Buffalo David Bitton

A Stylish Arrival

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A few days ago, a large box arrived on the premises of GCC. This box was sent from the Buffalo David Bitton Showrooms in
NYC. Inside were a variety of clothing items from the Buffalo David Bitton Spring line. Due to the GCC fashion program’s
close relationship to Buffalo David Bitton, and more specifically, PR Director Diane Alexander, we have had the privilege to use new items from the Buffalo David Bitton in three of our fashion shows. From “Fashion Forward”, “Ethereal”, and now “Fata Morgana.”

FullSizeRender (15) 2This year the Buffalo David Bitton line will be featured in a music festival themed scene entitled “Festival Haze” which is being produced by Kylie Dunn and I. “Festival Haze” will embrace the best styles of Coachella and modernized free-spirit trends, and feature items from Buffalo David Bitton and Lord & Taylor. We would like to give continued thanks to Diane Alexander, and everyone at Buffalo David Bitton for continuing the tradition of featuring their product line on our runway, and everyone else involved in assisting in the production of our scene. We can’t wait to show all of you what “Festival Haze” and “Fata Morgana” have to offer!

-Ami Cornell

Fata Morgana

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With the fall semester coming to fruition, and the spring semester in our midst, planning for the annual fashion show has begun. This April, the annual fashion show at Genesee Community College will ring in its 34th year, and is expected to be the largest show yet! With that in mind, the Fashion students of GCC have curated a theme that will surely leave their audiences inspired. This year’s show will be entitled Fata Morgana. A Fata Morgana is defined as a rapidly changing and complex form of superior mirage/optical phenomenon that is seen in the narrow band right above the horizon.They determined Fata Morgana to be an excellent choice of theming for this year’s fashion show due to its timely mention in an issue of Women’s Wear Daily and the large presence of desert themes within the Spring 2015 clothing collections. The fashion students then related the idea of Fata Morgana to the cultural diversification of the widespread desert environments within the w10940620_10205918014689147_6156977377827682419_norld, and a fashion show like no other was born. Fata Morgana, the 34th annual fashion show at Genesee Community College will occur Saturday, April 25th, 2015. Explore the hashtag #GCC34FM to stay up-to-date on all things Fata Morgana!

If you’re interested in modeling in the Fata Morgana fashion show, tryouts will occur Wednesday, February 4th in T102 from 12-3 PM and Thursday, February 5th in the Forum from 12:30-2:00 PM.

If modeling isn’t really your “thing” and you wish to contribute your skills to/attend the annual fashion show at GCC please contact Ami Cornell at acornel4@my.genesee.edu or Ariana Sneed at asneed@my.genesee.edu.

-Ami Cornell

Coming Soon: #GCCINNYC

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In less than a week I will be accompanying the fashion students of Genesee Community College, as well as anyone else interested in expanding the horizons of their knowledge of the fashion business, to one of the largest fashion capitals in the world, New York City. This annual trip to NYC has become a rite of passage for many of the fashion students at GCC, and for good reason. Professor Dudkowski and Professor Ehrhart, the resident Fashion Business program professors, are networking experts. Both of them have a never-ending list of contacts that spans continents, ensuring that each yearly trip to NYC is filled with unique and once-in-a-lifetime experiences in the fashion world. This trip is no exception. After spending a fun-filled day solo in the city on Wendesday October 8th, we will all rise early on Thursday morning in order to visit the John Varvatos showrooms. John Varvatos is an American contemporary menswear designer. He was the recipient of the CFDA: Menswear Designer of the Year award in both 2001 and 2005, he was also the winner of the Perry Ellis Award for menswear in 2000, and in 2007 he was named the designer of the year by GQ. This type of visit should not be experienced lightly, very few people get to step foot into this showroom, let alone tour it. We will then have the opportunity to visit Buffalo David Bitton Showrooms and receive a tour by PR Director, Diane Alexander.

Last spring students in the fashion program at GCC received a box of clothing from Buffalo David Bitton's Spring 2014 line.

Last spring students in the fashion program at GCC received a box of clothing from Buffalo David Bitton’s Spring 2014 line.

As many readers of the GCC blog may remember, the college has a special relationship with Buffalo David Bitton. Last year students studying in the GCC fashion program were sent items from the new Buffalo David Bitton spring 2014 line in order to be used in the 33rd Annual fashion show, Ethereal, at Genesee Community College. The Buffalo David Bitton company launched in Canada in 1985 as a womenswear and menswear label and now sells to prestigious stores such as Macy’s and Bloomingdales. Their product line has been endorsed by a variety of A-list celebrities including Christina Aguilera, Halle Berry, and Brad Pitt, just to name a few. After we experience the rare opportunity of browsing these showrooms, the Fashion Business Merchandising students will split from the Fashion Design students. The Fashion Design students will visit Mood designer fabrics, the number-one shopping destination for fashion fabric in the world; Mood is now a household name amongst anyone on the hunt for high quality fabrics due to the popular reality TV show, Project Runway. At this point the fashion business merchandising students will visit The Doneger Group, the fashion industry’s leading source of global trend intelligence, focused merchandising direction, expert analysis of the retail business, and comprehensive market information.

