Fashion Business

Where It All Began

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The fashion-merchandising program at Genesee Community College has had a lasting effect on changing who I am for the better. It has helped me to develop an understanding of the business of fashion, and has showed me that there isn’t just one clear path to enter the field of fashion you want to join.

Before starting this program I was a shy, quiet student that didn’t want to share or say anything in front of others. I only had a small understanding of what it really meant to be a fashion merchandising major. Since then, things have changed. I have developed many skills with the help of all the teaching staff at Genesee community college. Professor Dudkowski and Professor Ehrhart especially assisted in my growth through teaching the “tricks of the trade” and the real-world applications of retail. One thing I’ll never forget about my time spent studying at GCC is all of Professor Dudkowski’s sayings; I may have laughed at what he was saying, but he says them because they work. Professor Dudkowksi and Professor Ehrhart are great professors that have helped me have a larger understanding of what it will be like to work in retail and helped put me on a successful career path. People may doubt this program’s success because of its rural location, but this small school makes sure you have all the information you may need if you plan to transfer on, and the teachers want you to succeed.

Through these two years I have gained a lot of confidence within myself, as well as in my studies. I believe that GCC has set me up with the skills I need to succeed, it is for this reason that I don’t plan to transfer to another college; I’m extremely excited and I feel ready to enter the retail business. I plan to succeed through putting use to what my professors taught me these past two years and to make a lasting positive impression in the professional field of retail.

This blog was contributed by Fashion Merchandising Student Kylie Dunn.

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

A New Point Of View

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Charles Men’s shop is a family owned and operated business that has been Batavia’s number one choice for fine men’s clothing since the store’s creation in 1947. The store has an excellent reputation within the local community, as well as within Genesee Community College. For these reasons, I was explicitly overjoyed when offered the opportunity to intern as a visual merchandising coordinator at Charles Men’s Shop. I considered this a great opportunity to improve my skills within designing window displays, as I am set to take the visual display class in the next eight-week session at GCC.

Maggie's First Window Display at Charles Men's Shop.

Maggie’s First Window Display at Charles Men’s Shop.

Before going into set up my first window display I had very little experience doing any task of this kind. I was terrified of failing or of letting anyone down. I researched hours-upon-hours, looking at different color palettes popular for fall menswear, as well as observing a variety of window displays online. I took advice from anywhere I could get it; I was told to find a theme or direction in order to make the execution of my vision easier. I also spoke to Maggie, a current freshman in the Fashion Business Merchandising program at GCC, and current visual merchandising intern at Charles Men’s Shop. Maggie had told me that her first window theme would center around indoor fall theming which she phrased as, “Antiqued fall elegance.” Maggie captured her vision perfectly within her window space.

I however took an alternate route. I executed a theme inspired by the outdoor beauty of fall and the sense of community it can create through local sporting events and other active interests. I received a plethora of support and guidance from the Men’s shop staff, Kristen and Don, as well as from my fashion professors, Professor Dudkowski and Professor Ehrhart. I was appreciative of any constructive criticism or suggestions they had for me, as I felt lost in this brand new world. I’m still finding my way when it comes to creating displays for Charles Men’s Shop; recently I took on the task of creating a table display as well.

My First Table Display at Charles Men's Shop.

My First Table Display at Charles Men’s Shop.

Though I find this job to be challenging, I am interested and excited to strengthen valuable and necessary skill-sets within myself. If it were not for the excellent professors and connections I have access to at Genesee Community College I may never had earned an opportunity of this caliber. I am incredibly grateful to have this chance to grow, and cannot wait to see where this opportunity takes me in the not-so-far future.

Dress Form Contest

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Those enrolled in the Fashion Design and Fashion Business programs at Genesee Community College were given the amazing opportunity to win dress forms donated to the school by PGM Dress Forms, the leading dress form manufacturer in the United States, based out of California.154836_580970075263689_1180436399_n The winners of these dress forms are career-driven, hardworking students, who are also extremely talented designers at GCC. The dress forms will make a large impact on these three creative women, and surely help them to accomplish future career goals, which they hold dearly and consider with upmost seriousness.

Accomplished students Candace Cooper, Alaina Shannon, and Natalie Brown are the winners of the 2014 Dress Form Contest! All of the girls wrote entry essays entailing what they would do if they won a PGM dress form, and how this award would help to accomplish their career goals. Candace Cooper writes, “When Professor Ehrhart initially notified me of the amazing opportunity of the dress form competition, I was overly thrilled at the news! Being that I am a design student I would love to own a dress form. I’ve always wanted to invest into one, but looking online, the prices were a little intimidating with them ranging from $1,500 to $2,000.” Candace’s collection entitled “ÉCLAT” will be featured in the upcoming GCC 33rd Annual Fashion Show entitled Ethereal. Alaina addresses why she would love to win a PGM dress form and how it would help her to achieve her artistic vision. In her contest essay, she states that, “By winning a dress form I would be capable of anything. As an artist, often times I conjure up creativity at the most random and unexpected times as my mind begins to soar into a new and exciting realm. When I visualize an idea in my head, I feel the urgency to get right to work. I sketch my ideas, gather and cut fabric, and begin to layout the image that is in my head. However, tedious measurements, and the annoyance of making a human stand shivering cold for forty minutes while being draped and pinned is a nuisance. I often find myself wishing I could constantly have access to a dress form so that I could put my creative, crazy mind at ease.”  Alaina’s designs will be featured in the upcoming GCC Fashion Show as well, in a scene entitled “Americana”. Natalie Brown envisions what it would be like to own a personal dress form in her contest essay; writing that, “If I had my own dress form, I could create my own design studio space in my room at my house. I currently have my very own sewing machine that I bought myself, so having my own dress form would complete my own personal working space.” Natalie Brown’s designs will also be featured in the upcoming GCC Ethereal Fashion Show. Her scene is called “Revival”, the featured clothing is previously owned and repurposed in order to be transformed from an old garment into a piece that is new and exciting. These dress forms are certainly in good hands; Congratulations Candace, Alaina, and Natalie, we can’t wait to see what amazing designs you all create for the upcoming fashion show and in the near future!

Also, on behalf of everyone in the fashion program at Genesee Community College I’d like to give a big thank you to PGM Dress Forms for donating three dress forms to these well-deserving girls, and to Professor Ehrhart and Professor Dudkowski for continuing to offer this amazing opportunity to GCC’s wonderfully talented design students.

-Ami Cornell

Blushing Brides

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On Friday March 28th, the GCC fashion students hosted an opportune visit from the Genesee County YWCA Executive Director Jeanne Walton. Walton joined a group of seven of these students in a photoshoot for the Batavia Daily promoting an upcoming fashion Show at the YWCA. This fashion show will serve as a preview for GCC’s own 33rd annual fashion show entitled, Ethereal. The girls posed in beautiful wedding gowns that were generously donated to GCC for the Ethereal fashion show by M.A. Carr bridal.

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The final look of the gowns and other clothing collections created by the Fashion Design students at Genesee Community College will be revealed at GCC’s Ethereal fashion show which will take place on Saturday, April 26, 2014.

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-Ami Cornell

“Sparkle-Tude” And You

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Jennifer Newell is an accomplished woman who wears a variety of hats at GCC. She has served as the Dean of Students at GCC for five years now, dedicates her time to coaching the GCC Dance Team, and actively participates as a sorority sister and advisor for GCC’s Alpha Epsilon Gamma (AEG). If that’s not enough to make your head spin, recently she also spent her time speaking to the Professional Sales students. Jennifer focused her presentation on “Sparkle-Tude” and how to create a sparkling attitude everyday.  She used a variety of hilarious anecdotes from her everyday life to drive-home to the students that the negative people and negative situations they face in their everyday lives should not impact their positive attitudes. Jennifer made a point of telling the students that adversity and negativity are not a package deal, saying that “you don’t get a ‘Sparkle-Tude’ if you don’t survive these things.” As cliché as it sounds, the very things that bring you down, can lift you up.securedownload (1) Jennifer states that “attitude is everything”, this has been proven through data collected from a nation-wide survey, revealing that an employer would prefer to hire someone with a positive attitude and no skill set over someone with a negative attitude with an accomplished skill set; this is due to the fact that the positive person can be trained to fulfill the job’s requirements. Jennifer delved deep into her presentation, exploring  all seven “Sparkle-Tude” boosters:

1. Start the day off on a positive note.

2. Have only positive thoughts about yourself and others. 

3. Look for the good in yourself and in others. 

4. Believe in yourself, your talents, and unique gifts.

5. Don’t take things personally.

6. Affirm a spirt of gratitude through the day. 

7. Have an unconditional support system and passion/hobbies. 

Jennifer is teaching all of us at GCC how to embrace the positivity in our lives, in order to become a happier and healthier version of ourselves and achieve the goals that satisfy our largest dreams. Jennifer is truly an exemplary member of the GCC community and continues to demonstrate her “Sparkle-Tude” on a daily basis. Now it’s time for the rest of GCC to sparkle with positivity.

-Ami Cornell

Show and Tell

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Recently, the fashion students have begun a new and exciting class: Display and Visual Merchandising. Only a few classes into the course and the students have already created one of four displays. There are four teams (each with four or five members) who contribute their ideas and creativity to the display. The great thing about this class is the freedom that Professor Ehrart gives all of us. The only direction we are given is which display we will be using; whether it’s a full window display, shadow box, display case, or rolling rack. It’s up to us to use any and all ideas to create a theme and send a message to our viewer about the merchandise or business. Creating an interesting display that makes your eye wander around the entire space, while keeping with a theme and having a clear focal point was key in this task. Shadow Box DisplayFull Window DisplayRolling RackDisplay Case

What do you think?

As a class, we walked to all displays and evaluated them on focal points, theme, message and use of props. Each team had the opportunity to show their display and tell the viewers their inspiration for it. We determined what we liked and some changes we would make to each display. Overall, the class did a great job with the first displays of the course. We agreed that this was one of the most fun and challenging classes in the program. What other class gives you the freedom to create any display your creativity allows?

NYC: LIM and Tommy Hilfiger

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Friday morning we woke up nice and early to get ready to head over to LIM, a business fashion college in Manhattan. On our “Saunter” over (as so called by Mr. D) we tried to take a good look at the 5th Avenue window displays.  Our professors Mr. D and Ms. Ehrhart pointed out to us how the visual merchandisers used elements of design to best draw the attention of customers and move the eye through the entire display.

We arrived at LIM College and were greeted by the Assistant Director of Admissions–Mr. Anthony Urmey.  Mr. Urmey gave us an overview of all that LIM has to offer us as a potential transfer college.

Ms. Amanda Hallay is a professor at LIM, and she was nice enough to take some time out of her day to speak with us about the Merchandising program.  She was able to help paint a picture of what we would experience in classes if we chose to attend LIM.  Ms. Hallay was definitely a shining example of the expertise we could expect from the faculty.

At this point a panel of LIM students–including 3 of GCC’s own alumni–answered any questions we had for them and told us about all of the ups and downs of classes and student life at LIM.  At the end of the presentations our students were welcome to a tour of the campus. Who knows, some of us might end up choosing LIM after we graduate GCC!

In the late afternoon we were told to find a building on the west side of Manhattan. Luckily, we all made it to this location; some of us (myself included) had successfully hailed a taxi; others had bravely made the trek on foot! Whatever the mode of transportation, it was surely be worth our lightened wallets and worn-out feet; we were here to meet with representatives from Tommy Hilfiger.

When we arrived, we were directed to the Hilfiger lobby; from the crisp sofas, to the red patchwork carpet, the framed stars and stripes, and the Tommy Hilfiger promo videos playing on a flatscreen–this room itself exuded the Americana-prep that is Tommy Hilfiger.

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From here, Ms. Catherine Welsh took us through the office areas, passed the showrooms, and into a meeting room where she filled us in on the history of Tommy Hilfiger (from man to brand-name).

Ms. Christina Caruso spoke with us about applying for summer internships–and offered some valuable advice for making living arrangements during internships in the city.

Ms. Anna Christensen and Ms. Amie Robinson from the Creative Projects Research and Development explained to us the process of taking the latest trends and creating a general concept for the designers to use as inspiration; this way Tommy Hilfiger captures the same aesthetic, even though there are numerous sects of design teams.

Next we got to learn about the system Tommy Hilfiger uses to create a uniform look in their visual merchandising store-wide.  Personally, I was impressed to experience the infinite number of possibilities for employment within the fashion industry.  As we students saw, fashion has truly become a specialized profession which demands hardworking individuals from an amazing number of backgrounds and areas of talent.

And so concluded our final field trip on this whirlwind city adventure.  We broke back into small groups to try to squeeze in some final shopping, see last-minute sites, and maximize the mileage on our tired legs, before turning in for our last sleep in NYC.