Everything I learned in my first NYC internship

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved designer clothes. I love magazines and jewelry and handbags and shoes. I loved the luxurious feeling of dressing top to bottom is couture. I loved how high class and majestic I felt strolling down Madison Avenue. I loved the smell of the inside of Gucci or Michael Kors. I loved it all.

I did not, however, anticipate that my career would be in the fashion industry. I always saw it as a novelty and could always appreciate a well-designed pair of Manolo’s, but I did not imagine working in the fashion world, designing my own 12-look line, or running up and down the beautiful streets of New York with a bag full of House of Holland pieces en route to One World Trade Center until I found myself doing all of that last summer, in heels and a dress.

During the summer of 2015, I interned for a fashion PR firm/luxury activewear line in Manhattan. I’m a good communicator and understand social media, so I felt that PR was a good place to start learning about the fashion industry. I had decided my second semester of freshman year that I wanted to work in fashion, so I really had no experience with it (other than shopping and reading magazines) at that point. The firm was very small, so I figured I would be getting a lot of good experience as an intern. There were a few things I learned, big and small, during my first internship.

Don’t forget the daily necessities

On the first day of my internship, I showed up with a small bag that contained my wallet and phone. Big mistake. I was thirsty and a bit hungry all day. Not to mention it ended up raining at night and I had to walk three blocks to the metro without cover. Always prepare yourself with a large, business appropriate bag that is big enough to carry your wallet, phone, umbrella, water bottle and bag of snacks. For the rest of the internship, I had carrots and almonds in my purse at all times.

Be a self-starter and volunteer yourself for things

Every day, I was the first person to volunteer for sample trafficking. I love the city so much and wanted to embrace every opportunity to explore it. I also don’t do well with sitting for too long, so I would absolutely take any chance at getting up and moving that I could get. I quickly became a regular at One World Trade Center and even made friends with a security guard there who seemed genuinely concerned that a small blonde girl kept dragging giant bags of heavy clothes in and out of the building. I also speedily mastered the subway system (and was corrected every time I impulsively called it the “metro” as we do in DC).

I was always running around, but not without stopping for Starbucks!

Take your time

One of our intern duties was to create press clips. This was where I made my first mistake that will stick with me for the rest of my life. It wasn’t a big, world-ending mistake, but a very important one. I was creating a press clip for one of the firm’s clients and I totally forgot an entire portion of it. The woman I reported to quickly responded to my email telling me not to forget X part of the clip. Then, I made another one and forgot another part of it. This exchange went on because my focus was on getting it done quickly, but I was being careless about doing it. This was when I realized that I needed to carry a notebook with me at all times, because though they had told me everything I needed to do for press clips, I had never actually written down the layout. If I had been prepared, I would have made myself an outline so that I always did them correctly.

Have a can-do attitude every day

A few days into my internship, I was invited to come in an hour early and assist at the e-commerce photo shoot for the activewear line. I was beaming with excitement, partially because I loved photography and partially because I had never seen a professional photo shoot firsthand before. First things first: coffee. I made that run (because, of course) and returned to help get the clothes ready. They were all packaged so I needed to help unpack and steam them. The other intern there worked in retail and understood packaging and caring for clothing. I, on the other hand, had no retail experience. My boss asked us both if we knew how to steam clothes. The other girl laughed in a “Well, duh” manner and said “Of course!” I stood their feeling rather inadequate and replied “I don’t, but I would love to learn how to!” The other intern showed me how to do it (it is not complicated at all) and we steamed the clothes together. My official job was to hand the clothes to the model and then fold them back up and package them when they were finished being shot. I did the handing of the clothes part fine, but apparently folding clothes was not a strength of mine. I was working rather quickly, and apparently I folded them horribly because once we got back to the show room to put the clothes on the racks, my boss announced to everyone there that the clothes “were not folded properly!”

My friend Julia walking me to work

Don’t get upset at the office… ever.

Ugh, embarrassment. Everyone who was at the shoot knew it was me, and it only got worse. We had to also tag all the clothes after they were put on the racks. Sounds simple, right? A bra is a bra. Leggings are leggings. Nope. We have the razorback bra, the contour bra, the v pant, the v pant crop, etc. I was so focused on (badly) folding the clothes that I didn’t pay much attention to what each piece was. When I couldn’t figure out which bra was which, I was told that I “shot this today” and how could I “not know what it is?” Needless to say, I felt like a failure. I literally almost teared up right in front of everyone. I had been so ready, so excited to be part of the shoot, but I did not pay enough attention to actually impress anyone. I wanted to break down, but I knew that was not the way to show that I was a good worker – it would only show my weakness and bad attitude. I sucked it up and paid attention so I could learn. At the end of the day, I told my boss that I had a great day and learned a lot. It was true – I had learned how to steam garments, properly fold clothes, the difference between contour bra and razorback bra and how stressful the fashion industry could really be.

Every internship is a good experience, so make the most of it

As time went on, I got better. I played around with inventory enough to understand what piece was what, and continued to be their go-to intern for sample trafficking. I had a really good experience, and went on to take Design Communications at Parsons: The New School in July. There, I created my 12-look line and learned about the actual designing part of fashion. It was an amazing summer, and this year I am interning for Harper’s Bazaar and Badgley Mischka. I anticipate another amazing learning experience. Even though PR may not be the area of fashion that I go into, at least I have that experience. I now understand how fashion PR and design work, so I can use that to move forward in the industry. I can’t wait for another crazy, fun NYC summer!