The Fashion Years - Part Deux

I'm thrilled that many of you requested a second part of me talking about my time working in fashion. I was excited at first to discuss something fun but I realize now how industries are intertwined.

I chose to write about my time working in fashion because of its comical element, yes, but it also brought on various learning experiences that have given me great insight. Many people assume that working in fashion was the reason I got into nutrition because of the eating disorders that are associated with the industry. It was, but it also wasn’t. I went through my own bouts of disordered eating, but it wasn’t quite due to seeing extremely thin bodies everywhere, it was due to my own unhappiness. I can also write about this fully later on, but I think every experience we have as humans shapes us into who we are today. I speak so much on social justice and empathy, which don’t seem like nutrition topics off the bat, but everything is, in a way, intertwined. I also constantly think of capitalism, consumerism, elitism, individualism, and all other -isms that shape our thought process as a society and how I saw these first hand working at some high end clothing companies and I see them now in the form of policies that affect our healthcare. They are completely different careers but the same -isms nonetheless. All that being said, I do find joy in sharing my experience, and I wish I had the capacity to go into greater detail, but that will just have to become another book one day. Maybe. Until then, please enjoy The Fashion Years Part 2.

I admittingly wasn’t ever an avid Friends viewer, but I do remember Jennifer Aniston’s character, Rachel Green, who worked at Ralph Lauren. In fact, I remember many movies and television shows from the 90s and early 2000s with the main female characters working in fashion, which was partly why it was so alluring and glamorous. There was this hypnotizing appeal to it, which is why I was transfixed for so long.

I left off last with my experience interning at the fashion magazines for a year (Read about it here: An essay about fashion? Groundbreaking.), and it was during this time when I decided I really needed a paying job. Being a fashion editor or writer was not going to come as easily or quickly as I pictured, but since I had already gotten my foot in the door, I was determined to stay. I signed up with a fashion freelance agency and had lots of odd gigs (receptionist, working at fashion parties, etc.), but the good news was that they were paying me. It was about $13/hour, which was really criminal, but at least I was getting some form of a paycheck. Or at least this is what I was telling myself. One of the gigs ended up being at a very popular and high-end brand clothing company, assisting the production manager with their athleisure wear.

It was the first time I felt pretty cool getting on the train from Brooklyn, to get to Manhattan, stopping at the nearby cafe to grab my coffee each morning, and going to my makeshift cubicle. When you go from having no space in the fashion closet as an intern to doing random gigs where you feel even more out of place in a certain way, having a set cubicle can be exciting, I guess. My supervisor was a man who commuted every day from Pennsylvania. Yes, you read that correctly. He had a quiet but anxious energy about him, probably because he spent so many hours traveling each day but also because of office politics and micromanaging multiple personalities, which I learned about very quickly. From my personal experience, there were two head designers for the men’s wear that were very nice and helpful. There were also two head designers on the women’s team, and I quickly learned to try to avoid them at all costs. Kind of hard to do because when you are a part of the production team, you have to talk to the design team because it’s their work, so my goal was always to try to limit my correspondence with that particular team as much as possible.

Every job and workplace has office drama because you are working with multiple personalities and ideas, but I find creative minds much more theatrical if you will. Team meetings were a great way to get in some morning entertainment. One of the designers, who was one, in particular, I tried my best to avoid because she found a way of communicating that I can only describe as a level above sassy, was once having words with another member of the production team. I don’t remember what it was about, but I do remember the production team member cocking her head to the side during their little disagreement and asking in the seemingly politest voice (or maybe because she was British and many of us Americans just stereotype their accent as such), “Umm can you explain to me what you do? What is your job title? Because you are saying one thing, but you are doing another.” I was gagged, speechless, even because I don’t think anyone ever expected those words to be uttered from her mouth. I don’t know how many of you have ever been able to witness in real-time a bully being given a dose of karma in the form of their own medicine, but it is truly a magical experience. 

