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Week 13: Harry Potter New York

Harry Potter New York is the first official Harry Potter flagship store, located next to the Flatiron building at 935 Broadway. It houses the largest collection of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts merchandise available under one roof anywhere in the world. It has exclusive products and experiences as well as original props from the films for you to see.

The store is divided into 10 shopping sections which include; the flagship entrance, the atrium of awe, the House room, Honeydukes confectionery, Wands, Toys and games, The Dark Arts, Jewelry, Books and the House of Minalima. There is also a butterbeer bar and two virtual reality experiences. When you enter the store you are greeted by a large sculpture of Fawkes the phoenix which our guide told us was made in the sculptors backyard during the pandemic. There are many other large scale sculptures including a dirigible plum tree in the toy section which grows in the garden of my favorite character, Luna Lovegood.

My favorite sections of the store were Honeydukes, the confectionary section inspired by the sweet shop in the movies,  House of Minalima, an exclusive mini store created by the visual artists for the film and the waiting area of one of the VR experiences, a recreation of Kingscross station that reminded me of home in London. I am a casual fan of Harry Potter but I loved this store as an experience even without being a mega fan. I think it is super interesting to see an example of the future of brick and mortar stores as we often learn in classes about the fact that they are dying. I love how it is a full experience with shopping integrated and truly a destination even if you don’t want to buy anything.

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Week 12: Jewellery Designer

Catbird was founded in 2004 as a small boutique in Williamsburg where the founder Rony sold a variety of things that she liked as well as a few jewellery pieces she made herself. As time went on she found that the jewellery side was where her passions lay and now Catbird is a hugely successful jewellery business, online and in their two stores in Brooklyn and Soho, with both an in house line, manufactured in Brooklyn, and boutique lines.

During my visit to Catbird last semester I found it fascinating that it felt like a very personal small business even though they now have over 250 employees. The office felt very homey and it seemed as if everyone knew each other and got on well. I was very interested to learn how they operate as most of their employees work across multiple sections of the business in both the creative and business side of things. I loved that they had an in house training team who would help employees to learn and move about within the business into whatever area interested them. The fact that such a successful business is able to manufacture everything in a relatively small space was also fascinating to me and seeing the creation process from beginning to end was very interesting.

Our tour guide was one of the jewelry designers. I really enjoyed learning about her career path and how her art degree and making jewellery in her spare time had lead her to where she is now. The fact that she followed her passions into a job that she loves was very inspiring to me. I really loved the way she described the ethos of the business and how everyone there really seemed to care about what they were doing and who they were working with.

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Week 11: The Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, known as “the Met”, is the largest art museum. It is located at 1000 Fifth Avenue on Museum Mile. The museum was founded in 1870 with a mission to bring art and art education to the American people. It contains over 2 million works of art in its permanent collection across 17 curated departments. As well as art the collection holds musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor. The Met has appeared in many films and television programs and is an icon of New York City. Every year there is a Gala held to raise funds for the costume institute and it is known as the fashion Olympics.

I have been to the Met multiple times since I’ve been in New York. My favorite trip to the Met was when I went to the ‘Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts’ exhibition. The exhibition paired original illustrations, artifacts and clips from Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast with artifacts from the same time periods that the movies were set in. I loved seeing the real life inspiration behind some of my childhood favorites. I was especially taken with the section on Snow White as it was my grandmother's favorite film and I have fond memories of talking to her about it and I know she would have loved seeing the inspirations and original sketches. I also loved reading about how the animators went to the Met to find inspiration and seeing the actual pieces that they saw before they made the films.

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Week 10: Nordstrom Talk

This week we had a talk from a former student of our professor who now works at the head office of Nordstrom. Nordstrom is a luxury department store founded in 1901 by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in Seattle, Washington. It began as purely a shoe store and expanded to clothing in 1963 before expanding into a full-scale retailer in 1971. Nordstrom Rack, the off-price division of the company, was founded in 1976. Nordstrom is a Hall of Fame member of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" and has ranked for 20 years in a row.

