Kait Murray

[kait-murray-nyc]

Doneger- 453 7th Ave

On our last study tour of the semester, we visited Doneger & Tobe, a company that focuses on fashion forecasting, merchandising and marketing, among other things. In the office, they have records dating back to at least the 1940s.

After visiting Doneger, the class walked over to the NYC studio to listen to guest speaker Andre Claudio. Andre is a Kent State Alumni who has worked at Sourcing Journal for a year and a half. He graduated two years ago after completing the four-year college program in two years. Andre is on the editorial team at Sourcing Journal, writing 2-3 stories daily. He is also in charge of social media, meaning he works with branded content and attends a few events a week in order to get content.

The thing I found most interesting about my talk with Andre Claudio is how he achieved his goals so fast. He graduated in two years and proceeded to get a job at a big publication shortly after graduation. It also shocked me that he didn't complete the NYC fashion program because he completed three internships in his two years at school.

[kait-murray-nyc]

Splendid- 2 Park Ave.

This week I was able to visit Splendid, which is a clothing company that started off by only selling t-shirts. They sold high quality t-shirts, but eventually expanded into producing and selling many other garments. Splendid garments are sold in stores like Saks, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales and others, along with being available for purchase online. Their parent company is Delta Galil, which oversees Splendid, 7 For All Mankind, P.J Salvage, and other brands.

Splendid is a brand that takes important steps in order to become sustainable. They use organically farmed cotton, which takes less water to produce, conserves energy and is overall better for the environment. They also use natural fibers like bamboo and even started shipping their orders in 100% recycled poly bags last year.

While at Splendid, Haley Shine and Brittany Tighe shared their roles and everyday responsibilities with us. It was interesting to hear about Haley's job since she does so much with design and merchandising for the company. The one thing she said that stuck with me was that she loved being on the design team at Splendid because she can't draw and in her design role, she never has to. I always thought to be a designer you had to be able to draw out your ideas, but Haley and her team essentially make a mood board for every line instead. This makes me hopeful that there are more job possibilities out there for me even though I can't draw.

[kait-murray-nyc]

Accelerating Circularity

Angela and Morgan came to our studio on Tuesday to talk to us about Accelerating Circilarity. This is a nonprofit that turns used textiles into mainstream raw materials like fiber, yarn and new textiles.

They preached to reduce, reuse and recycle your clothes. To reduce you can buy fewer clothes; for example, Angela joked you don't need that 17th black T-shirt. A good way to reuse is to give your old clothes to someone else or donate them to Goodwill. Accelerating Circularity is partnered with Goodwill and Bank and Vogue, two places that handle second-hand garments. This goes with recycling, too. The easiest way to recycle is to take your clothes to Goodwill so they can do it for you.

If you were to recycle a cotton shirt on your own, you would have to cut out the threads that are polyester, designs and tags. Taking garments to Goodwill will allow factories to make the items they don't sell into mainly recycled cotton and polyester.

Accelerating Circularity works with many different companies and factories to recycle textiles and make new blends. The two types of recycling they do are mechanical: cotton or polyester being chopped into little pieces to be reused, and chemical. The two different types of fabric are post-industrial and post-consumer. These fabrics are blended with some virgin cotton added to make the Accelerating Circulatory Blend. The goal of the nonprofit is to shift to a fully recycled blend.

I enjoyed learning about all of the ways to recycle and be more sustainable, even though textiles are not something I will come in contact with much in my career. Angela also gave us these two book recommendations to learn more: To Dye For by Alden Wicker and Secondhand by Adam Minter.

[kait-murray-nyc]

Create-A-Marker- 254 W 35th St.

On our second study tour of the week, we visited Create-A-Marker. The people who work here deal with sizing and pattern placement on garments. Designers will bring their fabrics and garment cutouts to the team at Create-A-Marker, and they will place and cut out fabric, trying to minimize as much waste as possible. The company does its best and uses about 80% of all of the fabric, only discarding 20%.

