Week 10 EOC: Dream Job

Fashion Stylist

The main responsibilities include providing fashion advice, and coordinating outfits and accessories for models and on air talent. 
 
Responsibilities include but are not limited to: 

• Select the most appropriate pieces from collections and ranges for the live show - helps to create the concept of product lines, and execute the vision for our partners and vendors


• Style wardrobe looks and design attractive outfits for multiple departments within HSN; primarily supporting the live show


• Preps clothing and accessories as needed, such as ironing and steaming, etc


• Attends pre-production meetings for high profile events


• Develop specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work


• Communicates with producers, reviews flow sheets prior to airtime, and suggests changes based on presentation


• Collaborates with related teams such as the Hair and Makeup Department


• Manages inventory and consigns products (accessories and clothing) according to show needs


• Communicate effectively and clearly to directs models during the live show


• Maintain a neat and organized wardrobe area


• Report recaps of shows on a daily basis


• Keep up to date with emerging fashion trends, styles, and designs; stay current on contemporary styles


• Develops professional, constructive, and cooperative working relationships with vendors, business partners, and on air guests, and maintaining them over time

Minimum Requirements:  

• At least 1-2 years of fashion or visual retail experience (including school work)


• Have basic sewing skills and ability to make quick alterations if needed


• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written


• Ability to design, monitor and implement customized fashions; must have a proven creative skill set


• Detail-oriented


• Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment


• Works well individually and as part of a team


• Must be able to comprehend instruction both written and oral


• Basic computer skills and knowledge of MS Word, Excel, and Outlook


• Adaptable and creative styling abilities to stay on brand

Preferred: 

• Degree in Fashion Design or related degree with experience in runway coordination, visual merchandising or fashion styling  

Schedule: 

• Flexible scheduling – days, nights, overnights, and weekends to support the 24/7 live show environment

Week 5 EOC: Trend Predections

How do trend projections play a role in branding?
Progressive brands are moving away from traditional advertising methodologies and opting for consumer insights to connect authentically to the market. Still, traditional brand-owners are not yet ready to accept that qualitative trends and consumer emotion are driving the market.
The interpretation of trend can be tricky as trend is often influenced by personal opinion and personal experience. There is also so much trend information available that brand managers have a difficult time prioritising the most relevant trends that are affecting their business. In addition, we may identify up to 40 global and local trends, but most corporations are only able to address two main trends per season.
How are people interacting with brands and incorporating them into their lives?
Today’s youth interacts with brands that connect with it on an emotional level. They want to feel that a brand belongs and connects to their lives. They are interested in co-creating with brands and want to feel that they can influence product design, marketing, events and communications.
The 18–24 youth market is wired, educated, cynical and irrational. They’re into brand authenticity. They know everything about the brands that surround them and have grave concerns about social and ethical responsibility. They believe that companies should give back something to the world in which they operate. Davis, M., and Baldwin, J. (2006). More Than a Name: An Introduction to Branding. AVA Publishing   pg. 152     

I feel that trends do have alot to do with the way a brand promotes itself. that has been many examples over the years on how companies that have been around decide to change there logo or brand image to fit a modern world. So many companies focus on their immediate competition for marketplace trends. I preach the gospel to brands about ‘looking sideways’ at products and brands in markets beyond their own. Radical innovations come about when elements from very different worlds are brought together. That could mean a company like Coca-Cola should be tracking what is happening in pharmaceutical branding or telecommunications rather than only studying beverage trends.                                             

Week 8 EOC: Subliminal Advertising

                                                        Subliminal Advertising

Looking for a new way to publicize your product? Have you considered implanting suggestions in your current advertising that link your product to sex and power?