She talked us through her career path at Nordstrom, she worked for Hautelook which was a flash sale website that Nordstrom acquired but has now been fully integrated into Nordstrom Rack. It was super interesting to learn about her career path in the e-commerce world and all of the different positions that she has held. I hadn’t heard of many of the positions that she had held and it was a really good learning experience to hear her discuss her career path. I found it fascinating to learn about the merchandising side of the industry as I have mainly learnt about the design side. I also found it interesting to hear about how Nordstrom’s e-commerce has evolved even just in the past few years.

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Week 9: Splendid Showroom

This week for Study Tour we went to the Delta Galil office to visit the Splendid showroom. Delta Galil Industries is a manufacturer and marketer of private label apparel products for men, women and children, established in 1975. It produces underwear, bras, socks, baby clothing, leisurewear and nightwear for men and women. Brands include Splendid, 7 for all Mankind, Skims, Calvin Klien Kids and Athena. Delta Galil acquired Splendid in 2016.

We visited the Splendid showroom and got a talk from the designer and head of PR. Splendid was founded in 2002 with a mission to create the perfect t-shirt. They have maintained a focus on comfort, softness and a timeless aesthetic. They create elevated basics that are meant to be the ultimate comfort and last. They create lines for men, women, children, swim, sleep and home. They have 15 standalone stores and are present in many department stores across the US as well as having a strong e-commerce presence.

Both women talked us through their career journeys and what they do in their current positions. Hearing about how the two women progressed through their careers to get to where they are was also super inspirational and gave me a good idea of how my career might be. I really loved learning about the designer’s process and how she finds inspiration and puts together a collection. I particularly loved seeing her process board and I thought it was super interesting to see that she used an image of an interior as a key inspiration.

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Week 8: Aritzia

Aritzia is a Canadian women's fashion brand founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Brian Hill in 1984 with the original vision to offer beautiful clothes in aspirational spaces with exceptional service. They primarily sell in-house brands, such as Wilfred, Wilfred Free, Sunday Best, TNA and Babaton. Each is treated as an independent label with its own creative team and aesthetic. They sell a variety of styles from workwear to activewear and much in between. As well as their in-house brands they add a few select external brands that share their vision.

Aritzia recently gained a large following after a Tiktok was posted talking about how great their vegan leather trousers are. They have somewhat of a cult following as a result, with both their vegan leather goods and the sculpt knitwear being particularly popular. Aritzia’s core values are creativity, loyalty, excellence, good judgment, integrity and teamwork. They work hard to prioritize fit and comfort and spend time specifically designing every small detail.

Each Aritzia store has a unique feel and is designed individually. We visited their 13,000 square foot fifth avenue flagship location. My favorite part of the fifth avenue store was the giant wooden mushroom forest that dominated the space at over 30 feet tall, running from the lower level to the roof of the third floor through the central stairway. Each mushroom is hand carved from cherry wood and the installation creates a spectacular yet cozy space. It definitely holds it’s own among the many luxury flagships it shares fifth avenue with.

I love Aritzia’s clean classic style as well as their more trendy pieces and I think it’s a perfect place to buy elevated, quality basics. I will definitely be investing in some of their pieces in the future and bringing my friends into the store when they visit from London as they do not currently sell in Europe.

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Week 7: Diane Von Furstenburg

Diane von Furstenberg decided to become a fashion designer after she married a prince and decided she wanted to be known as her own person and not just his wife. She apprenticed in Italy at a textiles manufacturer where she developed her now iconic wrap dress that launched in 1973. In 1992 she sold $1.2 million of her Silk Assets collection in two hours on QVC. From 2006 - 2019 she was chairwomen of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Her wrap dress holds a place in fashion history, it is still a popular garment among women from all walks of life and is featured in the Met museums costume gallery.

Within the flagship store in the meatpacking district is the DVF x Ashley Longhorn Portraits of Inspiring Women Gallery. I loved the gallery and thought that every portrait beautifully captured the beauty and strength of each of the woman featured. The fact that the portraits are unlabeled demonstrates how these women are so iconic they need no introduction and I found it amazing that everyone in our group was excited about different women who were featured. I loved the range of women represented from across history and different areas of influence, from Cleopatra to Amelia Earhart to Meghan Markle to Barbie. My favourite portrait was of Malala Yousafzai because I find her deeply inspiring and I think the portrait captured her strength.