I can’t tell you exactly what I did from day to day, but it was your typical assistant work. I freelanced at this company for about six months, which was my first introduction to what working at a popular name brand was really like. It is sort of amazing because you see these fancy stores and really well-put-together clothes, so I get why so many folks associate it with glitz and glamour. But underneath all of this, please know that the actual corporate workers are working behind the scenes in small cubicles and back rooms, often with no windows (except the designers), and it is often the opposite of fabulous. This doesn’t change how the garments or products come out, but the difference always makes me giggle. My goal was always to get something full-time, AKA something with benefits, so I was still on the lookout while freelancing. After a few months, I finally secured that full-time job, which was incredibly exciting but brought on a whole new learning curve.

*Fun facts - I ran into that same supervisor at a nightclub a few years later, and he was working as a bouncer. Random but very true. We kind of just stared at each other in disbelief because it was one of those odd New York moments. And more recently, I went on a date with one of the men’s designers. This was 10+ years ago, and funny enough, neither one of us recognized each other on the dating app until we met in person. Another classic New York moment. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.*

---

This new full-time job was at another popular brand, not high-end, but very popular, and you probably have a couple of pieces of their products in your closet right now. I believe I was about 24 years old or so, which means my prefrontal cortex had not fully closed. I say this because during this time, I began living on my own and trying to figure out how to become a fully formed adult, so it wasn’t an easy adjustment, to say the least. I don’t think we give enough credit to younger people this age because it’s not easy and something that college doesn’t prepare you for. I look back at my younger self and realize that I was struggling to figure everything out. There is a saying that adults really don’t know what we’re doing, and everyone is trying to figure it out, and this is true. Especially when you are 24 years old. It didn’t help that my new manager and I did not get along personality-wise. It also didn’t help that I was an introvert, and working in a setting such as that one, you are expected not to be, or you are labeled “the weird one.” I was nervous to voice my opinions and speak up. I also saw the mean-spirited gossip around the office and decided that it wasn’t for me. It was a learning curve and an introduction to adult life for sure, but I lasted three years. It was during this time when I began questioning my place in the fashion world, but it wasn’t enough to get me to quit. At least not yet, and I just thought I needed a new environment, so afterward, I started another job at a higher-end company.

I remember when I started at this particular company, there were a ton of oohs and aahs based on the name alone, but as you can imagine, not everything that glistens is gold. I was a Production Associate along with six other women, and we were in charge of different categories (accessories, bags, bridal, etc.) I mentioned office politics before that comes with any job, but this one was quite interesting. The brand owner/head designer decided to keep work within the family with his hiring. You can imagine where this is going, and it’s not good. The owner decided to hire his daughter as part of the communications team and his son-in-law as chief financial officer (CFO.) His son-in-law used to work in investment financing on Wall Street, so you would think this was a no-brainer, only it wasn’t since he had been fired from that Wall Street job due to “indiscretions.” He also did not have the professional mannerisms you would probably expect from anyone really. I’ll never forget when I was having a meeting with one of our garment suppliers, and in the next room was the CFO shouting a whole slew of obscenities at whoever had the misfortune of being on the receiving end of his rage. Mr. CFO was actually known for his anger issues around the office, which I don’t think is something anyone would want to be known for, but I could be wrong. Aside from his rage issues, I also learned that not paying suppliers was what the company was known for. It felt like such an alternate universe to see such high-quality and downright expensive items being worn by celebrities, floating up and down the runways at fashion week, and sold in stores while also knowing that the vendors were not being paid on time or really at all. The company was able to get away with this simply because it was an honor to work with such a high-value name in the industry. They also had bills to pay, but I guess feeling honored is important to some. Where was the money going exactly? Well, you would have to ask Mr. CFO. Good luck with that.

Believe it or not, I actually have many more stories, but I think you get the picture. In a way, this was a fun way for me to tell you all a bit about myself. I discuss nutrition quite a bit, I am a dietitian after all, but I also love talking about my pre-dietitian life. I am a career changer, which is different from realizing you wanted to do something straight out of college, and I think this makes a difference in how I communicate and how I look at situations from various perspectives. That being said, I hope you enjoyed a peek into my non-nutrition-related previous world. It was quite the experience for me that I love sharing.