The use of subliminal advertising is the perfect way to go about that… The birth of subliminal advertising as we know it dates to 1957 when a market researcher named James Vicary inserted the words "Eat Popcorn" and "Drink Coca-Cola" into a movie. The words appeared for a single frame, allegedly long enough for the subconscious to pick up, but too short for the viewer to be aware of it. The subliminal ads supposedly created an 18.1% increase in Coke sales and a 57.8% increase in popcorn sales. Many groups have tried to figure out the reason why this accrues. “Thanks to Rapaille, Bostwick and his colleagues now employ a kind of Freudianism Lite in all their market research. “Our theory now is that people express things according to patterns,” he says. “And so, in focus groups, we listen differently. We listen for slips of the tongue. We listen for changes in inflection. We listen for long pauses. We ask, Why  did they pause? Our assumption now is that nothing happens by random chance or accident.” That is what one researcher said on the topic however, nearly 50years ago, sociologist Vance Packard shocked the nation with “The Hidden Persuades”. “A stinging indictment of advertisers’ attempts to massage and mold our inner thoughts, fears and dreams for profit. The slim volume, with its unsettling portraits of slimy “depth men” rooting about in the consumer subconscious, provoked widespread outrage. “We have reached the sad age when minds and not just houses can be broken and entered,” concluded the New Yorker. Thundered the Saturday Evening Post: “The subconscious mind is the most delicate part of the most delicate apparatus in the entire universe … It is not to be smudged, sullied or twisted in order to boost the sales of popcorn or anything else.”  This book went into detail and opened the eyes of many consumers till this day.

In closeing  Dr. Sam Cohen, president of PsychoLogics, also represents this holistic, humanistic breed of hidden persuader was ask what he thought on the topic and reply with, “If Poland Spring is the best prop to help me get rid of bad feelings — which maybe I don’t know how to do so well — aren’t we doing a service, both to the brand and to the consumer? What we’re doing here is we’re making brands more meaningful. Which is helpful, because we don’t all have time for therapy anymore. HMOs make it nearly impossible. And so, from a clinical perspective, brands can be used as a sister, an assistant, in promoting people’s better functioning.”

Week 6 EOC: Rocky Ford- Restoring the Brand

                                                     Rocky Ford Cantaloupe

 

"Two years after cantaloupe were linked to one of the worst foodborne in U.S. history, lawyers have filed a fresh round of lawsuits. Meanwhile, farmers are trying to win back customers after their signature crop was tarred by a broad brush. Only supplied cantaloupes contaminated with the listeria bacteria that killed 33 people and sickened at least 147 more in 28 states in 2011." http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/08/14/211784739/listeria-outbreak-still-haunts-colorados-cantaloupe-growers

 

Week 4 EOC: McDonalds respones to "Super Size Me"

                                     McDonalds response to “Super Size Me”

When filmmaker Morgan Spurlock heard about a lawsuit that two overweight New York teenagers had brought against McDonald's, blaming the restaurant for their condition, he decided to conduct an experiment.

For 30 days, Spurlock ate McDonald's food, three meals a day, to see what would happen to his body. He chronicled this diet in his new documentary "Super Size Me." The crew shot 250 hours worth of footage, traveled more than 25,000 miles and made a movie, from concept to fruition, in less than one year.

During his experiment, Spurlock (despite the protests of his live-in girlfriend, a vegan chef) followed the following four rules:

1. No options. He could eat only what was available over the counter (water included!).
2. No super-sizing unless offered.
3. No excuses. He had to eat every item on the menu at least once.
4. No giving up. He had to eat three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

At the begging of the film Spurlock  was in great shape, according to a physical examination. After a month, he gained 24.5 pounds, his cholesterol with up 65 pounds, his liver basically turned into fat. He was reaching a toxic level, putting himself at risk of non-alcoholic type of hepatitis.

Shortly after the movie aired these are a few statements in response from McDonalds:

Director of Worldwide Nutrition, Dr. Cathy Kapica:
She says, "As a registered nutritionist, I was extremely disappointed when I saw this movie. Here was an opportunity to actually provide insights into a serious problem. In fact, all it turned out to be was an extreme stunt where someone engaged in irresponsible behavior of eating twice as much as they should every day, limiting physical activity. It was a complete disservice to anyone looking for factual information or real solutions."

The company has called the documentary “a super-sized distortion of the quality, choice and variety available at McDonald’s.” It says the film is not about McDonald’s but about Spurlock’s decision to act irresponsibly by eating 5,000 calories a day — “a gimmick to make a film.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500183_162-615975.html

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4433307/ns/business-us_business/t/mcdonalds-phasing-out-supersize-fries-drinks/#.Ufmdd4JD9kg

Week 3 EOC: Rolling Stone

“In 1967, a 20-year-old Jann S. Wenner dropped out of the University of California Berkeley to start a quirky rock-music-oriented biweekly called Rolling Stone—and changed American culture. Treating the interests of America’s increasingly vocal youth with seriousness unknown before, Rolling Stone spoke to—and for—an entire generation. Throughout its illustrious history, Wenner’s commitment to quality journalism has kept Rolling Stone fresh and dynamic—the magazine’s success has proved a new readership is always ready to respond to definitive music coverage, provocative interviews, award-winning photography and important investigative and political reporting.”  http://www.jannswenner.com/Biography/

