It has been about 3 weeks since I have started my internship in Milan, Italy, with San Andres Milano. Everyday has been busy a busy day for everyone in the studio, and my 8-hour work days come and go like it was nothing. The summer months, May, June, July, and August are one of the busiest times for fashion designers. Not only the production of Fall/Winter 2010 are in full throttle, but while the production is taking place, the designers themselves must start designing the Spring/Summer 2011 collection and have it ready for presentation by September 2010 for the Women's Fashion Week. In a bigger company, the designer would delegate the work load, with the production team and the design team working simultaneously, but in a smaller company like San Andres Milano, everyone must do everything all at the same time.
While Andres is sewing the coats, I am under stitching the other garments or putting on buttons or hook and eyes on them. While that is taking place, another person is cutting the fabric for the next look, and someone else is staining a sleeve on the ironing board because sometimes simple technology like an iron fails. It is chaotic to say the least, and having Madonna's album set on repeat somehow increases our work performance. Some days I would be sent out to 20 different shops to take photos of current trends and colors, and the next day I would be expected to have a clean presentation of my findings. The following days, the design team would sit all day and just sketch. A collection consists of 30 different looks, half of them being daywear and the other half eveningwear. We produce different sketches of certain silhouettes that was decided, and at the end, we would have around 80 sketches. From there, Andres would take time off from the production team to choose and express his opinions on certain looks. After that, some of us would keep sketching, and the others would start on making the prototype, or a sample of the outfit using a cheaper material. From there, we make the adjustments on the pattern to make it fit right. For the 30 different looks, there will be about 20 prototypes to make and perfect.
Needless to say, one must love fashion to be able to do this season after season. The product must be a perfect union between creativity and demand, and must be worth the money. Just like everything else in life, a garment must have balance in all the aspects of design. Over designing something will take more time in production, or will not be wearable for some clients. Under designing something will make the garment look like everything else on the market. The perfect balance between everything is the key to a successful collection.
