Fashion Public Relations

Corporate public relations has always been a very dicey business. When things are going well, you are on top of the world, but when things are going badly you are practically a fall guy. You are ceaselessly in the public eye, being scrutinized by the press and attacked as a spin doctor by anyone who doesn't believe what you are telling. Never mind that the public relations firms are only representing what their clients want them to tell. Never mind that we aren't running the industries, polluting the environment, or exploiting the workers ourselves. We still get the brunt of it.

Fashion public relations always seemed safe up until recently. After all, what could go wrong with marketing relations for the fashion industry? Clothes are not particularly environmentally unfriendly or dangerous. They do not cause violence or addiction. They may cost a little bit more than they are worth, but that is it. Fashion public relations seemed like it would be a breeze. That is why got involved in in the first place – I thought I could make some good money and not have to work too hard. I should have thought twice.

Since last year, it has been nothing but a crisis public relations where I work. I cannot tell you the particular manufacturer that I work for, but it is one of the big ones – the top names in the fashion industry. In the past, fashion public relations was basically window dressing for them. They have always had such a formidable reputation that there wasn't all that much to be done as far as spin doctoring went. Then the news about the sweatshops came out, and suddenly fashion public relations became the most hot, uncomfortable occupation in the whole outfit. I am beginning to regret the day I got into pr public relations.

Apparently, the company I work for has been getting clothes manufactured in Chinese labor camps. Try addressing something like that in a fashion public relations press hearing! There is just simply no way to spin it. You can say that the people are criminals, but then someone will bring up China's record of human rights violations. You can claim that the company doesn't know, but of course that is patently false. All that remains for a fashion public relations official to do in those circumstances is to talk in circles and hope that everyone will go away.

Fashion Design College

When I first took up art, I never dreamed that I would one day get a fashion design degree. Fashion design colleges, you see, were not for me. I was into art for art's sake. I didn't want to get involved in fashion design and merchandising because I wasn't interested in the commercial elements of it. I was vaguely aware that I would have to earn money with my degree somehow or another, but I always figured that I would be discovered and then be able to sell my art.

Going to fashion design college was furthest from my mind because it was so focused on applying your skills to make money. Fashion isn't really very expressive. People try to express themselves through their clothes, but I didn't think much of it at the time. Then I took a few fashion design courses and it changed the way I felt about it. It isn't that my perspective is much different, but I realized how much I enjoyed designing clothing. I found out that I could go to a fashion design college, spend my life doing what I loved, and make a killing at the same time. Fashion design colleges just makes sense after that.

When I first got into the fashion design New York school, I was surprised at how different it was from my previous experience. The fashion design course I took was very free and very expressive, but the fashion design colleges are actually very rigorous and rigid. You do get to express yourself, but most of what you do it is pretty routine and methodical. There is a lot to be learned, and a lot of it is not very interesting. Basically, it is half art degree, half business degree. Fashion design colleges are all about sensing trends and trying to capitalize on them, not about finding ways to say what is in your heart. Still, once I started, I had to finish the program. I couldn't very well leave it half completed. After all, my student loans were killing me!

Now that I have a fashion design career, I guess I am glad that I went to the fashion school after all. In some ways, I think my fashion design colleges experience really stifled me artistically. I don't do my own original work anymore, and instead spend all of my time designing clothes. Nonetheless, my fashion design college has allowed me to have an art career. Fashion designing is somewhat creative, if not very.