Paris Fashion Week Internship: Rick Owens

           Several weeks ago a lady named Ana Burk came to PAA to talk about internships with Rick Owens, a well known designer in Paris, during Paris Fashion Week. In my last blog post you were able to see Rick Owens' fashion show and the model that I dressed. She said the internship would be a week long, we would be paid for our time and it would be a long stressful and tiring week. Hearing this I decided to sign up and received a phone call several days later about coming in for an interview. I went in for my interview and she told me I would be working for 7 days from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm from March 3rd-9th. 
           March 3rd rolled around and I received my job placement. I was not working in the main show room but the smaller show room next door. Here, I arrived at 8:00 every morning, after taking a 40 minute metro ride, to relieve the nightly doorman and begin my duties for the day. I had to restock the kitchen and organize the clothes until there was nothing else to do and then I used my computer to write blog posts, emails and catch up on my pinterest addiction :) The other workers were supposed to show up at 8:45 but considering they're all on French time it was usually around 9:15. From there, they all went upstairs to get ready for the day and I stayed and watched the door, usually until 10:00 when the workers for the basement showroom came in. So roughly, the first two hours of my shift were not that strenuous :) Around 10:00, I was able to go upstairs and keep organizing and rearranging the clothing until a buyer came in. 
          In our showroom, we had five sellers, one model and two interns, in the main showroom they had over 20 sellers, 6 models and 25 interns. Our showroom was decently busy throughout the day but we definitely had time when we could sit down or just talk to the other workers. In the main showroom they were not allowed to sit down throughout their shift unless they were on their 15 minute lunch break. They constantly had to be doing something or at least appear busy and it was a much more stressful environment. 
           When a buyer came in, a seller was paired with them and the other intern and I had to take turns dressing the model in the clothes the buyer was interested in, keep organizing the showroom because the buyers were always messy and I also had to be their waitress and see if they wanted something to drink. Once the model was done showing the buyer the clothes, we had to redress her in another outfit for another buyer and take those clothes out to put back on the racks. Every buyer is completely different. Some are loud and dominate the whole showroom, others sit back and wait for you to impress them and some come in knowing exactly what they want and they are in and out in 10 minutes. Sometimes there would be three or four buyers in all at the same time and each one would be speaking a different language! Hard to get used to but neat to see! In foreign countries/languages you get used to paying very close attention to hand signals and body language in order to understand anything that is going on! 
            This was relatively the schedule all day everyday, show up early, work with buyers all day and straighten clothes or dress the model, clean up at night and head home around 8:00 pm. Anytime I had to run an errand to the main showroom, there were consistently 8 to 10 buyers at all times. That showroom was always so stressful and each intern had a designated job and barely got to move or talk to anyone. At first I as upset that I was not in the main showroom but in the end, I was glad I was in the smaller showroom because I was able to do all of the jobs in the smaller showroom rather than just one specific job. I was able to work with the model, the buyers and sellers and the kitchen staff. I was able to see on a smaller scale how clothing from the runway is taken in and sold in a showroom. How buyers and sellers interact and what it takes to run a showroom. Although it was on a smaller scale, it was a much more intimate setting and it allowed me to learn a lot more than the other interns. 

Working my morning duties! The basement showroom was the furs and skins line, a much more expensive extension of Rick Owens casual, where I was working. Each jacket behind my head ran from $10,000 to $20,000 and that was pre-sale. Being sold in a store, these could run anywhere from $30,000 to $80,000? 

Each of these bangles were roughly $2,000. 

Way too expensive jackets!

Rings that were close to $1,000 each!

$12,000 crocodile boots!

A baby, white crocodile skin throw. Just a little something to wear over your shoulders if you get chilly. 

One of the furs just "laying around" in the basement showroom. 

The showroom where I worked called Dark Shadow. This is Rick Owens casual line. 

One of the product lines. 

At the table, the buyers and sellers would conduct business. Up to the right was the model's dressing room and the clothes hanging were the products we were selling.