The thing I found most interesting about this visit is the sizing. What was once a size 10 is now a size 4. The people at Create-A-Marker don't decide what size is which, but they follow a system where about two inches is the difference between sizes. This changes in different countries, but the standard difference is two inches between a small and a medium.

We were unable to take pictures inside Creat-A-Marker because of the private work they were doing for different designers. However, we were able to take pictures of the adorable cat.

[kait-murray-nyc]

Bergdorf Goodman & The Luxury Market

This Tuesday, we toured Bergdorf Goodman and the luxury market. We walked around the luxury stores near Rockefeller Center, and we noted the trends of the winter season.

The main colors of this season are green, pink and orange. These are all bright colors, which makes sense alongside the busy patterns we saw in all of the window displays. Although we looked at many unique luxury stores, like Chanel, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry, the trends displayed at each store are able to be tied together. I related this study tour to a previous week when we visited Cotton Inc. and learned about trend analytics and forecasting. Learning about trend forecasting made the similarities in each store's displays make sense. 

This study tour was redundant. We already learned about trend forecasting and many of my classmates and I have visited the luxury market at least once. I had trouble understanding how this is considered a study tour when I have toured these stores many times on my own. 

[kait-murray-nyc]

Fifth Ave Women- 148 W 35th St.

Fifth Ave Women is a jewelry store that specializes in sterling silver jewelry, pearls and other semi-precious stones. Sophia, the owner of the store, who was originally from Bangkok, moved to New York City after she graduated to expand her knowledge and share her passion for jewelry.

While visiting this jewelry store, we were able to hold and examine different pieces of jewelry. Sophia shared her abundant knowledge of gems with us, including telling us how to know if pearls and crystals are real. One main defining factor is that real crystals are cold to the touch. No matter how hot the environment the crystals are in, they should still remain cold. Sophia showed us all the different types of pearls and crystals and explained to us the meaning and powers behind them, which was really interesting. By wearing these crystals on pieces of jewelry, you can attract self-love, passion, good luck, calm, healing and other things I never even thought of.

Not only was Sophia informative, but she was also very kind to our class. She shared her passions with us and quizzed us at the end of the tour so she could give us prizes. Everyone in the class left with either a wishing pearl or a piece of jewelry that she generously gave away. Not to mention, she sold us additional jewelry at lower prices. Hearing Sophia's story and all about the jewelry she sells was very engaging, and I'm happy to have more knowledge of semi-precious stones and pearls.

[kait-murray-nyc]

Cotton Inc.- 909 3rd Ave.

At Cotton Incorporated, we were given a fashion forecasting presentation. The fashion forecasting team at Cotton Inc. is made of of 5 people, all with different fields of study which allows them to bring something different to the table. This team forecasts 1-3 years in advance, starting by looking for trends in streetwear and predicting them before they hit the red carpet and retail stores.

The forecasters create presentations for companies and brands to tell them what fashion trends, colors, and fabrics will be popular in the next few years. They give online presentations along with physical booklets including color an fabric swatches and explanations. This gives companies an idea of what will be popular in the next season to allow them to produce garments that will sell. Cotton Inc. also aids in finding the fabrics for these companies to use. They work with their own cotton company or ones the brands use.

This visit was different than the other tours we have been on. I expected to learn about the production and sourcing of cotton, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear about fashion forecasting. After taking a fashion forecasting class at Kent State, I enjoyed expanding my knowledge by hearing from someone in the field.

[kait-murray-nyc]

New York Embroidery Studio- 307 W 36th St.

This week, my class and I toured The New York Embroidery Studio. It is filled with embroidery machines that are over 100 years old and employees working on many different projects. They have machines that embroider prints, rhinestones, pleats, and many other patterns. The thing I found the most interesting is the machine that uses white thread and dies the thread as it goes. This allows the embroidered garments to come out died different colors, it is also able to produce an ombre effect without having to switch the thread to the next color.