Anthony M. Urmey of LIM speaking to fashion students

Anthony M. Urmey of LIM speaking to fashion students

On the morning of Friday, October 10th, everyone on the trip will have the opportunity to visit LIM and meet with Mr. Anthony Urmey, Admissions and Transfer Services Counselor. Urmey visited GCC last spring in order to inform prospective students who were hoping to transfer to LIM about financial aid and scholarship programs. We will also have the chance to hear two GCC alumni speak at this event.

David Zyla speaking at GCC

David Zyla speaking at GCC

Later that evening Emmy Award-winning stylist, Best-Selling author, and recent GCC keynote speaker, David Zyla, will be hosting a Fashion Speak Friday event on the topic of men’s neckties. The head haberdashery designer of Ralph Lauren along with the 90’s necktie giant, Gene Meyer, will be at this event as well. This will be a great chance for all students to network with influential people working in fashion; design students will also have the opportunity to sketch models after the show.

Saturday, October 11th, will conclude the trip, and begin our journey home to GCC. We will all return with a superior understanding and appreciation of the fashion business that we can apply to our individual programs of study, and ultimately assist us in the production of the 34th annual fashion show at Genesee Community College.

Be on the lookout for updates from the resident bloggers of the trip, and view instant updates on Twitter and Instagram under the hashtag #GCCINNYC .

We’ve Got Mail

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Last Friday, the fashion students here at GCC got the first glimpse of Buffalo David Bitton’s spring 2014 line. We actually received an entire box filled with men’s and women’s clothing that will be featured in GCC’s 33rd annual fashion show, “Ethereal”. How is all of this possible? Last year, the 32nd fashion show, “Fashion Forward” featured Buffalo David Bitton clothing after visiting their showroom in NYC. We had such a great experience with the Buffalo David Bitton team; we just had to go back! Last October, the fashion students took another trip to the city and met with Buffalo David’s Public Relations Director – Diane Alexander. We had another fantastic meeting with her; and again have the opportunity to showcase their clothing line in our show.

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As the scene coordinators of the Buffalo David Bitton scene pulled out each garment one by one, the class’s excitement intensified. By the time Shelby and Ashley – the scene coordinators – got to the bottom of the box, everyone had their favorite garment. From men’s and women’s jeans to dresses and jackets, there was something for everyone! Buffalo David sent around $2,300 worth of garments for the show, and we couldn’t be more excited.

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Along with the amazing clothing from the city, we’ll also have bridal dresses donated from M.A. Carr Bridal. Over $17,000 worth of bridal dresses came from the bridal salon, located in Orchard Park, NY. As soon as it was announced that the dresses had arrived, the fashion students rushed to the storage room to explore the gowns. As the fashion design students looked over the dresses, you could see the ideas flowing on how to re-purpose the dresses and create ethereal looks. Since M.A. Carr Bridal generously donated the wedding gowns, the design students have the opportunity to choose any dress of their choice to redesign, however they choose. Along with the Buffalo David Bitton clothing, M. A. Carr Bridal donated wedding gowns to the fashion show last year as well.

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Without the considerate donation from Mary Anne at M.A. Carr Bridal, and the use of the clothing from Buffalo David Bitton, our show wouldn’t be possible. From the amazing relationships built with these and other companies, our annual fashion show has surpassed others in the area, making it the largest fashion show in Western New York.

To see more of these and other scenes, be sure to attend Ethereal on April 26th at 3pm and 7pm. You won’t want to miss this!

Day one in the big city

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Today was our first full day here in the big apple!  Though it was a bit rainy in the morning, it turned out to be a fair–and action-packed–day!
I’m here in NYC with other Fashion students to learn more about design, fashion, and business from people that work in the industry in NYC.
Our first stop of the day was to the Gitman Bros showroom.

There we met with Mr. Chris Olberding; the Vice President of the company.  Gitman primarily focuses on menswear, and is a top producer of fine shirting and suiting in the USA. Mr. Olberding exhibited his zeal for the industry and spoke with us about the production of classic, quality clothing.  Olberding helped us see how much precision is involved in such an industry; though the basic design and cut of the shirts does not change rapidly, the fabric choices for each line must be chosen meticulously.  Possible fabric choices include material that is already produced and ready to be used as-is; manipulated versions of prints or plaids; a print created using a design; and reproduced vintage prints.

Along with Mr. Olberding, we were also able to meet with the personnel from the merchandising, marketing, communications, and managing departments.  We asked lots of questions and got a glimpse of Gitman’s business practices and some potential careers in menswear.
After a brief break for lunch and shopping, we got together again for a meeting with Ms. Diane Alexander, the PR Director of fashion powerhouse, Buffalo David Bitton. Ms. Alexander told us many stories–from the woes of interns with attitudes, to the high demands of some celebrities–she has seen it all.  As Alexander spoke to us, we were surrounded by Buffalo David Bitton  lines for Spring 2014 and–my personal favorite–Holiday 2013/14.
DSCN2236 On this field trip, we really got first-hand proof that networking is an integral part of  the fashion business.  Alexander explained to us all of the ways in which celebrities, bloggers, and magazines can be used to promote a line or product.  Alexander was very down-to-earth and not afraid to tell everything like it is; no sugar coating.  I loved her no-nonsense nature and one particular bit she mentioned about her interns stood out to me–“I wouldn’t ask you to do something I wouldn’t do myself.”  Even the smallest, most tedious and menial jobs must be completed.

And with that we were free to explore the city–for me, it was time to head down to the garment district in search of some new fabric to work with!