To These Guys, Flannel will ALWAYS be Cool

   By Andrea Yancy

    The outdoor industry is not one of style. It is an industry where flannels replace suits, and cords replace skirts. It’s where jeans and a clean t-shirt is considered professional dress, and heels are viewed as a foreign object. All of this is not good news for a girl like me, who owns like 10,000 pairs of heels and two pairs of flats. Shopping for flats is like shopping for car parts; I just don’t get it.

 

Fish Out of Water

    As a new addition to the outdoor industry, the whole lack of style thing was a hard transition for me. I knew my style was different, but I never knew how different until I went on my first buying trip. Talk about a fish out of water, I was more like a fish in the desert. I knew immediately stepping into the first showroom that I was different. All I could see was flannel, and all they could see was my silky blouse. I knew that there were a variety of ways one could do flannel, but never did I know that you could do flannel that many ways. Not only did I see every color in the rainbow flannel, I saw flannel lined pants, flannel t-shirts, flannel hats, flannel shoes... Not all on one person of course, but still, a lot of flannel. On top of the flannel, I saw many women sporting all types of boots. Not the brightly colored wellies that I love beyond words, but classic riding boots with little twists. That is one thing I do have to give them credit for, the women wore super chic boots. So chic in fact, that I was about to trade in my pop colored wellies for a pair of gorgeous black riding boots made of the richest leather. Then, I realized that color is what I live for and I can do traditional another day.

 

Maybe Flannel Can be Chic

    As I continued walking the endless isles of booths jam packed with next year’s product, I began to think. Maybe the casualness of the outdoor industry’s style is considered stylish. Sure, it’s not the high fashion, perfectly put together look that I’m used to, but if everyone is sporting the casual look. Is that stylish? It’s not the typical style you and I would consider, but I’d say yes. And if you dig deeper into the outdoor industry, you’ll find out that everyone just loves the outdoor industry. It’s an industry where no products are favored over another just because a celebrity rocked it on a red carpet and new brands are embraced with open arms. It’s an industry where a product is popular because it works and not because it looks good. It’s an industry that “I’m going skiing,” is a much more acceptable excuse than “my dog died,” if you are going to miss work.
    The outdoor industry is not one you and I would ever consider stylish. But if you consider their love for the outdoors, their laid back attitude, and their “I don’t care about what I wear” persona, they are extremely stylish and super chic.
   
For More Information...
"Friday Faves: Outdoor Retailer Madness." Web log post. Under Solen Media. 22 Jan. 2011. Web. 6 Feb. 2011. <http://undersolenmedia.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/outdoor-retailer1.jpg>.
Outdoor Retailer, Salt Palace. Salt Lake City, UT. January 20-23, 2011.

A Day in the Life of the Dream Job

By Andrea Yancy

     It’s the job that the majority of freshmen say that they want to have after graduation. It’s a job that is every one thinks they want to have, but do they really? Do they really want to be a buyer for a major company, well for any company for that matter? The intense pressure, long hours, on call all the time. It’s something that school doesn’t prepare us for. What about market, where buyers spend the majority of their budget dollars for a season in a weekend. Can they keep track of what they are buying to make sure there is no overlap and no gaps? Well, I’m going to give you a glimpse into the day of the life of a buyer at market. Pay close attention though, you may miss something.
    Outdoor Retailer is a trade show that focuses on the outdoor industry: skiing, snowboarding, mountain climbing, anything that involves the outdoors, Outdoor Retailer has it. Not interested in the outdoor industry? Trust me, even if you aren’t, you can’t help get excited walking into the major showroom and isles of booths that display next year’s hottest products while DJs are mixing the latest hits. The first day is always dedicated to walking the isles to get a grasp of your surroundings. You make notes of booths you will want to stop by before the end of the weekend but continue walking because there is a lot of ground to cover. Every booth transforms the product into a lifestyle, some are tree houses, others are snow forts, but every booth embodies what the brand image is. Presidents, CEO’s, owners, designers, are all disguised as they dress down to jeans and t-shirts and help buyers pick out product that will be right for their store.
    Now to day 2, you are fully booked from 9am-6pm with no lunch breaks. Yikes! Talk about exhausting. It is a mad dash from appointment to appointment because if you are late, it cuts into your time to see everything you need to see and you could make an expensive mistake.  Notes are extremely important ,too. A day of looking at one ski line after another, they all begin to blend together. Also, they all follow the same trends, so it is important that you do the best of this and the best of that, and the only way to make the best decision is NOTES! What kind of notes do you take? Not the kind of notes you take from a lecture that you’re half listening to, but notes that answer the questions you may have about a product. If you ask a rep a question about a product, WRITE DOWN THE ANSWER. I guarantee you after two more meetings you will not remember if that jacket has a removable powder skirt or what shade of a blue those pants are.  The product you are looking at and the product that you are selecting, is the merchandise that will sit in your store and generate profits. If it does not sell, you lose money! Scary thought isn’t it? That’s why it is important to be on your game at all times. By the last meeting of your booked day, it would be easy to slack off, but this isn’t school. Your in the big leagues and your last appointment of the day is your most important one. It is a vendor that was recently sold and resold again. The first company that it was sold too, completely messed up the quality and fit of the product, but also shipped the product out extremely late. The product that didn’t have quality issues and you didn’t send back, you couldn’t sell because it was too late in the season. It is important that you first address these issues before continuing on looking at the line. You speak with the owner of the company, Jim, and he explains to you what happened and how it is being fixed. He realizes like a boyfriend who cheated on you, that they have to regain your trust, and he will do whatever has to to regain your trust back. Perfect! Let’s just hope unlike a bad boyfriend, he’s telling you the truth. By the end of the day you’ve spent 1/5 of your budget....and have a completely booked schedule the next day. So what do you think about your dream job? Or isn’t it anymore?