The New York Embroidery Studio has done work for many celebrities including Angelina Jolie, who was in the studio the day before we were. They also did the embroidery for Cardi B and Micheal B Jordan's looks for the 2019 Met Gala. Hearing all of the celebrities these businesses have done work for is my favorite part. I enjoyed this embroidery store, but it doesn't relate to my field of study. So, the process of embroidering doesn't interest me as much as hearing about how they did Pheobe Bridger's skeleton looks.

Although I am enjoying my time on these study tours, I can't help but feel like the MDJ students are being pushed aside. In the group of summer students, the MDJ students outnumber the fashion design students by almost 3 times as many. Yet, when the people leading our tours ask what majors we have in the class, the response is, "They are all fashion design and fashion merchandising majors." So, not only have we not visited a place that has related to my field of study, but the school seems to forget we are even there. I am enjoying myself, but I'm getting a fashion design experience and not a journalism and fashion media experience, which is what I came here for.

[kait-murray-nyc]

The Museum of Broadway- 145 W 45th St.

At the Museum of Broadway, I completed a self-guided tour with my study tour class. To start the tour, we were shown a video on the history of Broadway and The Theatre District. Starting in 1732, broadway had some ups and downs, it was located in many places such as Union Square and Madison Square before settling in Time's Square. There were times the Broadway Theatres struggled financially, where they had to sell four theatres which were torn down and replaced with a hotel. However, now Broadway is flourishing.

Every room in the museum was dedicated to a different show. As you walk through the doorway, you are hit with a different set, color scheme and music. The West Side Story room was my favorite because it was so detailed and it felt as if you were in the musical.

Other displays included sketchbooks and scripts, costumes, props, playbills, photography and scaled-down theatres on display. Seeing the costumes up close was so fascinating because the audience can never see all of the details in the theatres. Even if you are sitting in the first row of the audience, you are still unable to see things like the stitching, the fabric's texture, and other small details.

The other thing that was very fascinating was a 360-degree model of the Wicked theatre. It was a miniature version of the theatre, including backstage, under the theatre, miniature people doing hair and makeup, people sitting in the audience and everything else that goes on for the production of the show. Overall, the whole museum was so fun to go to, and I'm glad I got to experience some of the things that would happen in pre-production or backstage.

[kait-murray-nyc]

Diane Von Furstenberg- 874 Washington St.

Diane Von Furstenberg is a designer known most for her famous wrap dress. Her wrap dress debuted in 1974, giving women the option to wear something that can work in a professional environment and something to wear on a night out. The DVF store is located in the meat district right off the Highline. The first level of DVF is the retail store. On this floor, there are garments on sale, dressing rooms, and many photo ops. On the lower level, consumers can shop for discounted items. The second level is where designers and members of the DVF team work, along with a showroom that holds some DVF garments. On the top floor is Diane's apartment, which she lives in when she is in New York.

DVF wrap dresses are made with outgoing patterns, designed for women to be able to put on one garment and go. The busy patterns don't require many accessories or other things to complete the look. Diane also made sure the material of her dresses was wrinkled-free, meaning they could easily be packed up without having to iron them before being worn.

DVF is a company that embodies feminism, female empowerment and sustainability, which is why I enjoyed our visit so much. There are sayings all over the store, such as "women in charge." and "expand, advocate, inspire, connect." When making her garments, Diane had the best interest of all women in mind and kept her brand sustainable. DVF does not overproduce garments, which leads to the brand selling 70% of its merchandise at full price. Receiving a tour of a successful, sustainable, woman-owned brand was an amazing experience, and I enjoyed learning the history of Diane Von Furstenberg's famous wrap dress.

[kait-murray-nyc]

M&S Schmalberg- 242 W 34th St.