Kristin Gardener was very interesting to listen to. I enjoyed hearing about how she tries to build a team of people who are different from her and how they all work together to exploit each person's individual strengths. I think this a great way to build a team and I really resonated with the desire to work with people who are different than you as I think this is the best way to build your skills and push yourself.

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Week 6: Dover Street Market

Dover Street Market is a curated store of luxury and streetwear brands. It was started by Rei Kawakubo of Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons and her husband Adrian Joffe. The first location opened in 2004 on Dover Street in Mayfair, London and there are now locations in New York City, Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing and Los Angeles. Dover Street Market New York opened in December 2013 in Murray Hill, Manhattan in the old New York School of Applied Design building at 160 Lexington Avenue. Dover Street Market carries all of the Comme de Garcon brands as well as a mix of more traditional luxury, such as Prada and Balenciaga, and streetwear, such as Supreme.

One thing I found super interesting was the way that Supreme operates as a brand. They use a system of ‘drops’ which are made available once a week on a Thursday. You have to make an appointment online and you will be given a time slot and location where you will be able to shop, with Dover Street Market being one of the options. We visited Dover Street on a Thursday and got to see first hand the line outside of people waiting for their slot.

My favourite piece that I saw at Dover Street Market was a Molly Goddard dress. I was lucky enough to attend one of her shows in 2017 and I’ve been a big fan of her work ever since. It was a red dress with ruffles sewn all over the bodice and full skirt and the whole thing was made of a red organza. I loved how feminine and bold the whole piece was. I also loved a comme de garçon headband that I saw which was pink gingham with a large structured bow. I loved how fun and playful it was while still being elevated.

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Week 5: M&S Schmalberg Fabric Flowers

M&S Schmalberg is a handmade fabric flower company. They are a family business and the last remaining flower factory in the country. The flower factory has been open since 1916 and is currently owned by the fourth generation of the original family that started it. They originally worked purely in bulk order for fashion houses. Over the last 20 years the business has become more focussed on specialty custom fabric flower projects for couture fashion designers, milliners and costume designers and they have diversified their business to work on custom orders for individuals, such as brides and students, as well as selling individual pre-made flowers on etsy and in house.

I absolutely loved our factory tour of M&S Schmalberg. It was clear from the moment we walked in that it was a special place with history. Seeing the hundreds of different molds that are used to create all of the different flowers was truly amazing to me. The combination of traditional and more modern techniques used to create the flowers was super interesting to learn about as well as how each technique had been updated over the years. I loved learning about all of the projects they have worked on and the different ways that flowers have been brought to life for different projects. I particularly found the story of how Oscar De La Renta used to send flowers from his personal garden for them to replicate and how Vera Wang had a custom flower made from 30 different flower parts.

Something Owner Adam Brand said that resonated with me was how he had had many people come and attempt to tell him how to make his business better but there was a reason that each part of the process is done in a certain way. I think keeping traditional skills and crafts alive is so important and it really shows in the final pieces that each one is made with care.

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Week 4: New York Embroidery Studio

The New York Embroidery Studio is a full service embellishment and manufacturing facility. They have no minimums and work on projects of all scales from large runs to individual projects. They also work with partner factories overseas to produce larger runs while keeping the same standards they have in house. They have worked for many high profile clients in fashion such as Marc Jacobs. They have more capabilities than any other factory of it's kind in the city. Their services include embroidery, printing, pleating, coloreel, stitching, smocking, lazer and sequins. They employ a large number of highly skilled craftspeople, seamstresses, and designers who are specially trained in each technique in order to produce the highest quality work. I was fascinated by everything I saw on our visit.

I loved learning about all of the heritage embroidery machines that are still in use at the New York Embroidery Studio. When I first saw them all lined up I assumed that they must be there for decoration because they were such old beautiful machines. When we were told that they were very much still in use and each one had a unique function I was so amazed. It was super interesting to see samples of what a few of them could do and seeing them actually in use to make garments was so amazing. It was super cool to see someone using one to embellish the front of a military dress uniform that was going to be used at Westpoint.

I also loved seeing the pleating techniques. I love pleating and often use it in my designs so it was interesting to see how different types of pleats are made both by hand and by machine. It was interesting to learn the differences between types of pleats such as accordion pleats and crystal pleats.

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Week 3: NYFW - Playtime and Kids Hub New York

As part of New York Fashion Week, I went with the designer at my internship, Maisonette, to Playtime and Kids Hub New York in the Metropolitan Pavilion on W 18th Street. Playtime and Kids Hub New York is a trade show for childrens fashion and toys. Playtime was founded in 2010 and became the major event for the kid’s fashion and lifestyle industry in the United States for independent brands. Kids Hub is a selection of brands targeted to the broader US market. They combined in 2021 to create the must-attend event for the entire kid’s fashion industry. Playtime also hosts events in Paris and Shanghai for the european and asian markets. The show combines a curated blend of independent designers and well-established international labels to make a comprehensive display of the industry.

We attended the trade show in order to research trends and ideas for the upcoming seasons. We walked through the show and discussed and made notes on our favorite brand and pieces that inspired us as well as noting trends that we saw. It was very cool to see booths from brands that I have researched previously, such as Angel’s Face, and see their new collections in person. I also saw lots of brands I had not heard of before with unique styles that inspired me for my own work. I was also able to get free copies of industry magazines that had lots of cool and inspiring editorial images that showcased all of the possibilities in childrenswear.

I really loved getting a behind the scenes look at the sector of the industry that I am interested in pursuing. I also enjoyed thinking about how maybe one day I could start a brand and show at a trade show like this. I’m very glad I had the opportunity to attend.

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Week 2: Scavenger Hunt

This week we went on a scavenger hunt around Midtown. We were given a list of clues and we had to use them to find various locations that are iconic to the city and/or relevant to us as fashion students. Places we found along the way include the New York Public Library, Bryant Park, the Button sculpture and Mood Fabrics. It was fun to see how close all of these things are to each other and the school and truly experience how walkable New York is as a city. Most of the places were familiar to me as I have been in New York for 4 months and I live in Midtown but it was fun to see all of the students who are new this semester experience these things for the first time.

My favorite part of the scavenger hunt was the New York Public Library as it’s such a beautiful and iconic building. I love going there to study and experience the beautiful environment as well as learning about the history of it. Our professor also told us about the annex building across the street which has a rooftop area for studying in the warmer months and I will definitely have to check it out once the weather clears up.

I had a very fun time running around this area of the city and getting to know all the girls in my study tour class. It started raining and we had to figure out where we were going while trying to stay dry.

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Study Tour Week 1: Mood Designer Fabrics

Mood Designer Fabrics was founded in 1991 by Jack Sauma. Sauma had worked in the fashion industry for many years both as a sewer for prestigious designers and running his own lines. After many years in the business he grew frustrated with the slow processes and started to sell his excess fabric from his lines to make extra money while he was waiting. He quickly realized that his fabric sold very quickly and that other designers must be in the same position as him. Mood opened originally as purely wholesale but after many requests from home sewers he decided to expand the store to include retail in 1993. After becoming incredibly successful and outgrowing their space, Mood relocated to its current location in 2003.

During our visit to Mood we were lucky enough to speak to multiple people who explained the history of the store and the way it currently functions. I particularly enjoyed learning about the leather section of the store. When buying leather it is priced in square feet and has to be purchased in entire hides. I found it super fascinating to learn about the different options and finishes available when it comes to leather and it inspired me to experiment with real leather in my design in the future.

I have been to Mood multiple times before for projects last semester. My first impression was that it’s a treasure trove of different fabrics and trims. I loved the rainbow wall of zippers especially. As I explored it more I enjoyed finding all kinds of fabrics at different price points. I also found it super interesting to see all the fabrics that were originally for major design houses that you can buy for your own projects, particularly a print from Anna Sui that I loved.