On Friday, April 7, the Pace Profashionals held their third annual event, Dress For Success. Held at Studio 450 in Midtown, the venue was crawling with University students looking quite pro-fashional. It was open to all University students, regardless of whether they were in the club. As students walked in, they were given a name tag, a gift bag, and a raffle ticket. The gift bag was a tote bag embellished with the club’s name and filled with notepads, writing utensils, and a cardholder. The event was sponsored by Voss, so the bar had bottles upon bottles of Voss water. One of the tables were dedicated to the special raffle from the Pace Profashionals. The raffle prizes included a Calvin Klein backpack, a Dolce & Gabbana cologne set, Chanel and Salvatore Ferragamo runway books, and a Coach keychain. Tables were full of delicious appetizers including Baked By Melissa cupcakes. The venue also had a photo booth for students to use. It was a welcoming environment where students had fun and learned a lot.
The event had 5 panelists from Chanel, Snapchat, Salvatore Ferragamo, Pyramid Consulting, and GQ. The moderator was from Tiffany & Co. All these panelists are from high end companies in the fashion and marketing world.
Mackenzie Merriman is a freshman at the University and the upcoming secretary of Pace Profashionals. She explained what the event is all about: “This is our biggest event. We also do an event in October called Media Mavens. This is more of the business side of the fashion industry. That’s where our panelists are from. They talk about the internships they’ve done and what’s gotten them into the position they’re in today. This is all really for prospective fashionistas looking to break into the industry. They’ll be starting from the bottom and working their way up by making these connections.”
The current Profashionals secretary, Madison Terry, provided some insight on the event and why they have it: “This is our third annual Dress For Success. The main point of it is to help establish connections for Pace students who want to get their foot in the door in the fashion industry. And how we do that is we have a panel. First, we make a set of questions already curated and a moderator asks them things and then we open it up to the floor. Then it goes into a major networking event where students can go up to the panelists and give out their business cards. Hopefully, it leads to internship opportunities. I think it’s a great way for a developing Fashion Marketing minor at Pace. The event in general will help students get more involved in their fashion careers.”
After short introductions from the panelists, the moderator goes on to have a Q&A session with them. Topics such as internships, networking, and creating a LinkedIn were covered. They also gave insight on good qualities an intern should have. Those include kindness, punctuality, creativity, and most importantly, passion. They advise that all interns show up everyday and pretend that their internship is a working, ongoing interview. Interns will be making impressions everyday. It should be evident that these interns share the same vision as their employer. Overall, the Q&A was beneficial to all the students there.
After this, the floor was open to everyone at the event to personally meet and talk to the panelists. Students were able to give out their business cards, hand out their resumes, and ask general questions about getting into the competitive fashion industry. This event helps to open doors for students who have a passion for fashion. And that was the goal of the Pace Profashionals Club. A stylish event by the University’s finest.
Photo courtesy of Chaahat Kachhia
