So I meant to start a blog about my internship and experiences in NY the first or second day I got here.. but that didn't happen. So, I say "better late than never" and it's only my second week here in NY. I'm interning at
Mario Moya (MM). If you haven't noticed.. this blog is invite only b/c i've heard some horror stories about bosses finding their interns blogs. Alright so... here goes.
First Day interning for MM.
despite waking up super early I was late getting out the door. One reason is b/c I am always late and the other reason is because my new duplicate key for my cousins apartment got stuck in the key hole (for like 10 minutes.. seriously). By the time I got to the subway (bout a 5min walk) I realized I forgot my 1month subway pass (which is like 81$) so I had to buy another one only i got a 2$ one way pass. By this time I'm sweaty and panicked that I'm going to make a really bad impression on my first day by being late. So I pull out the smallest bill I had, a 20 and it gets rejected b/c metro machines only give change up to 6$. So i try my credit card.. and thats a failure as well. So I go to the service counter and get change and finally get into the train station. I get to the front door of the studio at 9:45am, supposed to be there at 10am, I'm 15minutes early and gross. So i sit on this bench for 13minutes. When I try to open the door of the studio.. i find out its locked.. no one is inside.. and no one is answering the phone. I get super confused and slightly panicked.. "what if they forgot I was coming?" "what if they aren't working today?" "what if I remembered the wrong time/day?" "what if they're just messing with me?" "i should have called or emailed to confirm." Then 10minutes later an asian woman from malaysia shows up. I find out later she is one of MM's seamstresses (1 of 2 on the payroll), her name is alice. So Alice and I sit on the bench waiting for someone to come open the door. Finally MM's main assistant Keioko (this teeny tiny japanese woman - yes, she is shorter than me!) comes in at 10:45am to open the door. My first task? Sweep the floor. I was pretty discouraged at this point.. thinking I was going to be doing shit work for this internship. However, MM arrived around 11.. 11:30 ish after Keioko went to his apartment to wake him up b/c he wasn't asnwering his phone. MM arrives and puts me straight to work on this shrug made of 20 layers of chiffon between a layer of organza. It was so cool to touch and work with a piece i'd seen in his collection online.
From Mon - Wed I met someone new each day. I found out there were many more interns than just me. Like.. at least 10-15 more interns. Since he's a startup company.. he's getting all the free work he can get. Only like 3 people are actually on the payroll (the 2 seamstresses and his main assistant, the little japanese woman).
Anyways, I finished up the shrug on wednesday, i think, and since then I've been working on this vest piece with tons of boning inside.
All the pieces are for Daphne Guinness. I didn't know who that was at first.. just that Mario kept telling me we were making the stuff for Daphne. So after emailing one of my friends I found out it was Daphne Guinness and that she is a socialite, daughter of the Guinness brewery guy, haute couture collector, and a famous fashion icon. (I'm so glad I didn't ask him "so who's daphne??") So Daphne.. is supposed to be coming in sometime this week to check out the stuff. I've read a bunch of stuff about her and I'm getting mixed reviews.. so I guess i'll have to develop my own opinion about her when i actually get to meet her..!
Sorry this post is all over the place about my internship. I meant for it to be more organized but.. a lot has happened and I don't want to bore anyone with TOO MANY details...
So overall.. It's been a great experience so far. The studio is tiny (Mario says we're going to move to a bigger place soon..) so everyone gets one on one with mario and everyone is really friendly, nice, and has a sense of humor.
Today was a pretty great work day. 1. b/c i laughed so much and 2. b/c i got to see what its like to be on the other side when 2 people came in for an interview. I overheard Mario telling his interning assistant that he only wanted to see applicants from parsons and FIT or central st. martins. I feel super lucky to have taken that summer class at parsons 2 years ago.. b/c i really think its the only reason why i got the interview.. seriously.
I have so many more things to write about but.. its already entirely too long of a post for any one of you to actually read all the way through without skimming.. everything. So here's some PICTURES b/c words are so boring..
The shrug I duplicated. w/ added shoulder pads + lining
Daphne Guiness via google images
