Category Archives: Business and Technology

The Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology serves nearly 4,000 students in 10 different majors with a focus on business in fashion and related professions.

Re-Introducing Precollege Blogger: Michaela

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Hey everyone! It’s Michaela and I’m *back and better than ever* (insert Hess Truck commercial song here). Sorry guys, shake the commercial out of your head and let me introduce myself with a normal introduction, I’m Michaela, a 15 year old sophomore from Springfield, New Jersey who strives to make these Saturdays at FIT her everyday life.

Before I begin my rant,  I would like to welcome everyone of you to yet another one of my journeys at FIT, involving my complicated decision making process of choosing what part of the fashion industry is right for me. I was introduced to NYC at a very young age and always looked forward to going to Manhattan that sparse once or twice a month, additionally Manhattan is the root of where my love for fashion started, so when I discovered Precollege programs at FIT my mind could just not fathom another way to spend my weekends. To me, fashion is more than just “having a good sense of style”. One of my favorite quotes is “fashion is instant language” said by Miuccia Prada. I adore this quote because generally I am a quiet person and I feel like my style says a good deal about me, maybe even more than I could explain myself to somebody. Whether someone is wearing a sweatshirt and jeans or a full out Lady Gaga style outfit you can tell so much about a person from what they’re wearing. Not only does an outfit show a person’s personality but it also shows what kind of mood someone is in that day. Fashion is sincerely amazing in so many ways.

This semester I am taking HFM 064: The Ins and Outs of Fashion Merchandising and HPH 169: Fundamentals of Digital Photography and Photoshop. These are my 4th and 5th classes at FIT, so far I have taken the Mannequin Madness workshop, Fashion Forecasting: Seeing into the Future and Fashion Art for Fashion Designers. Clearly, I sort of like it at this place. As you may now, back in the Spring I was pretty indecisive about what I wanted to pursue in fashion, well at this moment I’m still not positive but I’ve narrowed down quite a bit. At this point I’m down to the Merchandising/marketing/advertising/styling side. Okay, I know that isn’t very specific, but it’ll do for now.

When I’m not at FIT you can find me blogging, reading fashion magazines or anything under my “fashion sites/blogs” tab on my laptop, consisting of over 100 sites, yes, I am that crazy. However, the majority of the time you can find me doing homework and studying, I am a bit fanatic about schoolwork. I know that good grades are just one of many steps for getting into a school like FIT.

Now, I know you are all thinking “Michaela, why would you take a photography class when fashion is basically your life?”. Well the answer to that is since I started my own blog a few months ago (http://thecitycloset.blogspot.com/) I’ve been taking photographs of everything, including daily outfit photos and have become increasingly interested in photography and I thought what better place to learn more about photography than FIT? Thus, my decision to take a photography class was born. I’m really starting to appreciate photography in fashion, my favorite part is how in a photograph you’re able to see the most minute details in a person’s outfit, even stuff you wouldn’t see by glancing at the individual in person. Photos really do tell a lot.

Overall, I cannot wait to start classes again, I’m counting down the days! I’m more than thrilled to dig even more deep into my old found love, fashion and my new found love, photography. Blogging for FIT is such an incredible opportunity that I am delighted to be apart of. Most importantly, I hope you guys gain as much as you can out of my posts, whether it’d be advice for which class to take or a new trick I learned in photoshop. Blogging is such a passion of mine, it’s something that I truly enjoy. And again, I hope you guys enjoy and benefit from every post of mine as much as I enjoy writing them.

Fashionably Truly,

Michaela

Last Day at FIT

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It is so sad that my class at FIT is already over! These past 3 weeks created memories I will hopefully never forget!

For our last project, we had to create a plan to introduce a brand to any African country. My group chose to promote the shoe brand Bakers in Morocco. We created a big poster board displaying traditional Moroccan footwear compared to Bakers footwear, and also wrote out our marketing plan in order to do so. The project turned out great and our presentation was even better!

My group and I with our project!

After all of the groups presented their projects, we held a mini graduation ceremony as our professor handed each of us our diplomas…we even played the Graduation Song to make it more meaningful!

My class with our diplomas!

For the last 45 minutes or so, we had a little party with snacks and drinks that everyone brought in! It was a great way to end the course.

After class, a few girls and I walked to Times Square, took some photos, and enjoyed a nice dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had so much fun!

Overall, my last day at FIT was bittersweet…there are no other words to describe it!

Only one more post until my FIT blogging experience is over!

Fino alla volta prossima!

Gabriela

Fashion Repeats Itself

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So I can officially say that I have completed my first project for FIT! Our assignment was to create a big display board full of cutout pictures from fashion magazines. Each group was assigned one of the following styles: men’s fashion/denim, retro, swimwear, or prints. My group was given retro and we did an awesome job!

Retro themed display board

We based our board on a bunch of different things; short hair/short bangs, “twiggy” makeup, shoulder pads, big sunglasses, bell bottom jeans, big hair, color blocking, high waist pants, scarves, and bold colors. It was so interesting to see how all the photos came together. My group originally wanted to place the photos by era so you can see how the fashion changed over time, but sadly there was not enough time for that! For us, it was easy to find “retro” fashion because these styles are now returning! I never realized how much fashion actually repeats itself until I completed this project. I wear high waisted pants all the time… it’s so weird to think that my mom used to do the same at my age!

