Inside my internship in the CFDA Incubator

Now that I'm back from New York and still have a few more days to go before I have to venture out in the soul crushing heat to school, I have time to start catching up on some extremely delayed posts. There are going to be some changes coming to Bohemian Like You, paramount of which will be regularity of posting and much more sequential posting. I really want to incorporate more music, interviews and such. This blog was started as a halfway point between lots of different creative aspects but got sidelined to exclusively becoming a style blog but I'm definitely going to be throwing in more from here on out. Stay tuned for changes. 

One of my internships this summer was with Bibhu Mohapatra at the CFDA Incubator. Even though it was cut short because I was already doing another internship (at the Starworks Group), it was still an amazing learning experience. Despite the fact that I was interning under the head of In House PR, Cecily, owing to the fact that its such a small, close knit team and at the end of the day, a design house- I got to really get an idea of what goes on behind the scenes in order to create a stellar collection and how it all essentially comes together. Also- access to these gorgeous, intricately designed archive pieces was something else. 

 While at my other internship, everything is monitored by Fashion GPS and its a lot more intense, at Mohapatra its a lot less digitally oriented. Lookbooks are put in binders, send outs are printed and filed manually because the PR aspect of it is all on a much smaller scale (their agency is Paul Wilmot Communications). And the advantage of that is that you get to experience everything first hand. All this is not to say that Mohapatra isn't completely social media savvy because it absolutely is. Their Twitter and Facebook pages are meticulously managed and updated and their social media presence is remarkable.

Another highlight was the CFDA Awards. Being a member, he obviously went for them but from my point of view, it was interesting to see countless CFDA employees come in and check dresses out. To see what kinds of pieces get selected and also to interact with them firsthand was great. That's the core learning experience from internships, even if my time here was short: the things you learn indirectly. Like the names of most of the CFDA, Steven Kolb's bio and I'm pretty sure I know of 90% of the features editors at most magazines in addition to where those magazines are located just from packaging and preparing send-outs at Starworks. Its important to grasp and absorb everything around you and I'm really glad I did as best I could. When the Resort press previews for WWD and Style.com happened, I got to help out and actually be around the editors coming in on market appointments. How else would I have known how a press preview/market appointment is even organized? Or how lookbooks are shot?

 The sheer number of stylists and editors and models and PRs and photographers and other creative personalities that walked in the door of the office is enough to send your head spinning in a bevvy of hysterical excitement. Just to be around these people, being a 16 year old kid was priceless.

The CFDA Incubator is really just a huge loft (HUGE) - a floor of the building which has the studios of 12 upcoming CFDA member talents like Prabal Gurung (I swear to god I shamelessly STALKED that area), Public School, Alex Ritter, Grey Ant, Gemma Redux, House of Waris, Sang A and so on.

Also, Bibhu himself is so incredibly down to earth and nice. The entire design team is so talented, it makes you feel inadequate not being able to draw a freaking apple to save your life. Oh, and for those of you who are oblivious: Bibhu was the design director at J Mendel for some 10 odd years, is Indian by origin and went to FIT.

LINKS for reference: 

 Bibhu Mohapatra's Website

Mohapatra on Twitter

Mohapatra on Facebook 

CFDA Incubator website

CFDA Incubator Tumblr

On Twitter

On Facebook

More soon! Lots of cool posts lined up for the coming weeks. Have you interned in some sector of the fashion industry before? If yes, I'd love to hear about it. And if you haven't but you want to- where would your ideal internship/job be? 


PS- The winner of the Style Director giveaway is Chantal. I will be in touch soon! x

Arushi xo

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