MILLY

MILLY is a high-end, ready-to-wear womens sportswear company based out of New York City. I was fortunate enough to spend the summer of 2016 working under the design team as an intern. MILLY's design team consisted of four members, plus Michelle, the Creative Director. It gave me a look inside how a smaller design company operates and the responsibilities that fall on its members. Some of my daily activities were organizing the showroom, adding hanger loops or buttons to garments, getting shipments ready to go out, running errands, such as for trims and findings, fabric samples, pickups and drops for photoshoots, etc.; communicating orders to the factories, inventory checks, creation of line sheets, using Photoshop to edit images and create sample prints, research design inspirations, and more.

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My favorite project I was assigned to work on was to create a stripe pattern a knit dress from the 2017 Spring line that was in the works during my time at MILLY. I was given the colors Michelle had selected and instructed to arrange them in an aesthetically pleasing way with a variety of widths, color arrangements, and scales. (I was given the dress hanging below as an example from a previous collection.) Once there was a decided upon stripe pattern it was up to me to make several mock ups of how the stripes would be arranged on the dress (far right). I really enjoyed this because it gave me an idea of their design process, as well as what is necessary when sending information to the factories to create samples.

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"Your Dress is in the show!"

-Layne Schwartz, Associate Knitwear Designer at Milly

One of my favorite moments from working at MILLY was when I was asked back for New York Fashion Week. When I returned to the office that week I was greeted by one of the knit wear designers, who grabbed my hand and drug me into the showroom saying, "You're dress is in the show!" The striped print I had created and done countless mockups on had made it to New York Fashion Week, and it was one of the greatest feelings! My time as MILLY was one of rewarding hard work, learning, and growth that I'll never forget.