To get the magazine off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his family members and from the family of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a cover date of November 9, 1967.Rolling Stone magazine was initially identified with and reported on the hippie counterculture of the era. However, the magazine distanced itself from the underground newspapers of the time, such as Berkeley Barb, embracing more traditional journalistic standards and avoiding the radical politics of the underground press. In the very first edition of the magazine, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone "is not just about the music, but about the things and attitudes that music embraces." This has become the de facto motto of the magazine. During the 1980s the magazine began to shift focus towards being a general "entertainment" magazine. Music was still a dominant topic but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, movies and the pop culture of the day. The magazine also initiated its annual "Hot Issue" during this time.

“The printed format has gone through several changes. The first publications 1967-72, were folded tabloid newspaper format, no staples with black ink text, and a single color highlight that changed each edition. From 1973 on, editions were done on a 4 color press with a different newsprint paper size. In 1979 the bar code appeared. In 1980 it became a gloss paper large format 10 x 12 magazine. As of the October 30th, 2008 edition, Rolling Stone is a smaller, standard-format magazine size. (USA Today, Associated Press Anick Jesdanun)” http://cecilbuffington.com/photo3_40.html

"It is absolutely impossible to predict what newsstands sales are going to be," Rolling Stone Managing Editor Will Dana told NPR after the anger erupted. "... It's something you have to be mindful of, but at the same time, put out of your mind on a case-by-case basis. ...We really go with our gut on these things, usually." http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/23/us/rolling-stone-sales/

Week 2 EOC: John Varvatos SWOT

SWOT Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, 
Opportunities, and Threats…
“John Varvatos is a brand that occupies a unique place in the landscape of American design. It unites old world craftsmanship and refined tailoring with modern innovations in textiles and a rock 'n' roll sensibility. Launched in 2000 with a collection of tailored clothing and sportswear, the brand now represents an entire lifestyle that includes belts, bags, footwear, eyewear, limited edition watches, luxury skincare and fragrances, as well as the younger, edgier John Varvatos Star USA collection and Converse by John Varvatos.” http://www.johnvarvatos.com/about

Right from the start John was aniouxus to get ahead in his craft.  John first received accolades from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in 2000 when he was honored with the Perry Ellis Award for Menswear, which goes to the most promising new talent in the industry. John compounded this achievement the following year by winning the 2001 CFDA’s Designer of the Year award. One of his biggest strengths is his location. John lives in the US fashion capital in New York City so he gets to see the latest trends as they surface. However, one of his weaknesses is that he can not meet the demands of other designers. Johns style is always changing so he puts out sales often to help keep his line out there and moving. In my opinion what i feel threatens him is that he does make a line for the everyday person. so with that said it is a clothing line that any other designer can create. 

Week 1 EOC: How to make it in America

We start by meeting two young guys with a dream of making it big in America. They have the ideas but no real plan on how to accomplish them, or money. one of the main things they do right from the get go is networking. Theses two young men spend most of there nite in a networking community which I know plenty about. I have work in the club industry for the past 17 years and believe me networking is everything.  Especially here in Vegas. If someone invites you to an after party here in Vegas you almost always want to go because you never know how what connections you can meet. That is exactly what these two have successfully done.

On the other hand they keep running to obstetrical and have nothing to really fall back on. They borrow money from a loan shark and have no real source of income to pay him back. Another thing I noticed is that they want to create jeans but don't know how to explain their creation exactly. I feel they keep going around in circles with their idea.

My Voice

Everyone has their own idea of what they want to become when they grow up, and throughout the years as we grow we begin to either follow the path of those childhood dreams or decide to change our paths, at least most of us try to do so. When I was a child I use to dream of working in the glamours business we call show. As I grew up and moved out of my small country town of Uvalde, Texas and moved myself to our state capital of Austin. I got a taste of working on the stage in local clubs but craved more. In 2007 I pack up and moved to Las Vegas the "City of Lights'. Through out my years of working in the clubs I began to get more and more interested in the fashion side of things. I've help design and create some amazing costumes and make up for a few events around Las Vegas. I am taking the expriences I have had in the past and taking them to the next level. I know longer want to create for someone else, I want to create for myself. I plan to help create the next fashion trends. With Fashions by Diva I plan to not only help others reach their potential of looking and feeling confident but also provide a true overall Diva experience.