Fino alla volta prossima!

Gabriela

Watch What You Say

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Until today, I never realized how different one culture is from the next, and how much it impacts daily lives. In my class, International Fashion Marketing, we had a very engaging conversation about how to promote your brand in another country besides your own. My professor talked about how certain things may offend one culture whereas another culture might praise that thing. For example, in the United States, we generally associate the color white with peace, purity, innocence, weddings, etc, but in China, the color white represents death and funerals. In America, we wear black to funerals, but in China, they wear white. Interesting right? Another example is numbers. In China, the number 4 is very unlucky and represents misfortune and death whereas in America, the number 4 has no relevance. However, the number 7 is a lucky number for the typical American.

Because of this, certain brands and companies change what they sell or how they advertise their products in order to please the consumer. McDonalds in America is much much different than a McDonalds in India or Paraguay, for example. India’s McDonalds’ serve veggie burgers instead of beef burgers, and in Paraguay, McDonalds’ appear more like a restaurant than a typical fast-food place. Also, in countries like India and Iran, magazine pictures showing nudity are usually covered up by black bars whereas in America or Europe, it is completely fine.

It is just so crazy to think about how different each country behaves. Personally, I had no idea that McDonalds is different in other countries; I never really thought about that before. When visiting another country, you better watch what you say! You may offend someone and you won’t even know it!

If you guys know about any other cultural things in relation to this, comment below…I would love to hear!

Fino alla volta prossima!

Gabriela

“Fainting on the first day is common.”

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Those very comforting words, spoken by head of Precollege Programs, Michele Nagel, lingered in my head throughout my whole morning … I was so full with butterflies in my stomach that I couldn’t even eat one thing for breakfast. That is until I remembered that Michele Nagel said the two main reasons for fainting was 1. not eating breakfast and 2. nerves. “The kid who fainted on the first day” wasn’t exactly the image I was going for at FIT this summer… So I tried to keep as calm as possible, and luckily I had this very friendly lady (sarcasm) to accompany me during my commute:

Anyway, once I got to FIT I felt so overcome with many different kinds of emotions. I was excited, nervous, anxious, hopeful, happy, sleep-deprived, but most of all I felt belonging. This is where I’m supposed to be, I thought. I’ve been calling Long Island home, when it was really just a 40 minute train ride from Manhassett to Penn Station. At the start, I felt as if I was being eaten alive by the city, with the towering skyscrapers and intimidating business people doing their “hustle and bustle” New York City stuff. I mean, I’m from New York, but I never felt like a New Yorker until then. No parents/guardians. No maps. No Siri directing me to the Great Hall. I was finding my way on my own, and never before did I feel so independent. I love that feeling.

I don’t know how to ride a bike, so I’m not sure if I’m in the position to say this, but it felt like that cliché “the first time you learned how to ride a bike.” You know, when your dad slowly let’s go of your shoulders, and you quickly adapt to the peddling, doing anything in your will to not fall and scrape your knee. That was how I felt. I was learning how to ride New York City for the first time in the 16 years that I’ve lived here.

My first few steps onto the campus was so much to handle. There are no other words to describe it other than a sea of individuality. Girl with purple hair to the right, guy in fishnets to the left, everyone was so unique. I looked at it as everyone wearing their personalities. People channeled themselves through their apparel, hair dye and body modifications, and I genuinely respect that.

I will admit that the start of my classes were a little awkward. Introductions are never a comfortable conversation. You could hear faint “I’m from’s” and “My name is” all around the classroom. However, some people signed up for FIT together, so with them you could hear gossip about their friends from towns you have no idea of. “Stacy did what!?” and “I can’t believe Matt would say that!” Then there were those who shared mutual friends with their “OMG I know someone who goes to the same school! Wait, do you know (insert name here).” I did end up meeting some people with mutual friends, some without, but all in all I’m just glad I met people. Sitting alone at Panera Bread isn’t really my thing.

So I guess you can say my first day was a success! I didn’t end up fainting, which is a major plus! Nor was I late, which is a very rare occurrence. Anyhow, I should probably describe my courses a little. So my morning class, HFA 143: Architectural Rendering is more of the creativity side of architecture than the intellectual side. We start taking trips Wednesday where we’ll be sketching buildings and different architectural spots. In the afternoons I have HAC 063: Careers in Advertising and Marketing Communications, which managed to captivate me within the first 30 minutes. We talked about branding, and different kinds of demographics, or target consumers that big companies look for. After a long three hours, we were let out and I walked two blocks down to my parents’ office, where I’d wait for them to finish up whatever work they had until we finally went home.

Well, that was my first day at FIT in a very big nutshell. Thanks for taking the time to read! And please, feel free to comment with questions or even comments on how your day went!

xoxo,

Bran

 

P.S. I think I’m going to post my outfit choices for every day that I make a post. So this is what I went with for today:

 

Top: Blue/Grey Linen shirt from H&M
Bottoms: White and Blue pinstripe shorts from Abercrombie & Fitch
Shoes: Sebago colorblock boat shoes from Bloomingdales

Accessories:

  • Vintage brown leather belt
  • Vintage brown/black leather messenger with a gifted Prada key chain
  • Ray-Ban aviator sunglasses
  • A sketch book from Blick Art Supplies that I plan on taking with me every where.