So you want to be in the fashion industry...

Author: Malu Fernandez
Column: Life & Entertainment

Is the fashion industry truly as glamorous as it seems? Well it may seem glamorous and exciting for those people who aren’t in the industry but staying on top of the fashion world is gut-wrenching and a lot of hard work. The world of fashion is truly a different culture. More people have attitudes like those of Vanessa Williams’ character in Ugly Betty than Betty herself. The primary reason is not because they are nasty people, but because staying on top of every trend is tough and full of pressure.

Just think of those poor contestants in Project Runway and you will get the picture of how the industry really is.

Early on in my fashion career I chose to be a working designer, not a famous designer. I chose this path because one day I had attended a symposium at the Met in NYC hosted by Natori, Michael Kors and Christian Francis Roth whose name quite frankly reminded me more of a rich banker or broker at the NYC stock exchange.

Frankly when I walked into the great hall of the museum I was overwrought with anxiety. I saw before me at least 100 fashion students who had just graduated—100 students vying for the same job in NY, 100 students all wanting to have fame in fashion and their names come out in Anna Wintour’s list of new designers to watch out for.

I suddenly got nauseated and I just wanted to go to the nearest lavatory to puke. That’s how nervous I was and I am not the type who usually fears competition or gets nervous. But reality hit me hard, so I had decided right there and then to just concentrate on being a working designer rather than search for fame and grace the pages of Vogue. I was all about a steady pay check.

So I paid my dues, I ran up and down 7th Avenue and Broadway knocking off expensive designer clothes in polyester for this knock off house on Broadway. I was told to buy the clothes in the morning, copy the pattern and return it by late afternoon. I worked with endless yards of bengaline, a fabric so popular in the late ’80s and early ’90s. I don’t know the Filipino name for it. When I came home, I designed for the major house brands of various local retailers once in a while I would do my own line but I mostly made money for private label brands. RTW is easy—if they don’t like it, you put it on sale, still get a small profit and everyone is happy. To do one-on-one couture and make gowns and dresses for the select few socialites was never for me. It’s too personal and I hate fitting clients who think they know better than you about what looks good on them, so I prefer staying anonymous behind RTW labels.

Everyone thinks being a fashion designer is all about drawing the dress or having a neat sketch, but you really have to think like an architect and engineer. The clothes need to be properly formatted and constructed using whatever sewing machines you have (like I said before, think Project Runway.) Your design may look good to you but if the top fashion people reject you, choose another career path it’s less cruel to your ego.

Let me illustrate. I went to a small art school with a fashion department run by teachers from Parson’s we were only 15 fashion majors in the whole school. One girl transferred to RISD and she now graces the pages of Vogue that girl is Behnaz Sarapour, who was this rich Jewish girl connected to Isaac Mizrahi. So one out of 15 made Vogue. But she wasn’t the best designer in class. There were far better ones who chose to work for Ralph Lauren and Dior. I myself decided to go home because working visas were a bitch to get in the fashion industry back then and I also wanted to work here, where I had all the comforts of home. Big mistake! But one doesn’t cry over spilled milk.

Another girl who worked twice as hard was asked to leave simply because she had no taste and was what we would call “baduy.” It didn’t matter if she attended all her classes on time and gave in her homework, she didn’t fit the image and the program. I truly felt bad for this girl because it was heartbreaking to see her being told on the other side of the studio away from the class that she was being ejected. By the end of the year only 10 of us were left.

I remember staying in the studio until the wee hours of the morning just to get the perfect body suit. I must’ve sewn about six body suits until I got the perfect pattern. That’s how the rest of the class worked. We had to master our skills in sewing as well as our sketches so we could get a job, any job, in fashion.

The industry in Manila has come a long way—fashion schools are sprouting up and a lot of the new talent know how to do their own patterns and sew their own clothes. Unlike before, when anyone with money had their own label and called themselves a designer, nowadays people with real skills are standing out. Remember, even if you get all the media hype in fashion if you don’t back it up with real fashion skills you will be out the door as quickly as you came in.

Source: Manila Standard Today

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