IN THE LIFE OF A FASHION INTERN During the summer of 2009, Rachel Oliner (HC’11) interned at Joey Showroom, a high-end contemporary showroom located in Chelsea, New York, N.Y. A showroom acts as a manager for the brands that it carries and is essentiallythe middleman between the buyers and the individual lines themselves. Buyers come to showrooms in order to pick out the pieces that they would like to carry in their stores in the upcoming seasons. Joey Showroom carries such brands as Black Halo, Rich & Skinny, Laila Azhar and Anne Leman. 7: 45 a.m. I pull myself begrudgingly out of bed and eat breakfast in the tiny living room of my NYU apartment. I can see the man in the apartment building next door stretching naked for the world to see. Good morning, New York. 8:20 a.m. I hop on the 6 train at Union Square, then I join the frantic rush transferring onto the El train to 8th Ave. and 14th St. 8:37 a.m. Note to self: stop eating bananas in front of the construction workers on 11th Ave. These catcalls are getting old. 9:02 a.m. Thank god I’m here before my Chelsea Halbach, Office Manager and also my boss. That’s always a good start. I spot the other interns, and we make coffee and file papers for the sales representatives. Janelle, one of the interns, comes in wearing clothes from yesterday. No comment. 10:12 a.m. A deliveryman hands me three overstuffed garment bags from Saks Fifth Avenue, filled with Black Halo samples. We have to steam them and then return them to their correct spots in the showroom. Visual merchandising goes like this: clothes are sectioned off by brands and then by ship date (earliest first). They are then organized by color, by style and finally by length (tops are placed in front of dresses, dresses are placed in front of pants, etc.). 12:15 p.m. Three of the most put-together people I have ever seen come out of the elevator. Fur vests, leather motorcycle jackets, Louboutins galore. Turns out they are the buyers from Barney’s. I immediately offer them coffee, tea, possibly my soul if Joey said so. 12:22 p.m. Joey just asked me to model the Black Halo clothes for the buyers. I just ate a huge lunch, damn those New York bagels. I change in the bathroom, and I put on one of the line’s quintessential Jackie O. dresses in lipstick red. I shove my feet into one of the sales representative’s 2 sizes too small heels. Dear God, Rachel, please don’t fall in
front of the buyers. 12:30 p.m. The buyers take pictures of me, and then my boss politely informs me that I can resume being an intern again. Bye bye, modeling career. 1:20 p.m. The showroom is quiet again and there is almost nothing to do. Sarah, an intern from Arizona, and I are hanging out with Majeed, one of the sales representatives who used to be the director of Moschino. He tells us that if we want to break into the fashion industry, we have to stay away from fashion magazines and anything resembling haute couture; the real money is in the showrooms and the expensive contemporary lines. 2:00 p.m. Sarah and I head to Bloomingdale’s to merchandise the Rich & Skinny denim area. Shouldn’t the sales people here be doing this? Apparently we are the ones who have to make sure that the jeans are displayed well and are organized in the correct style and size order. 2:40 p.m. We head to the 7th floor of Bloomingdale’s, where, nestled in the bedding department, is the best frozen yogurt shop in the whole city: Forty Carrots. 3:00 p.m. We return to the showroom, where we discretely try to wipe off the chocolate and raspberry swirl from our lips. My boss asks me to go fetch him several bottles of diet tonic water. Is this some kind of sick joke to play on the measly fashion intern? Is there even such a thing as diet tonic water? Are there calories in water to begin with? 4:15 p.m. Proven wrong. Diet tonic water is purchased. We begin to clean the showroom and merchandise it before we leave for the day. 6:05 p.m. I get back to my apartment and make my usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. Hurray for budgeting! 10:30 p.m. I meet Simran Singh at the Gates, which is probably my most favorite spot in the entire city. There’s some indie movie after-party going down, and I think I spot the camera crew from the reality show, “The City.” 10:52 p.m. This virgin mojito is delicious. 11:15 p.m. We sit down at one of the bottle-service tables and grab some non-alcoholic beers with these rocker dudes who look like Dave Grohl circa 1992. We get in their private, chauffeured Denali and head to their loft apartment in Chelsea. You only live once, right?
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