M&S Schmalberg is a family-owned fabric flower-making business that has been open for over 100 years and passes down four generations. M&S has made flowers for designers, celebrities, and TV shows, including And Just Like That... and Bridgeton. The store is filled with so many flowers made of different fabrics and colors, and if they don't already have what you want, they take custom orders. All the flowers are made by hand in the back of the shop, usually in the form of an assembly line done by the employees.

The process of making a single flower is very complex. First, the shape must be cut out of the fabric using the molds. These molds are similar to cookie cutters and are pressed by a machine in order to pierce the fabric. After this, different molds are used to add textures and curves to the fabric flower cut-outs. The molds are heated on hot plates, and the fabric flowers are placed between the top and bottom of the mold and stamped together. After this, the pieces are put together by hand using various techniques, and the fabric petals are glued together and placed on a clip, wire, or whatever the buyer requests.

Walking through the process of making these flowers was very shocking because they are made completely by hand. Some of the molds and tools have been in the store since it opened, and others were purchased from other fabric flower makers as they went out of business. M&S Schmalbergis the last fabric flower-making company in New York City, and seeing the way the flowers are made was very interesting.

[kait-murray-nyc]

Metropolitan Museum of Art- 1000 5th Ave

"Fashion does not belong in a museum."

That's the first quote you read from Karl Lagerfeld as you enter his exhibit at the MET. The exhibit starts with full-screen videos of him sketching out designs, which was his "primary mode of creative expression." As you continue to walk the exhibit, you are greeted with many intricate garments alongside the sketches created by Lagerfeld. Pieces from CHLOÉ, CHANEL, FEDNI and others from his personal line are on display. The garments were so beautiful and extremely detailed, some being hand-painted or hand-stitched, with the majority being classic black and white.

Being surrounded by all the gorgeous garments was a surreal moment. Seeing Lagerfeld's sketches and inspirations next to the finished products was so interesting. Not only were many of the sketches on display with the garments, but so were objects that inspired some of the pieces. One dress was inspired by a bird cage, another a ceramic vase, and a few garments had famous paintings incorporated in the designs. It was something you don't get from following celebrity fashion in the media. We are used to only seeing the finished product on the red carpet, so getting a little bit of insight into the design process was one of the things I enjoyed the most.

The exhibit contained different lines and eras from Lagerfeld's work. Feminine, masculine, floral, abstract, ornamental, and many more were highlighted. My personal favorite was the floral section because of how uniquely Lagerfeld included flowers and how intricate his flowers were.

I loved experiencing all of the lines and the garments. It was interesting to walk the exhibit that included not only Lagerfeld's fashion but his whole life; his sketches, inspiration, quotes, and his iconic gloves and glasses.

[kait-murray-nyc]

NYC Scavenger Hunt

My first study tour experience in New York City wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. Classes being canceled due to an air quality alert and getting completely confused in the middle of the city weren't things I counted on. My classmate Rachel and I did the assignment together. We felt that the places we visited in the scavenger hunt were fun and informational, but following the directions and finding these places was the opposite.

For two girls who believe they are confident navigating the city, these directions made us feel like we had no idea where we were. The instructions leading us to our next places were too vague and often resulted in us standing on the edge of a sidewalk trying to figure out where we were supposed to go next. We had a good time once we would finally arrive at these places, but walking in circles was the opposite of educational, and it felt like it could have been prevented with better instructions.

We enjoyed walking all around Bryant Park while trying to figure out which was the south end, walking up and down Fashion Ave. and returning to Mood. My favorite part of our day was exploring Union Square. We went there on Saturday, and when we walked out of the subway, there was a huge farmers market and a parade down the street. We explored the farmer's market, City Papery, and MUJI and returned home.

I learned all the information I was supposed to from this scavenger hunt. Although, I did learn more from researching things such as the button's holes and the silver plaques on Fashion Ave. If this assignment was able to be done in class like usual, it might have been a more pleasant experience. Since it wasn't, my biggest takeaway was the need for more directions instead of the exciting fashion places we visited.