Fashion Merchandising

For 51 years the Ebony Fashion Fair has been bringing fashion from the nation’s top designers around the world. Some of the more known designers include Anna Sui, Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Roberto Cavalli, Givenchy, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Vivienne Westwood, and Bill Blass.

It all started in 1956 in an effort to raise money for the Woman’s Auxiliary of Flint-Goodrich Hospital in New Orleans. The show was such a success that it became a cross-country tour to benefit other worthy charities. Over 4,000 shows have been performed to date worldwide. The Ebony Fashion Fair has raised more than $54 million for various scholarship groups.

So where is the next stop? BUFFALO!! Show starts at 8pm Friday the 17th at the Hyatt Regency Two Fountain Plaza Buffalo, NY. Tickets are $40 and I believe you just purchase them at the door. The ticket price includes either a one-year subscription to EBONY magazine or 6-month subscription to JET magazine and a copy of EBONY FASHION FAIR magazine. Each person is also entered to win a round trip for two to any destination in the domestic U.S. states.

So the price may be a bit steep for us college students but now that we know it’s going to a good cause, I think it’s worth it! Nothing could be better than going to an awesome fashion show for $40, seeing tons of designers AND contributing to a good cause! Come out and support.

And remember…
Stay Classy Buffalo ;-)

Posted by Alyssa at 11:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

So it has come to my attention that very few people know what they want to do once they graduate. I myself am one of them. Deciding whether or not to go to FIT is a big enough problem, let alone what you want to do with the rest of your life. Getting yourself off on the right foot is so important in breaking your way into the fashion industry. I really encourage internships. I think it is the best way to see what really happens out there in the “real world” and get a feel for things. I’m so glad it is actually required (at least for merch majors I know it is) to have an internship to graduate.

I also think when teachers have guest speakers it is a really big help. When in school, we are learning but not doing. They can tell us what their average day or week consists of so we can better understand exactly what we would be doing if we choose the same job. We recently had 2 speakers in my retail class. One of the companies was Fashion Expressions who make leather handbags and gloves. They are a huge distributer and ship all over the world. I can honestly say I had no idea such a big company was in buffalo. The other speaker was a buyer from Tony Walker. For those of you who don’t know what it is, I know I didn’t, it is an upscale boutique on Main St. in Williamsville. They sell 7 for all mankind, UGG, Marc Jacobs and the list goes on. She took us through what she actually does as a buyer and gave us a better understanding of what that job specifically entails. I think they it was really nice for them to paint us a true-to-life picture so maybe some of us will have less trouble deciding what to do!

Both places are offering internships and I think both are awesome places to learn more and to better yourself. Who knows, maybe I will even apply!! Tony Walker has a page at www.shoptonywalker.com and fashion expressions has one at www.fashionexpressionsgloves.com but it doesn’t give any company information that I can see.

Good luck and remember…
Stay Classy Buffalo ;-)

Posted by Alyssa at 11:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack