7th Annual Michigan Fashion Media Summit

The Ross School of Business was abuzz with activity Friday morning as the seventh annual Michigan Fashion Media Summit began. The ticket-only summit started Thursday evening with a launch party featuring mocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a Madhappy raffle and live music from local Ann Arbor band Mahogany. 

Throughout the day, recruiters from Louis Vuitton, Dior, J.Crew, Guess and Steve Madden lined the hall in booths to chat with students and distribute company merchandise. The day featured panels with industry professionals from a range of career disciplines including merchandising, communications, brand management and celebrity styling. Panelists included celebrity hair stylist Chris Appleton, Michigan football running back Blake Corum, who owns clothing brand BC2, Peiman Raf, co-founder and CEO of Madhappy, and many others. 

According to MFMS’ Executive Board, each panel aimed to provide the attendees with actionable advice and insider tips for working in the fashion industry. Many professionals urged attendees to make the most of any entry-level jobs they may find themselves in. 

In an interview with The Michigan Daily, U-M alum Lisa Greenwald, chief merchandising officer of J. Crew, said no matter what career a person starts in, they can develop transferable skills that allow for flexibility. 

“When you do get into a job and you realize that you like it and then that’s what you want to do, really learn that trade and really take it with you,” Greenwald said. “Then that skill set is transferable to any other company.”

The panels culminated in a keynote address from Steve Madden, founder of the apparel company with the same name. Madden discussed his own journey and gave advice for those wishing to break into the fashion industry.  

In an interview with The Daily, LSA senior Priya Gulati, MFMS’ chief operating officer, said that MFMS was founded to provide resources for students interested in fashion. Gulati said that though the number of classes focusing on fashion at the University has expanded over the years, when MFMS was founded seven years ago, there were none. 

“The ultimate goal when (MFMS) was founded was to give people an opportunity to learn more about the fashion industry as we don’t have a fashion track at Michigan,” Gulati said. “The focus has shifted not just to fashion, but fashion and media, like it says in our name.”

The executive board of the seventh MFMS made an effort to uphold this goal when selecting their speakers this year. In an interview with The Daily, LSA senior Ella Mahmoodzadegan, co-president of MFMS, said the team wanted to pick speakers with diverse career backgrounds to appeal to the wide range of interests of the audience. 

“We have speakers from all different backgrounds, whether that be fashion, media, entertainment, sporty, celebrity styling, celebrity hair styling,” Mahmoodzadegan said. “Especially as a lot of individuals are approaching the postgraduate job search, we really wanted them to be able to hear from a variety of backgrounds and professional career paths.”

MFMS draws students from around the state of Michigan to attend the event. In an interview with The Daily, LSA senior Alexandra Cooperman, vice president of marketing for MFMS, said her team focuses on finding similar clubs and organizations at other universities to spread the word. 

“Our big focus is on neighboring universities in Michigan, like Eastern Michigan, Michigan State, that have any kind of club with fashion or media or even business focus,” Cooperman said. “We try to email them several times a year, promoting what the summit has to offer their students. … Some of them even organize these kinds of field trips to come to the summit. In addition to that, we also do heavy outreach to clubs that are not within driving distance. We even have people flying from New Orleans this year.”

The event included MFMS’ Fashion Forward Showcase, where student designers compete for the grand prize of a professional development opportunity at Steve Madden. Five finalists were invited to the Summit to display their work, and this year finalists came from Pennsylvania State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wayne State University.

In an interview with The Daily, Art & Design junior Sophie Strasburg recounted her experience talking with the recruiters at Steve Madden during the Summit on Friday. 

“They talked about how they wouldn’t trade anything they do for the world,” Strasburg said. “They wake up everyday and they never have the thought, ‘Oh my God, I have to go to work.’ I just think that’s so cool.” 

Strasburg said many of the speakers emphasized that there is not one linear path to success.  

“A lot of speakers have been talking about not letting fear get in the way and not asking for permission before doing things which I think is really helpful,” Strasburg said. “As University of Michigan students, we can be really uptight about doing things the right way, at the right time, in the right order, but it’s good to be reminded you don’t have to. You can follow your own path and what inspires you.”

Daily News Contributor Juliana Tanner can be reached at jntanner@umich.edu.

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