Hello blogging world! Who am I? I’m an aspiring fashion entrepreneur who created this blog to chronicle my adventures in my own little Monde Chic (Stylish World)! I was inspired by my former classmate, Hershey Ang who took a blogging course in AIM. And yeah since I will be studying fashion in LA soon, it would be nice to have a little record of my life before I leave, when I’m there, and wherever my fashion career will take me.
So just a little background, my obsession with a career in fashion started when I worked as an intern in Louis Vuitton Philippines last 2008. Actually I just got lucky. I looked for interesting companies on the internet and just emailed my resume to those companies. I must have sent my resume to 20 to 30 companies, and LV was one of them. The brand manager emailed me, asked me to come in for an interview, and the rest was history. Haha! I worked mainly in PR (helped the communications manager set up press releases, events, etc.) Working in LV made me realize that indeed, if you love your job, you never have to work for a single day in your life.
Outside the Louis Vuitton store during an event
Fast forward… I graduated from Ateneo (BS ME) last March 2009 and have been working in this local fashion / retail company since April 2009. Yup I started working 4 days after graduation since I was so excited! So anyway, we have this department store called Adora. I’m a Merchandise Manager handling 4 departments. This was a great first full time job. I got to pick out what items would be sold in the store (which I thought was really cool), got to do pricing, made business plans, analyzed sales, thought of promotions, etc. Basically I learned a lot about the retail business, and I am still learning up to now (although not as much as when I started). My ultimate goal is to be a fashion entrepreneur and I feel like I need familiarize myself with all aspects of the fashion business.
My desk
That brings me to the next stage of my life. I decided to study fashion production abroad in order to expand my horizon. I applied to FIDM (Fashion Institute of Merchandising) in Los Angeles, California since I believe that this is the best school when it comes to production (fusion of the business and design aspects of fashion). Actually I first found out about FIDM in this MTV reality show called The Hills. Haha but really, I have no intentions of living the Hollywood life (and drama) ala Lauren Conrad or Heidi Montag!
So anyway, I researched about this school and found out about their list of graduates (the designer Monique Lhuillier, co-founder of Juicy Couture Pamela Skaist-Levy, Project Runway season 5 winner Leanne Marshall, etc.), their amazing campus, and their state of the art facilities (the biggest fashion library in the west, a garment district loft that simulates a manufacturing facility, computers that are equipped with the most advanced design software, etc.)
FIDM LA campus
The program that I chose is Apparel Manufacturing Management (Professional Designation). Here’s a brief description:
The Apparel Manufacturing Management Program is designed to prepare students for eventual ownership and/or management of a fashion manufacturing company. This applied learner-centered program involves the student in all phases of product innovation, line development, global sourcing, production planning, technology use, sales management, financial control, and global human resources management.
I believe that this is the perfect program for me since this is an entrepreneurial program and it tackles several aspects of the fashion business. I applied last November, got accepted, got my student visa, and now I am all set to start this April! I’m very very excited!
