew Morgan, the director of “The True Cost.” He created this documentary about an issue he was passionate about and truly cared for. He explored countries where people are working in factories for fast fashion brands. He filmed what they do, how they are paid, their conditions, etc. After receiving this information he wanted to change the brands he was shopping for because he didn’t support what was happening. He wanted to bring awareness to those people who are being exploited for cheap labor. However, they do need their jobs and have to make a living some way. Andrew’s documentary opened my eyes to another aspect because I never thought about the people who make my clothes at all. I do think that Andrew should make more documentaries like this one and use his power of being a director to showcase this to more people.
Friday:
Today is our last day on our trip and we were in Milan. We spoke with Professor Renato Rizzo and had a quick Q and A session. Our discussion was engaging to me because we were talking about fashion in Italy. Prof. Rizzo put together a presentation of Italy’s luxury fashion and explained the deep meaning behind their definition luxury. The United States as a whole isn’t a fashion capital, there isn’t enough history to have “luxury” fashion. The way the U.S. deems what luxury is, is different than Italy’s version; we think of luxury as extravagant clothing while theirs are items and fashion that holds value.
Trip Debrief:
The virtual trip was cool and all of the meetings we had were very informational and taught me a lot of things that were new and also put things into perspective for me. I really hoped that we were going to be able to travel this year because it makes the experience better and it would have been fun to attend the museums in person. However, the trip has made me love fashion even more and I want to learn more. I especially want to travel to Paris because its the main fashion capital and to hear that they are so passionate about their fashion, I would love to see what they have in stores and shop there. It would be beneficial for me to learn more and to travel around to the other fashion capitals.
