After completing 5 weeks of HFM064: The Ins and Outs of Fashion Merchandising, I have already learned more from my short time participating in my first FIT Precollege Program class, than I have in my many months of online research and Vogue magazine browsing. The extra information I have received in class has really furthered my knowledge of the industry as a whole. When I find myself debating the importance of fashion and appearance with my house full of lawyers and law students, I now bring a more compelling and aggressive argument to the table rather than my usual Chanel quotes, “A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” Sometimes I find myself talking about things I didn’t even know I knew, just from my time flipping through magazines and viewing designer collections in class; sometimes I even impress myself with my new found knowledge.
My friend and I went for a mini shopping trip before my class last week at the Urban Outfitters near my town; everything she picked up I seemed to have a witty fashionista comment to make about it. “The 60’s are so in right now and the paper bag pants are so going to do it for you” or “Buy me some bell bottoms and a pair of platform shoes and I’ll be fine for the rest of spring, and if it was 1974 I’d be fine for the next 6 years,” exaggerated-I know. But after learning about the multiple trends that are present right now, I have discovered that my history teacher is indeed right, history truly does repeat itself; with the reassurance of my FIT professor I find the same is true about the history of fashion.
During the first couple of weeks of classes, we covered the trends of the 20th century (50’s housewife, 60’s mod, and 70’s disco) and we are now applying all of those looks in our trend report projects which are due this upcoming Saturday. Call me a procrastinator and I will deny it, although I will be lying. I have to finish a project we started in class last week plus get started on my project that is due the following Saturday, which I was given ample warning of the close due date. But to save face I’m not going to tell you the class is in less than 24 hours and I haven’t scratched the surface on one of my projects yet…oppps. Well other than my bad time management, the class has done wonders for my confidence. When I explain to my friends the activities we have done in class they all listen with envy wishing they would have taken the class with me when I begged them to do so a couple weeks prior.
But it’s not as glamorous and cool as I sometimes make it out to be, there is hard work involved. For my upcoming project we had to go to 34th Street and take pictures of store windows and go into the stores and take notes on some of the trends we see emerging right now, as well as the colors and fabrics we are seeing a lot this spring. Okay so I lied, walking around NYC with other aspiring fashionistas is pretty cool and also kind of exciting (which gave me the chance to buy this pretty cool necklace from H&M all my friends have been complementing me on). And when we’re not exploring NYC, we’re having a Pandora radio jam fest while putting together the pieces of our trend report projects. My project, titled “Black, White, and Red All Over,” references this concept: No matter what the trends are for the season or fabrics or patterns, Red, White, and Black will always lead the fashion frontier in colors (separately and combined).
When you dream about taking an FIT class you couldn’t dream this big, I know I didn’t, but as rewarding as it is to be in class, it’s even better being out in the shops and being able to apply everything you have learned. For me, that’s the best reward of it all.
Amira
My Class Field Trip to 34th Street
Macys Flower Show Window Display
H&M Window Display
Checkout the 60’s vibe (paper bag shorts) and use of neutrals
My Half Finished Trend Report Project My Class Is Working On
Black, White, and Red All Over
My Outfit Inspired By My Trend Report- Black, White, and Red All Over
The awesome necklace I got during my class trip into H&M, haven’t been able to find it in any H&M in New Jersey
Until Next Week, Sincerely
The Blogger-Bobbie Austin
Comments
One response to “Black, White, and Red All Over”
Love your Blog, thanks for this great information, you postetd on this wonderfull Blog