2-Hour Meeting Answer #3

1. My essential question is, "What is the best way for a fashion designer to achieve a spot in LA Fashion Week?

2. The third answer to my essential question is to have a background in business. (Know how important money in the fashion industry is)

3. 

• It is important to consider taking a few summer courses or opt for checking out books on the topic. Being a designer involves much more than just sewing and sketching. Sure, it's great to be creative and have a bunch of ideas, but being in the business means being like a sponge. You need to know the design concepts and most importantly, the money concepts.
• "You need a lot of money to put together a show. Which is why it's crucial to know a lot about business (money) and know your basics in math. Putting on a show at fashion week whether NYC or LA is expensive, which is why you start off by putting a few smaller shows and become recognizable with your original designs and hopefully your great connections. From there, you work your way up." states a sale's representative in New York that works for David Meister. 
• At the end of the month, there is money that needs to be made. One of the greatest things people choose to ignore about being in the fashion industry is that money plays a huge factor in deciding a lot of your work. Think about it. You need to pay people to work for you, as well as models, fabrics, locations to have fashion shows, and places to advertise for you. That's a lot of money to consider.  

4. My mentor, Mary Vilchis helped me come up with my third answer along with one of my pieces of research, titled "The Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider's Guide to Careers in Fashion".

5. I plan to learn more about the math/money that goes into creating a fashion line and a fashion show. I work in that section of the office with my mentor anyways, and that's pretty much what she's in charge of.

Fourth Interview Questions

1. What is the best way for a fashion designer to achieve a spot in LA Fashion Week?

2. Why is it crucial to get your start in retail?

3. Why is it so important to intern if you want to become successful in the industry?

4. What are some specific obstacles you had to overcome while working to achieve your spot?

5. I've heard money is a huge factor because you need a lot of money to have your line out out there, why is this so?

6. Why is networking hard so important?

7. What are the differences between LA and NY Fashion Week?

8. How do you distinguish yourself at work?

9. What would you do if you've been persistently pursuing a spot in LA Fashion Week and things still aren't happening for you? Sould you adjust your approach?

10. What qualities are important, as a designer?

11. For those that don't live in a big metropolis, what advice would you give them for getting their name out their when trying to achieve a spot in LA Fashion Week?

12. Where do you look to for inspiration when creating designs for your line that appears in a show in LA Fashion Week?

13. Is there anything that should be avoided when trying to achieve a spot?

14. If someone wants to become a fashion designer, where do they begin?

15. What is your favorite thing about LA Fashion Week?

16. What is your least favorite thing about LA Fashion Week?

17. What do you have to offer for this year's LA Fashion Week?

18. How does someone prepare themselves for LA Fashion Week? 

19. Once the fashion show starts, what do you do? What are you in charge of?

20. What is the most surprising thing about fashion week that most people would be shocked to know?

2-Hour Meeting Answer #2

1) What is the best way for a fashion designer to achieve a spot in LA Fashion Week?

2) The second answer to my essential question is to intern with David Meister. 

3) Once you've had experience working in retail (my first answer), the next step is to intern, intern, and well, intern. 

• Take opportunities as they come and go out to designers. By that, I mean to invest time in the future. Get a nonpaying internship, even if they only offer a part-time position. The experience will be worth it in the long run and it will help me to get my name out there.
• As an intern there I was told by my mentor that it's worth making sacrifices to ensure success. Real world experience can teach me things that I can't pick up at design school. Sure, design school is meant to sharpen skills and create industry connections, but it is not the only factor in determining success. The best place to intern is with a smaller label, because I'll become exposed to several levels of the company. I become familiar with the customers, the inspiration behind the designs, and other background of the business. I know of this because this is what I've done so far and what I've achieved with my mentorship.
• When interning, I learn to view the trends and the industry from the perspective of high-end designers. Working as an intern, I'm always around clothes. I touch them, see them, try them on, and see others try them on. I pick things up by osmosis. If I'm fortunate enough, they'll keep me around. I start from the bottom of the chain and as time progress, I make my way to the top.

4) The source that helped me come up with this answer was The Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider's Guide to Careers in Fashion. This was my 30th piece of research. This was a fantastic book because it gave great insight on the countless ways to becoming recognizable in the industry. Another great source was my mentorship because my mentorship is interning with a designer and I was told from both my mentor and my research that a great deal of fashion designers get their start with interning.

5) I plan to continue my study of answer two by looking more into statistics and articles about fashion designers who got their start with interning for other designers of their time.

Independent Component 2 Plan Approval

1) For my independent component, because it didn't work out the first time because there was such short notice, I hope to get around to helping assist in any way possible with my mentor at a fashion show. Fashion week in Los Angeles occurs this March, so I hope to go to some meetings and fittings and the set up. It's perfect timing and it could give me great experience with everything behind the scenes of a fashion show. 

2) For a fashion show, you need the following; a theme, location, models, a crew, publicity, and lots of rehearsal. That would mean several weeks of planning and that's a lot of hours. Not only am I certain that I'd get 30 hours, I'm sure I'd get more than that especially because my mentor is always more than willing to help. I'd prove that I attended and helped with the process with word from my mentor and pictures. 

3) My working EQ is asking what the best way to achieve a spot in LA Fashion week is. The designer I work for is involved in LA Fashion Week. I would get to see the hard work put into having a successful line put out for fashion week. The designer I work for would obviously have a great idea as to how he got to fashion week. This helps me answer my EQ because I get to see just what the process is for David Meister this time around. This easily goes hand in hand with my EQ perfectly. Not only that, but it is great experience.