The Actor's Boutique

These shoes are currently in FIT’s ‘Shoe Obession’ exhibit. They’re Givenchy. 

Next week on March 16, my university, the Fashion Institute of Technology, is holding its first Junior Day. This event will be hosted by the Admissions department and is specifically for high school juniors. 

Click the title of this post if you’d like to register for the event. If you have any questions regarding the school, you can leave me a message in the Ask/Contact link at the top of my blog. 

Yes, I am in one of those philosophical moods at the moment. Deal with it. 

Every week, I have this thought: Am I doing the right thing? Will I really get a job after this? What if I get a degree and end up in a totally different field? Should I have just worked instead of gone to college?

A lot of times, I look at (here it comes) One Direction. I’m around all of their ages. They went on a TV show, became famous and are now worth over $100 million. They didn’t have to stress about finals and finding internships. They don’t have to worry for the rest of their lives about money. But, on the other hand, they do have to stress about keeping up an image worldwide, selling records so they don’t get dropped from their label and what they want on their own Twitter accounts and in interviews. The six of us, I’m sure, all suffer anxiety to some extent. 

I also second guess everything I’m doing because of the industry I want to go into. I was at an event yesterday with college kids mainly from NYU and Fordham. Sure, there were us FIT kids in our own little group and people seemed interested in what we do. But then I was talking to a girl from NYU. She was dressed impeccably well and even introduced herself to me when I first got to the event. But, she then started talking about an app she was developing that uses algorithms to personally style men or something to that extend. I suggested that she should hang around FIT. She then responded by saying her app will put students at my school out of business. Excuse me? 

I think people in the real-world hear fashion and think I’m a bimbo who is going to go to runway shows and just purchase clothing for a store. Actually,  I’m learning concepts in school, people. It’s not all about clothing: it’s about products, money, statistics, marketing and so much more. 

The moral of this post is, if you’re second-guessing why you are in college or university, think again. We’re all doing the right thing. A college education is so valuable in life. If you’re scared that you won’t find a job, take this into consideration: you won’t find one unless you try. And if college isn’t for you, then stop wasting your money and time.  

You are not alone, my fellow broke and overworked students. We live in an age of information overload. We over think and overanalyze everything these days. Stop for a second and tell yourself that it’s okay. You are doing the right thing.

Women’s Wear Daily reports on how and why the biggest event every September has decided to take a hiatus. 

As a fashion student, I always thought that FNO wasn’t really a time to shop, but more of a time to meet designers and celebrities. The purpose, which as stated in this article, was to get consumers to buy but instead, became one huge party. My classmates and I would always say, “Can’t we just have designers and industry people? What does someone like Nicki Minaj have to to with fashion?”

Personally, I’d rather be meeting people like Grace Coddington or CEOs like Mickey Drexler or designers like the Dannijo sisters. FNO was never meant to be “Hollywood’s Night Out”: Fashion is the first and key word here.

rgonzalezchavelas:

Burberry Prorsum: Fall 2013 Ready-to-Wear (by style)

Every London Fashion Week, I make sure to view the Burberry Prorsum collection. Christopher Bailey does an exceptional job every season, and his A/W 2013 collection truly stood out from his past ones. 

With this collection, Bailey took the signature Burberry trench and made it trendy with two key concepts for the upcoming fall: Animal Print and PVC. You might think that these two would each look hideous on their own, but Bailey tastefully pulls them together while keeping the sleek, clean look of the Burberry brand alive. 

Yep. One of fashion’s most larger-than-life characters is leaving his legacy at the magazine to pursue a late night talk show. I don’t get it, either.

Glamour compiled a list of the most successful under 35 fashion businesswomen.

Spend a day in the life with one of the greatest designers of all time.

Ilana Weinstein is a very lucky college freshman. She states that even though it was quite an adjustment, her college experience so far “has been wonderful”, and she’s never been happier. “I never run out of things to do here”, she tells me. As her cousin, it’s great to see that her vibrant spirit fits in with her second home. Seeing her through my eyes as a fellow college student, I’m amazed at her constant passion to achieve all that she can. This is the main reason why I felt she was an incredible candidate for “Student to Student”. 

A marketing major with a concentration in Global Marketing Management and a minor in Spanish at Pace University, she is a rarity among many students her age. She never gives up. “You don’t just accomplish anything by… waiting for things to come to you… I have dreams of what I want to do and I’m not going to be near accomplishing them if I don’t put in the effort.” This goes along with her favorite Robert Frost quote, “Freedom lies in being bold.”

Before Ilana started her freshman year, she was a life-long dancer. Just like myself, she has found that performing on a stage has helped her with certain points in college. “I’m not afraid to get up and stand in front of people”, a skill she needs for her on-campus job as a Tour Guide. 

So far, Pace seems to be the perfect fit for her. However, FIT was also once a possibility. While she thinks the college is cool, it just wasn’t for her. “I wanted the ability to decide if I didn’t want to do fashion. I felt like if I went to FIT that would be exactly where I was heading…. It’s something that is definitely international.” After graduating, she wants to take her degree and “work for a company that has relationships between the United States and Europe” as well as learn about different cultures and work environments around the world. During her senior year of high school, Ilana witnessed this when she visited the Desigual headquarters in Barcelona, Spain. She’s also traveled with her family to parts of Italy and will most likely go on Birthright to Israel in the next year or two.

Though fashion isn’t an industry she’s looking to pursue a career in, she definitely pays attention to what’s going on style-wise in the world. Since moving from the suburbs to the city, she’s learned that black is the color of New Yorkers and is comfortable playing around with her wardrobe. “Here, anything goes so it’s okay for me to wear heels to class and as much or as little makeup I want.”

Moving to NYC wasn’t a big deal to her at all. She advises those who may be scared to move to such a busy place are to “do things that scare you because you’ll never know what impact they might have.” She credits the incredible amount of opportunities available to college students as well as the people you meet as reasons why perspective students should take the chance of living here. “I ran into a recruiter in a cupcake shop. Where else would that even happen? You could run into your favorite celebrity, your favorite athlete, or someone who might be your boss one day…”

Currently, Ilana is starting her second semester as well as her Tour Guide job. She looks forward to her future in school as well as living in New York City. This summer, she is looking for internship experience so she can move on to bigger and better opportunities later on in college.