A Fashion Internship II

Here are a few more interesting tidbits I picked up during my internship:

• To the trained fashion eye, one can tell the relationship between a brand's PR and people in a fashion magazine just by flipping through the magazine and skimming the numbers of item featured. I have given this a try and unfortunately it seems my fashion eye is still not trained enough to achieve this.
• Like many other industries, the turnover rate in the fashion industry is also very high. My colleagues together seems to have worked for almost half the fashion brand names around. As a result, everyone seems to know absolutely everyone in the industry.
• Inevitably in an industry dominated by women and gay men, it is a pretty bitchy business. Fortunately for me, my office is unusually friendly and the girls are all very nice and fun to hang out with. They talk about food, diets, relationships, where to go shopping and the latest gossip- girl talk!
• The order of the clothes on the rack actually tells a story and is not as random as it appears. Oh and hangers should be facing inwards!
• Cosmetics launch parties gives out better goodies bags (their latest products) than fashion shows which gives . . . nothing that I've recieved so far. But I am very ready to be convinced otherwise, so send me an invite ;)
• As one ex-shoe-buyer of one of my favourite department stores told me, the fashion industry is not as glamorous as it seems.

Overall, I've learnt ALOT about the fashion industry this summer. It has definitely given me something to think about in the future.

A Fashion Internship I

Bee was right on the mark when she said that summer internships were all the rage nowadays, I don't think I know one person who is simply enjoying the summer, travelling and just bumming around. In fact, most of her article was pretty accurate and its heartening to know that even Bee and her friends go through the same thing as us mere mortals do in a summer internship.

Anyway, this summer quite unexpectedly I found myself doing yet another fashion internship at the regional office of a well known french brand, working with communications, retail and wholesale. Basically the other side to what I was doing last year. Surprisingly the Asia Pacific office of this french brand is only managed by 6 girls, albeit very amazing ones, in a little office they affectionately call the "shoebox." But despite the small scale, so many things were going on at once that I don't even know where to start!

Communications: They deal with everything that has to do with the public: advertisements, events and the press. They are responsible for putting advertisements in magazines, billboards, renovating stores and even on bus stops, making sure that everything perfectly represents the brand. Unaligned posters and chopped off products are not tolerated. They also organise and oversee events all over Asia, squeezing their collective creative juices together to create a smashing event and ensuring that all goes smoothly. They keep impeccable relationships with the press, lending out press samples to be shot and all. (Hence a charming personality and a wide network of friends is a major plus) In addition, they keep records of magazine appearances their products make and calculate the advertising value of it. This involves many hours pouring over fashion magazines, playing spot wally in the sea of fashion. I did a LOT of this, and believe me- not as fun as it looks. I developed a temporary fash-mag-phobia afterwards. Communications is definitely a very all around interactive job.

Retail: This Involved the management of the local stores. They are responsible for buying clothes in Paris for the local stores (hence they need to know their customers and have good taste), keeping track of what is bought, delivered and sold (i.e. lots of cross checking of data involved-trust me, they are eye blurring) and analysing what works in each location for future buying reference. On top of all this, they are also responsible for the operation of the stores, hiring people, customer relations and the construction of new stores. And when dealing with customers, a LOT of patience is required. I once witnessed a 1 hour long tirade from a customer dealt with patience and virtue. Oh and they also have to keep up with the prices of competitors, which involves a lot of cold calling and ones alter ego (which I have perfected). A very on the market job.

Wholesale: Before the clothes get to the customers, they are first wholesaled directly from the brand headquarters to various outlets. These outlets include the brand's stores, department stores and mix brand outlets. Wholesalers are responsible for this selling in between. These sellings take part in the Paris showroom or they may have samples of the clothes shipped to their location and have their own regional showroom. The selling process may take as short as 2 hours to as long as 6 hours depending on the buyers of each stores- some buyers can be very particular and thorough. Other times, they field emails from clients on topics such as delivery and prices etc, do market walk throughs with clients to see how their products are selling and plan for expansions.

Wow, that was very long. So you see, a LOT is involved before clothes make it to the store even after it has been made. But overall, fashion merchandising is very similar to other forms of merchandising, all the work involved are essentially the same, except one is dealing with fashion instead- which I guess is a whole lot funner if one likes to look at pretty things!

John Tucker Must Die

I usually don't like going to the cinemas, but there seems to be a lot more interesting movies this summer than the previous few. And since I had nothing much to do when I was visiting my relatives in San Francisco, I actually went to the cinema twice. After my cousin's gay friend claimed that John Tucker Must Die is better than Mean Girls, my cousin and I decided to give it a try. Warning: Spoiler below.

The story starts with the king of high school, John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe,) secretly dating three girls from different cliques. The three girls are (from left to right in the picture below): Carrie (Arielle Kebbel), the super, high-tech, overachiever; Beth (Sohpia Bush), the animal activist slut; and Heather (Ashanti), the head cheerleader.

But trouble starts when the enemies find out by chance they were all dating John Tucker, and Kate (Brittany Snow), who is the main female character and narrator, accidently gets pulled into the mess. She suggests the three girls get even, and the girls decide to makeover Kate and use her to break John Tucker's heart.

And so the plan starts: Kate, with the help and plotting of the other girls of course, manages to get John Tucker to really like her.

The guy that Kate actually liked is her chemistry partner -John Tucker's younger bro.

And the story ends with a loveable happy ending: the four girls become real friends!


