1) What is your essential question? What is the best answer to your question and why?
What is the best way for a fashion designer to achieve a spot in LA Fashion Week?
My best answer is interning because that's where connections are made. It's important to know in the fashion industry that it isn't always what you know, but rather, who you know. If you intern, you're being given the chance to meet others that work in the industry and sometimes if you're fortunate, you'll even meet other designers. Experience as an intern can teach someone things that cannot be learned in design school. It is so critical because it’s all trial and error and it’s first hand experience that someone gains in the process. Interning could help someone become exposed to all levels of the company and become familiar with the processes that are made to achieve creating a fashion line. If you are fortunate enough to intern for anyone, it’s a once in a lifetime experience to be able to work for a designer, even if it means fetching the fashion designer’s cup of coffee in the morning and running around the office making copies of the fitting schedule for this month. In the long run, it pays off. They’ll be quick to remember you and the things you do for them and if they're content with the things you do, they'll move you up gradually.
(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?
I spent lots of hours with my research and my mentorship. I came to the realization from the very beginning that interning was one of the more obvious answers to my EQ. However, just because it was an easy/apparent answer, didn't mean that I couldn't go about it in a smart way. I kept searching for answers through research, but after talking to Pittman about it for a bit, she told me it was okay to state interning as my answer. Little by little, I found more research that helped to back my first and best answer up.
(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?
One of the biggest obstacles I’ve had to overcome was finding time to see my mentor because she works the same hours I attend school. It was difficult for me in the very beginning, and even now, to find days where I’m available. However, though difficult, it is not impossible! It has especially been hard having to keep my mentorship there. A lot of people would give anything to have my job. Therefore, I could easily be replaced. I’m also the youngest intern/worker there. I wouldn’t say it was necessarily harder on me, because I would like to think that I’m just as strong-willed and motivated as everyone else in that building, but at times, it has proven difficult to be taken seriously. However, I clearly am working well! I've proven to them that I have strong desire to work in that industry and I have dedication above all else.
Also, it took me a long time to get approved by the offices/company to even work there because of my age and lack of experience. So I was actually told to lie and say that my mentor, Mary Vilchis and I were related and that I would only be there a couple of times. Eventually we'd let it slip that she indeed wasn't my mom and fortunately by that point, they'd already learned my work ethics and decided to keep me there.
(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?
The Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider's Guide to Fashion is my first significant source and it was my 30th piece of research. This was the book where I got my three answers. My three answers included; interning, sewing/sketching, and knowing how business works/working in retail. In the book, it states that interning was important because it's the best way to ensure success. It also told me the best place to intern is with a smaller label, because you'll become exposed to several levels of the company. You 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. My second significant source was my mentor, Mary Vilchis. She is David Meister's assistant. David Meister is a well-known American fashion designer that is best recognized for his gowns/dresses. My mentor said that when interning, you can learn to view the trends and the industry from the perspective of high-end designers. So using myself as an example,wWorking 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.
(5) What is your product and why?
My product is what I made for my first independent component. I learned how to sew. So for product presentation, I have something to physically show. I created several articles of clothing. There's a correlation between the component and my essential question because sewing was a part of one of my answers. Although it was a tedious task to sit there for hours and work with my hands, it was a satisfying feeling at the end because of what I had to show for it. Whereas, before I started this project, I had never picked up a sewing needle. I have this new appreciation for seamstresses that are hired by fashion designers and designers who make their own clothes. With my product, I can go on and say I'm more experienced than a number of other people my age that want to one day enter the fashion industry.
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