PCA Students Intern at Paris Fashion Week 2018

PCA students have many opportunities to intern during Paris Fashion Week.

PCA students have worked with companies such as: Victoria Beckham; Alexander Wang; Rag and Bones; Tranoi, Première Classe and Who’s Next trade shows; Carolina Herrera; Zac Posen, and many more.

Find out what our students got up to at Rick Owens, Y/Project, Phillip Lim, and Boon showroom!

Sara Bannon
Communication Design Visiting Student
Intern at Y/Project

Why did choose this internship and did it live up to your expectations?
I initially wanted to do this internship to have a more intimate experience with the fashion world, and be able to meet like minded individuals in the industry. It lived up to my expectations and then exceeded them, I had an absolute blast and learned so much about the business and the intricacies you only get to experience and come to know first hand.

Can you describe your responsibilities during the internship?
I was a dresser and assistant to the showroom manager, so I was in charge of dressing and styling the models and making sure that the looks were cohesive to the looks styled in the show, as well as to ensure it followed the vision of the designer.

Has this internship experience influenced your thoughts about your career?
I have always known that I wanted to somehow combine the world of graphic design and fashion, and because of this experience I can see myself doing that in real time. I had the opportunity to talk to the head communications designer of the brand and it was very enlightening.

What did you gain from your internship?

I gained a further understanding of how a line is fashioned and conceived from a thought process and vision, and how that is then carried out and completed all the way from the initial show to the buying appointments.

Would you recommend this internship to another student?
I would highly recommend any student to work with Y/Project. All the individuals that work there are lovely and very welcoming and willing to welcome new comers into their world.

Jamie Finnegan
BFA Photography, Class of ’21
Intern at Phillip Lim

Why did you choose this internship and did it live up to your expectations?
I decided to do the Phillip Lim internship because I was interested in working market week in Paris, and Phillip Lim is a New York fashion brand whose collections I’ve always loved. My expectations were somewhat unknown because I had never worked a fashion market week before, so I didn’t know exactly what to expect. That being said, I am very happy to have gotten this opportunity because

I learned a lot about the various seasons of fashion and their importance for fashion brands. For example, pre-fall is more important than fall collections because it stays on the racks of stores longer, so buyers tend to buy more of that collection.

Can you describe your responsibilities during the internship?
My responsibilities during the internship included checking in clients at the front desk before their meetings, helping the models in the dressing room, and preparing food and drinks for various clients. At the end of the week, the interns also helped the members of the team take down the clothing racks and get the collection ready to be shipped back to NYC or other locations.

Has this internship experience influenced your thoughts about your career?
I think this internship helped me understand the way the market weeks works within fashion month as a whole. Market week can often be overlooked for the glitz and glam of fashion week, but both are important for fashion brands. Selling your collection to buyers around the world is very important for company revenue and for getting more people to wear your clothes. This internship also helped me get experience in the fashion world, which will help me going forward if I would like to go further in the industry. At this point, I’m not exactly sure what I want to do in my career, but fashion is definitely something that interests me and I believe this internship helped me understand that.

What did you gain from your internship?
I gained a lot from this internship, not only in the experience throughout, but also in the connections I made with members of the team. I think that working fashion week and market week in Paris is a great opportunity to potentially receive summer internships and beyond. Hard work doesn’t go unnoticed and getting to know the staff can definitely open doors for you down the road.

Would you recommend this internship to another student?

I would absolutely recommend this internship to other students. I think it is often assumed that fashion internships can be intense and the staff will be very mean to you, but this was definitely not the case with Phillip Lim.

The members of the team were extremely friendly to all of the interns and also helped us with any questions we had about our responsibilities. If you’re interested in any aspect of fashion, Phillip Lim is a great way to dive in.

Alyx-Marie Kleinsteiber
MA Fashion Design Alumna, Class of ’17
Intern at Boon Multi-label Showroom

Why did you choose this internship and did it live up to your expectations?
I chose this internship to learn more about fashion business and how a showroom works logistically.

I wanted to understand how garments go from the designer to the showroom and from the showroom to the buyer, and all of the process in between.

BOON exceeded my expectations by not only allowing me to observe, but become directly involved with all transactions and I’m very grateful for the hands on experience.

Can you describe your responsibilities during the internship?
My responsibilities included:
* Greeting designers/buyers/stylists/etc. and offering them something to drink before they look around.
* Assisting sales associates with writing orders, describing the different collections, displaying garments, and changing the model for buyers.
* Prepping the showroom by organizing collections and steaming clothing.
* Styling the model/assisting with PR

Has this internship experience influenced your thoughts about your career?
This experience hasn’t changed my mind career wise, but has expanded my overall knowledge of the fashion world.

What did you gain from your internship?
This was a great networking opportunity.

Would you recommend this internship to another student?
Yes, absolutely.

Sebastian Thorsted
Photography Visiting Student
Intern at Rick Owens

Why did you choose this internship and did it live up to your expectations?
While being in Paris I want to get as much experience as possible, so Rick Owens was a great opportunity to get some knowledge about how the fashion industry works. It most definitely lived up to my expectations, although at the showroom, there were a lot of slow hours.

Can you describe your responsibilities during the internship?
I was working as a dresser during the show as well as the showroom. During the show I was assigned a model and an outfit that I had to keep in order and have ready for the model at all times. At the showroom, I was more a general assistant putting up clothes/finding clothes and making sure everything looked as nice as possible.

Has this internship experience influenced your thoughts about your career?

Although the overall experience was a good one, I am certain that assisting in a showroom is not the direction I would like to work towards.

However, I think it is a necessity to try these different jobs to create a network and meet people that you could work with in the future.

What did you gain from your internship?
I gained an insight into the professional (high) fashion industry where I got to see all the different roles that make up a show as well as the business side of it afterwards showroom. 

Would you recommend this internship to another student?
As I mentioned earlier I think internships like this are necessities if you want to work in the fashion industry, so I would highly recommend it.