This is seriously one of those high school clique stories. The story is cliche and not exactly high IQ material, but it's very funny and will make you laugh out loud. Brittany Snow did a good job at being the awkward Kate. I think what I liked about it was that the girls all came together for a purpose and achieved it. The jokes and funny bits were all very obvious, which I liked. My cousin however thought the dialogue wasn't as witty as Mean Girl's dialogue. So if you're in the mood for just something ditzy and funny, give this movie a try!

A YSL Fashion Show

Yesterday Harrods Girl and I went to the local YSL show set at the grand ballroom of one of the premier hotels the city has to offer. Very befitting the stature of YSL I must say. We arrived at around 9, stood in line to be registered. Surprisingly it was already very crowded and chaotic (so much that I reckon people appropriately dressed could've gotten in without being on the list). And here I thought people would be fashionably late. Apparently that right is only reserved for the celebs who arrived right before the show and literally squeezed the rest of the people in their row out of their seats.
Anyway, so we went in, had champagne and this delicious strawberry cocktail, chatted and observed the amazingly good looking and fashionably dressed people in the room. And the latest and best were observed, from leopard pump, this season's YSL clothes to the most gorgeous Loubotin pumps and birkins around. Of course, the hair and make-up were flawless. Even the guys looked cuter!
Inside, many rows of benches were set out and the models walked around the rows and we all got a very good look at the clothes. Fashion really does look better in real life. I especially LOVED this dress, it flowed soooo beautifully and looked amazing. Now if only the models would walk slow enough for me to take a picture!
They were also showing the men's collection as well. Although some looked scary and one looked like a woman, a few of the male models were very hot-especially these two in the tux *swoon*.

Dresses For Day and Night

Since most of us can't afford seperate day and night dresses, it's always nice when outfits can take you through the day and night. So I went on a search for such dresses, (and let me tell you, it certainly was harder to find all-day dresses than for day or night only dresses,) and found these lovelies: These will keep you stylish as you slip continue to enjoy summer and start experimenting with fall styles.

For something casually-sophisticated and cheerful, I like this Miss Selfridge Lollipop Ruffle dress.

This Top Shop Rose Print Dress may feel more night time than day & night, but I the bright blue colour and short length makes me think that it would be suitable for fancy lunches or dinners out.

Pretty Marc by Marc Jacobs dresses -The white halter is very summer-y, and the polka dot dress is so funky!

This Lux by Urban Outfitters dress is casual enough for those who don't want to be too girly.

Don't be frightened by the bright yellow colour! Shift dresses like this Top Shop one are oh-so-fabulous this season. To look sophisticated in it, wear black tights.

At first glance, this Free People dress is very daytime, but the shiny silk and pretty delicate flower patterns make it OK for night time too.

And to really start getting into the fall mood, a grey dress is the best thing to start with. This one is by As U Wish from the Nordtrom Junior Dept.

Step Up

Ever since I saw the trailer, I got obsessed with this movie. I looked foward to it so much that I even watched it on opening day.

I loved Step Up! OK, I suppose I was a bit disappointed that absolutely everything in it was so cliche: the characters, their social environment and the storyline -you could easily guess what's going to happen next. Nevertheless, I'm a real sucker for the 'boy from the wrong side of town maturing and falling in love with the better-off girl' storyline. It was also nice that there wasn't much of the rich-parent-disapproving-the-poor-boy scenario, which would have been beyond cliche.

If you love the ballerina look as much as I do, then you'll get loads of inspiration of how to wear layers and look like a street-ballerina. Most of the dancing outfits in the movie are probably not suitable for real ballet practices, (eg she wore pumps), but the outfits looked so girly cool that I could totally ignore the impracticality.

Admittingly, the clothes look pretty awful in these pictures, but they look way better when you actually see Nora (played by Jenna Dewan) moving and dancing in them.

And yes, the two main characters had friends with equally cliche but cute storylines.

The finale dance performance was amazing of course. It's touching to see all their hard work pay off, (although it was very unrealistic how they decided last minute to perform this routine without any practice before the performance.)

Bottomline: Step Up is fun, upbeat and one of the most cliche movies I have seen. And most importantly, the chemistry between Nora and Tyler (played by Channing Tatum) is simply amazing!

SS06 Shoe Trend: Platform Pumps

I know it's already August and usually by now, any fashionable person would already be talking non-stop about the FW trends, but I want to have a bit more of summer fun. Besides, platform pumps are great for the coming FW season too.

The pumps below are from both SS and early Fall collections:

The platform pumps that started this trend -the Christian Louboutin pumps.

Louboutin-lookalikes by Aldos. These are also available in a wide range of colours, but I would suggest you stick to the basic colours to avoid looking tacky.

However, if the bright-coloured shoes are like these Top Shop ones, then the vibe they give off is definately more vintage and funky, rather than tacky.

This pair by Marc by Marc Jacobs was definately a favourite of magazines. I love them -they're so versatile and easy to match with clothes.

Marc by Marc Jacobs pump-style ballet shoes -Cute in a girly way. This pair is also very versatile and definately wearable for the coming FW season too.

Nina Melia heels -Very sparkly and eye-catching. These would be great for partying. I saw them at Macy's and loved the black ones, but they were a bit high for me!

These Miu Miu pumps are so classic-looking. They would look great with A-line dresses and dark jeans.

With patent leather and red being 'in' this season, this pair of Top Shop Mary Jane is a good choice to liven up dark outfits.

Top Shop Suede Platforms -Love them! These would look so adorable with so many of next season's outfits!