Notes:
Outdoor Retailer, Salt Palace. Salt Lake City, UT. January 20-23, 2011.

Fur, Feathers, & Native American Tribes All Brought Together.

U of M Seniors Hit the Runway With Their 2011 Lines Titles Distortion

By: Delaney Nelson

        As we (myself along with a few other FRM students) entered Rapson Hall on the U of M campus expectations weren’t exactly set yet. While waiting in line at Will Call local industry professionals along with students, fans, family members, and other excited fashionistas began to flow in. Spotting Allison Hamzehpour, president of Ignite Models, and Mary O’Reagan, Senior Fashion Editor for Metro Magazine, the excitement for what was to come began to grow.

The sophomore designers were just finishing as we took our seats. As I paged through pamphlet featuring the different senior designs I noticed only one male in the lineup, right away this struck an interest. Nick Ruffalo was among the 18 senior designers set to show for the night. How would he stack up against the other 17 women that were to dominant the show? We were about to find out!

Robin Robbinson took stage to the stage to announce the next generation, the Junior class. It was exciting and interesting to see what the talent looked like for next year, but anticipation to see what the senior class had in store was building.

One by one each of the 18 designers showed off their unique designs. Finally the 11th designer to show was Nick Ruffalo. From the music to the designs it screamed tribal influences. I quickly began to record his unique designs; barefoot models, 2-3 stripped bands painted on legs and arms, short textured hemlines, feathers, headdresses. The designer showed his looks on four different models. 

      These Models walked the runway sporting leather ankle and wrist bands with long feather coming up and out of the bands. A feather headdress that reached the floor was another unique element to his show. And to make this influence even stronger the designer had all of his females models walking barefoot.  According to the Nick’s Concept Bio in the fashion show pamphlet he “creates an eco-conscious line using recycled couch leather, scrap fur, and vintage feathers paired with unbleached silk and muslin.” His line was made up of three main colors, golden yellow, darker blue-green, and mango red; all of course hand-dyed.

     From the texture, cut, colors, fabrics used to the music chosen for the models to walk to, Nick brought the Native America tribal influence not only to his designs, but to the whole Rapson Hall. I don’t think that a single individual watching his show could argue otherwise. Even as Nick took his walk down the runway with his models his own style reflected this. So how would this single lone male amongst 17 women designers stack up? He brought something unique, distorted, and truly breathe taking to the 2011 Senior Fashion Show Distortion. My opinion is only one of many though of the viewers that came to the show that night, but his designs are defiantly ones that created an impression.

Contributors:

University of Minnesota

Robin Robibnson

Nick Ruffalo

Photos:

Stacy Schwartz (City Pages)

Work Cited:

Distortion: 43rd Annual College of Design Fashion Show. University of Minnesota, Rapson Hall. Feb. 19, 2011.

Schwartz, Stacy. U of M ‘Distortion’ Fashion Show: Next Crop of Local Designers? 2011. Photograph. Minneapolis. City Pages. 20 Feb. 2011. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. <http://www.citypages.com/slideshow/u-of-m-distortion-fashion-show-next-crop-of-local-designers--32616978/25/>

Pictured:

Model #! modeling Nick Ruffalo pants with side sticking, tank top and feathered headdress with tail.

Model #2 featured Nick Ruffalo leather ankelts with feathers.

Nick Ruffalo taking his walk at the end of the show.

Fashion Hot Issue

Fashion 60’s to 80’s- trend is on its way

Fashion trend is a style cycle that is continuously evolving, the old becomes new and the new becomes old. Fashion is decided by media or other sources. Fashion forward retailer stores like Forever21, Urban Outfitters, and H&M are people’s favorite to go and shop. They are fast fashion retailer stores that offer merchandises depending on “what is hot” in the moment. Browsing around the Mall of America, H&M and urban outfitters are always busy with customers. Forever 21 just had their brand new store opening in Rosedale Mall. Forever21 is a huge impact for Rosedale Mall which once the store opens, people comes in and out to browse around. 

In H&M, a sales associate wore an easy piece of short shirt or baby tee, which was the trend in 2008. Many of the people wore mini skirt with tight, flare jeans or pants, maxi skirt, camel coat, sleeveless fur coat, and baggy shirt (flannel shirt in boyfriend style). It seems fashion of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s are all in one mixing together.

                              The right side is an example of cozy short shirt that wear with shorts (H&M)

People wear accessories as a staple piece that goes together with an outfit. During the new opening Forever21 in Rosedale mall, people were picking and buying floppy hats and floral headwraps. In the Mall of America, many women wore leggings in animal print and high knee socks with wedges, sole platform shoes, and lace shoes in light colors of nude, beige, and animal print (booties). They wear socks together with flats, boots, high heels, clog, wedges, and almost every other shoe.  Socks and shoes are a very clever idea.

                                                Great mixing shoes and socks, it is H&M mannequin.

Coming out from Urban Outfitters, a college girl dressed up fashionably chic by layering black shirt with sweater, legging with leg warmer and high knee boots.  It is a very functional fashion idea to wear when everyone wants to feel warm and comfortable, in every outfit they have in this freezing weather.  

                        In urban outfitters, leg warmer is shown in youthful and sophisticated look.

 What’s hot in fashion trends make people addicted to shop. Fashion is always what’s “in “and people choose to dress up in anything from retro to chic, vintage to eclectic style. Do we know why people love to shop more and more? Yes, we do.   

By. Felicia Ngatino