At Thursday’s Fashion Career panel, Northwestern students learned it takes more than a love of clothes to successfully navigate the fashion industry.
More than 50 students attended the panel that was held in the McCormick Tribune Forum. The panel discussion was facilitated by Steven Fischer, associate director of the Kellogg School of Management’s Masters of Marketing and Manufacturing program. The panel was sponsored by the proposed Fashion, Style and Design Center at NU.
The panelists, including current NU students and alumni, offered insights from their own career experiences. Collectively, they had experience in various aspects of the fashion industry – merchandising, marketing, designer showrooms and manufacturing.
They also offered advice on what it takes to get a job in fashion, especially for NU students, since NU does not have a program specializing in fashion.
“You are coming from an excellent university, but it is not known for fashion – fashion people don’t come and recruit here,” Fischer said to the students.
Jessica Novak, a Communication senior, is currently looking for a job in the fashion industry. As a panelist, she emphasized the importance of being proactive in the job search. She said she has written letters, used the NU alumni database and set up meetings with people “on a purely informational basis.”
“To get interviews, you have to make the effort, make the connection, and go above and beyond,” she said. “They want to know you are passionate about the industry, not just clothes.”
Business and marketing skills are useful in many fashion-related careers, said NU alumna Marla Showfer, who received her master’s degree from Medill in 1988 and currently teaches in Medill’s Integrated Marketing and Communications Program.
“It isn’t about fashion, it is about business and marketing – I have sold Tide detergent, I have sold Levi jeans,” Showfer said, speaking about her own career experience. “Your advantage would be being a business and marketing person who happens to have a fashion flare.”
Even though NU is not known for fashion, Fischer said a connection to NU can still offer “great opportunities” in the fashion industry because of NU’s overall academic reputation.
“It doesn’t matter what you major in, it is what you do with your major,” he said.
Novak, a communication studies and psychology double major, agreed that students should pursue the major that they are passionate about and then find a way to parlay their studies into a job. What is more important, she said, is the passion a person brings to the job search.
“Most people here are go-getters, which is important in any industry, especially in this economy,” she said.
