- Mary Vilchis - 626-934-4141
Interpretive:
The most important thing I gained from this experience as an intern with David Meister was that I learned to appreciate everything that people tend to overlook in the fashion industry. I witnessed how much time and effort is put into creating a piece. There are so many designs created and only a few get chosen in the end. I also came to the realization that not only do the fashion designers have a tough job, but so do the employees that work for them. It's a team effort, similar to iPoly, in the sense that, you're all in charge of an area and you all have a job to take care of. However, if someone slacks off, you pick up the job and help them because if one area suffers, so does everyone else.
I for one, was asked to do multiple jobs. There were days where I would file stacks of designs to put in binders that would be recorded later. Whereas, other days I was asked to watch my mentor calculate the costs/money spent throughout the month and see what the calculations came out to and see how much we made/lost. There was also days I'd organize new and old fabrics that would later be used for a gown. No matter what I was asked to do, though, I was given instruction (not a lot, but some) so that I could pick things up and figure them out myself. My mentor basically threw me out to water and I chose to swim, rather than sink.
As an intern there, it was so critical to stay on top of everything because it's all trial and error and it’s first hand experience that I gained in the process. Interning helped me become exposed to all levels of the company and become familiar with the processes that are made to achieve creating a fashion line. I was fortunate enough to intern for not just anyone, but for David Meister. He has a group of wonderful people helping him create beautiful things. Completing a total of 60 mentorship hours wasn't difficult in the slightest because it wasn't even a job to me, but it was just doing something I love and am incredibly passionate about.
Applied:
I was asked to complete so many tasks, but through it all I got to see the importance of all my answers. My answers were as follows; interning, sewing/sketching, and knowing how the business works/working in retail. I got all three of my answers from my mentorship. An obvious one, interning was because that's exactly what I did. Interning is where all your connections with those in the fashion industry are made. I came to this conclusion because my mentor told me that David Meister was an intern prior to becoming a fashion designer. He also then went on to attend Fashion Week. Interning was my first answer and my best answer.
I also came to realize the importance of sewing/sketching through my mentorship because I had to opportunity to meet with seamstesses and sketch artists. I learned that sewing/sketching is part of the foundation to it all in the industry. It's important to sew/sketch in the beginning of your career because Through my mentorship, I learned that sewing is important for a designer if they have a vision that no one else can see and if they need to show it, they can pick up the needle themselves and create what they are talking about. Then we have sketching. Sketching is like breathing to designers.Some people think they can get away with it if they become successful enough to have others work for them and make their clothes, but it is still critical that the designer knows how patterns and the pieces are put together so they can successfully communicate what they want done.
Finally, with my mentorship, I learned that knowing how the business works/working in retail is important because I spent a lot of my time watching my mentor Mary check and make sure they were not losing money and there was a decent amount of math involved. Most of it is basic math skills, but nonetheless, it was critical to understand. She had me see these softwares that keep track of their data. It was emphasized that one of the greatest things people choose to ignore about being in the fashion industry is that the money involved 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 is a lot of money to consider. If you do not know the business side of things, your company/clothing line will fail because you can lose money and in some cases, you will not even realize it.
Thus, I had my three answers.
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