Teen Vogue Fashion University 2011: Fashion in the digital age theme

It’s been a week since I came back from NYC where Teen Vogue Fashion University took place from Oct.21-23. TVFU is an event for “a very selected group” of young fashion enthusiasts.

Teen Vogue Fashion U 2011

This weekend-long event devoted to fashion issues started on Friday night with H&M kick-off celebration, where students could enjoy exclusive shopping with 25% discount, Viva Brothers performance, photo station, cute little snacks, hair feathering and more…

FashionU – H&M event – Viva Brothers!

Being absolutely frankly, I enjoyed it only partly. To me, event was well organized but it was way too crowdy there. Every TVFU student was able to bring one guest, so 2-floor-store was full. Plus, H&M isn’t fancy for a person who travels from Poland. I was looking for something more American than European :).

FashionU – H&M event – Viva Brothers!

Saturday seminars. on Saturday, Oct. 22, check-in opened at about 8:00 a.m. Again, Hudson Theatre was crowded. However, I had a lot of fun there. Met a lot of people – they really are – “fashion-focused leaders of tomorrow”.

Teen Vogue Fashion U 2011

I received a (Le Sportac) bag filled with gifts from Teen Vogue and sponsors, e.g. custom-made and designed by Eva Chen eye lashes, Guess t-shirt, a pack of Sharpies markers, lipstick, American Apparel tights, cute Teen Vogue key rings, Clean Scene moisturizer, Aero 1987 perfumes and so on…

Teen Vogue FashionU’11 – Peter Som

I attended 7 seminars: Michael Kors (opening address), Olivia Miles+Erica Dasher (inside look at costume design for TV with ABC Family), Tamara Mellon (the shoe queen), Peter Som (the eclectic), Jason Wu (the chosen one), Amy Astley+Teen Vogue editors (Teen Vogue 101), Hillary Kerr+Katherine Powers+Aliza Licht+Rich Tong+Susan Koger (fashion in the digital age).

Teen Vogue Editors

I really loved all seminars, Michael Kors is a great guy – full of energy and passion, Peter Som and Jason Wu are extremely inspiring… but Tamara Mellon, Teen Vogue 101 and fashion in the digital age panel are my favs.

Fashion in the digital age panel

Tamara Mellon – OBE, founder and CCO of Jimmy Choo. She was talking about her creative vision, collaborations with brands like H&M and her career paths (from PR, British Vogue to Jimmy Choo). I found her a very strong and independent woman. I truly admire people like her: charismatic, successful but friendly and likeable.

Me and Tamara Mellon from Jimmy Choo

Amy Astley and TeenVogue editors seminar, in fact a discussion panel, was extremely fascinating. We had a chance to hear about editorial side of a magazine. Obviously, I prepared my own questions which might interest European students and Polish Vogue/Teen Vogue readers:

does Teen Vogue hire students from Europe?

Internships are open for students from American Universities/collages. So you can be European, but you must attend to American school

Will Vogue/Teen Vogue finally come to Poland?

Teen Vogue (and maybe Vogue – eventually) will make a special magazine for tablets (iPads and so on), but still it won’t be Polish edition, just translated one.

Fashion in the digital age panel

Hillary Kerr, Katherine Power of whowhatwear.com, Rich Tong of Tumblr, Aliza Licht – (SVP Global Communication for) Donna Karan International and Susan Koger of ModCloth told us how they were rising (and still do) their business on the internet. Panel was moderated by Simone Oliver from The New York Times. They were sharing their opinion about the internet biz, democratization of fashion, social media and so on.

Teen Vogue Fashion U’11 – Michael Kors

Who What Say (about the digital media)?

Rich Tong, who is the fashion director at Tumblr was the only one directly connected to social media issues. According to his talk, he’s the most excited about things which are currently happening on the Internet and fashion democratization. He advises to remember why did they start blogging. Wise advice.
Who What Wear founders would like to see more shopping online, better filters on twitter. They feel like a content is highly important.
Aliza Licht who is a fashion pioneer in SM issue, admitted that she doesn’t follow other designers at all, so she stays fresh and always has her own ideas about promoting Donna Karan brand on the Internet.
Susan Koger gave inspiring advices about starting fashion e-commerce biz
Teen Vogue Fashion U’11 – Jason Wu

And again, I had a question for a whole panel: how do they handle all these constatnt changes which are happening in SM, especially on Facebook and Search engine business.

Katherine from WhoWhatWear isn’t on time with changes, she believes her intuition (as you can guess: I don’t like this kind of answer:P)
Susan checks other blogs and pages, so she can see how to use new features
Aliza Licht gave the best (to my mind) answer: she hires a girl who stays in touch with agencies, so they can be on time. Good for you, Aliza!

Fashion in the digital age was the last seminar. I really enjoy all the events (even H&M and TopShop) and classes. And also, I met a lot of people, who will be the real fashion leaders. I wish I could come back there next year (I don’t think I could, I’m turning 24 soon).