FALL TREND ALERT: Polka Dots!

So as much as I love the summer (and trust me, I loooove the summer), I am really looking forward to fall fashion. There is just something about wearing plush faux fur in the chilly autumn air that makes the season oh-so wonderful.

I love looking forward to the cable knit sweaters and the corduroy skinnies, the combat boots and the knee-high riding boots, and even the leather moto-jacket and the super snuggly scarves. But what I like most about are the colors. I love the emerald, the chocolate, the maroon, and the gold colors of the new garments hanging in store windows and on chic bodies. I also adore the orange and red of the leaves and the grey tone of the sky.

By late August and early September, I am ready to trade in my florals for more seasonal patterns. One of the new trendy fall patterns is oversized polka dots (along with the traditional plaids and muted stripes). Lucky for me I spotted the polka-trend prematurely and bought a super fab button-down sheer polka dot shirt from Forever 21 on my last shopping spree! Who knew it would be perfectly in-style for the fall 2012?!

 

 

Even my favorite mag, Seventeen, spotted the polka dot trend! YES!

 

FIT Precollege Program Day 2

*yawn* I had such a busy day today so I’m awfully wiped out!

Today was day 2 of my four-day long precollege program at the amazing Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Same as yesterday my sister, my dad, and myself rode an early train into grand central, then took two subways to find ourselves at the doorsteps of FIT (but of course we had to get a Starbucks frap first!).

My professor for the program is Melissa Stolper, a seasoned publicist who knows the business like the back of her hand. She interned for BCBG and Anne Klein, and worked for many established public relations firms all over Manhattan. I am so grateful that she is my teacher because she provides my class with really useful, relevant, and honest information about the business and how to survive in it! She even worked with Rachel Zoe!!

This morning Melissa brought our class of twenty one high school girls- and one very lucky high school boy- to The Brooks Group, a small but esteemed firm in NYC. We walked to her office, and, I must say, her office is just fabulous. It was all very minimal and mostly white but there were splashes of a deep purple or a bright fuchsia around. There were also plush purple rugs and a dazzling sparkling chandelier above their conference table. It was all very girly and glamorous while maintaining a certain level off professionalism.

ANYWAYS…. Rebecca Brooks opened The Brooks Group when she was only 25 years old!! She was determined to succeed and she slowly built up her client list and grew in popularity in the business. Rebecca’s first client that rose to starlet status was the amazing Racheal Ray! This big break brought tons of work to The Brooks Group and help make them what they are today! Rebecca and her team are so up-to-date with all of the latest trends and the newest gossip and they say that the gossip and the trends are what makes the job so interesting!

Later in the day, after we got back from the trip (and our lunch break) we had a guest speaker come to our class and give us further insight into this crazy industry we call public relations. The speaker was the lovely Nancy Cuocci from Siren Public Relations Inc. Nancy is the account supervisor for the firm which means that she oversees all of the business that goes in and out of the company. Siren, for the most part, deals with smaller jewelry companies and accessory companies and Nancy described how specializing in accessory PR is soo much different than specializing in lifestyle PR. She really opened my eyes to many of the different facets or PR and made a point to stress to the class the importance of getting internships.

I am so thankful to my parents for sending me to this program because without it I would not have learned all that i have so far and I would be blind to all of the career opportunities I have never thought of before. I’m starting to seriously consider fashion PR as a career option for me because it combines something I love, which is fashion/pop culture, with something I’m good at, which is marketing/business.

Tomorrow should be another fun filled day so be sure to check up! xoxo

 

Seventeen Magazine Keeps It Real

I have always been a tad skeptical when it came to the extent of photoshopping in teen magazines like any other person would be. Many companies have recently been put under fire due to over-editing their photos and ads and creating an unrealistic role model for teens everywhere (no one is expected to be a size 00 or to have long, lean legs!).

I must say I was super- duper relieved when Seventeen Magazine published in their latest issue that they keep their photoshopping to a minimum. The editor of this amazing mag, Ann Shoket, wrote on page 12 that yes, they do edit their pictures but they only make minor changes, anything more than that is not necessary. Ann wrote that “…we retouch images- removing wrinkles in fabric, stray hairs, a few zits, random bra straps- but we never alter the way the girls on our pages really look.” (Reassuring, right?!) Ann and Seventeen Magazine team are dedicated to showcasing how naturally beautiful girls are and assuring that their bodies and minds are both healthy.

It makes me feel so much better that all of the content is encouraging, realistic, and virtually unchanged. I also love that the mag features girls of all shapes, sizes, and skin tones!

The pictures on the right show the changes the editors make to their pictures; there aren’t any drastic changes and only minor things are altered. Go Seventeen Magazine!!