An Interview About Fashion With Alexa Emilio

Alexa Emilio is a junior at the Fashion Institute of Technology who studies fashion merchandising.  She has had interest in fashion for several years and has gained experience in fashion from school and her job at Express.  She is currently a manager at Express after being in the store at the Staten Island Mall for several years now.  Alexa is looking to pursue a professional career in fashion and I was honored to have this interview with her.  The interview, for me, was an insightful way to look into the fashion world that I know so little about.

Nick: Can you tell me what the fashion world is like today?  What are the newest and most popular styles of clothing?

Alexa: The fashion world today is ever changing as there are so many different aspects that go into this industry. It is very fast paced, and trends come and go very rapidly. The newest and most popular styles of clothing involve the Peplum style.  This style has been seen is so many different products: tops, bottoms, dresses, and skirts. It has been around for almost a year now and is still seen in various retail stores and on mannequins. Furthermore, it can fit any body type and looks great on everyone. I believe this style is going to become a classic rather than a fad.

Nick: Knowing the industry, what do you feel is a more trendy and bigger industry: men or women’s fashion?

Alexa: Being that I am a lady and I work in a retail store, I do feel that today the men and women’s industry are at the same level. Working at Express, our men’s sales are always much higher than our women’s sales are, but we always have a lot more foot traffic on the women’s side. Also, I feel that the men’s and women business are both extremely trendy. I believe that any look that is “hot” on the women’s side.  The men’s designers take inspiration from that style and make it appropriate for men. Same for the women’s designers, I have seen a lot of menswear inspiration in many different types of clothing.

Nick: I hear that you major in fashion merchandising at FIT.  What is the importance of the fashion merchandiser and its role in the fashion role?

Alexa: Well Nick, fashion merchandising takes up a large part of the fashion business.  It involves 3 main categories: buying merchandise, selling merchandise, and being a merchandiser. A buyer buys and prices merchandise for resale; when buying products they try to obtain the highest quality goods at the lowest cost. Next you have a Sales Executive. A sales executive sells product to the retail buyers. Lastly, you have a merchandiser. A merchandiser is the liaison between the designer and the sales team. In addition, merchandisers’ are continuously involved in business promotion by buying and selling goods the buying and selling of merchandise. Furthermore in merchandising you can also have a product developer and the product available are basically specific products to be developed internally so they are basically like the designers for private label retailer.

Nick: Do you have any fashion designer or figure that inspires you?

Alexa: A Fashion designer that really inspires me would be Christian Louboutin. Christian Louboutin is a French designer who designs women’s and men’s shoes and handbags. He is a luxury designer and he is most known for his red bottom soles or more commonly referred to as “red bottoms.” They are featured in many music videos, TV shows, movies, and are spotted on many celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Victoria Beckham, and Blake Lively. The silhouette of every single shoe Christian Louboutin creates is stunning and many people try to knock off his items because they are so popular and do so well within the market. Women crave to put their feet in his shoes.

Nick: What experiences have you had with big-time fashion designers?

Alexa: I haven’t really had experience with big-time fashion designers, although I did intern at a luxury retailer this past summer. I interned at Burberry, and while at Burberry, I learned that they do not have a single designer responsible for all of the product; however, they do have a creative director. While interning there, I worked very closely with many different departments. These departments would include wholesale, marketing, public relations, and operations. I was in the showroom department, and these other departments always came to the showroom to borrow samples. It was such a great experience, and this is the closest I have gotten to a designer.

Nick: Have you ever done a fashion show before?  What is it like?

Alexa: During my second year of college at FIT I actually had to produce a fashion show for my final project. This was for my Creative Fashion Presentations class and we were assigned to work with a group of six girls. We were responsible for various things involving us to find a DJ for music, learn how to set up a light show, hire models, style outfits for the models, find hair and makeup artists, decorate the stage and room as well as create an invitation and flyers to invite many students, faculty, family and friends to come and watch our show. My team and I were inspired to base our show on Andy Warhol. It involved lots of bright colors, bright lights and loud music. The show turned out to be a huge success and we got a great grade.

Nick: My grandfather has been in the fur industry for many decades.  In your opinion, is fur still a popular type of clothing?

Alexa: I most definitely think that fur is still very popular. Furthermore, I feel like it has become a classic. Fur has been in from season to season and I don’t feel that it will ever go out of fashion. I also feel that fur is both a basic and fashion good. Many people need fur to keep them warm during the very cold winter, but the fur most definitely makes a winter coat much more fashionable.

Nick: What led you to pursuing a career in fashion?

Alexa: Ever since I was in high school, I always knew that I wanted to do something in fashion. In my junior year, I took a trip to Paris and to all of the beautiful fashion houses and designer stores took my breath away.  It really made me so passionate about this art. After this trip, I decided to take a fashion class over the summer at FIT. The class I took was called The In’s and Out’s of Fashion Merchandising. This class was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned so much that one summer, and really took so much out of the class. We went on many field trips to fur manufactures and jewelry manufacturers. I also made many connections with my classmates and professor.

Nick: What are your hopes in the future for your fashion career?

Alexa: I plan on working in wholesale sales. Since working at Express for quite some time, I’ve realized that I want to work in sales and sell product. I think it’s such a challenge to sell all different types of clothing to all different types of customers. Wholesale sales is the career for me!

Nick: Can you give me any pointers on my own fashion sense?

Alexa: I think you’re the way you dress and that it represents your personality, so I wouldn’t recommend or change a thing. If you are interested in dressing more trendy, the military trend is very big now.