Latest / Exploring Fashion Futures With Dr.HB / 4 Skills To Develop If You Want To Be A Visual Merchandiser.
Transcript
- mehr: Welcome to my podcast, Exploring Fashion Futures with Dr. HB. Last week we talked with Zoe Bednar, who is a visual merchandiser for a global luxury watch company. We learned a lot and that was a great conversation. How interesting to see a a person who wasn't really sure what she was going to be, what she was interested in. from a very small town in Missouri, now living in New York City, working for one of the biggest global watch companies in the world, and and set the tone and be the dictator of the visual merchandising for that brand. What an amazing career she has, and I'm so proud of her. So I can't wait to kind of go over what four key skill sets that we should start developing now that we learned about what a visual merchandiser's. Roles are. This podcast is about bridging the gap between the industry and the classroom and try to help future fashion professionals to find their own spot in this world and make connection with people who are in the industry. So I can't wait to dissect this one at a time. So the first one out of four skill set we should start developing if you want to be a visual merchandiser one day. Number one, Zoe said, if you remember. She said, you should have a creative eye, right? She says specifically, you should have a clear idea of what you like, what you don't like. You know, let me be honest with you. I was never a visually creative person, even though I majored and study fashion and textiles. It's just for me, it was a never for whatever reason, it's it's hard for me to see things visually in my head. Some people are so good at it, some people are so like almost like innately, they always know how put together so easily. They know exactly whether, I love it, this is exactly what I want. And I do that when I see in my writing whether I like it or not. I don't have that kind of conviction when I see things visually. but Zoe said, even when she was a little girl, her mom would always ask her, do you like it? And Zoe will say, I don't like it, I like it. How do you even come up with that? I d I can't even tell you, but I know a lot of you do have that kind of visual creative eye, right? I I'm so jealous of all of you if you do have that creative eye. But if you do so, maybe visual merchandising is something for you to consider. She also talked about how styling is different than visual merchandise, especially visual merchandisers, you do that for the entire product category and for the entire brand, for the company, for a large group of target consumers that you please and you serve. While stylist will just go after only one, you only have a one client and that client wants certain image, they want certain products, and then it's your job to go and find it in that particular size. But the visual merchandiser for a large company, so whether it's even if it's a smaller, like small store, boutique store you might see in a downtown Columbia, Missouri, it's the same aim because you're still merchandising for your potential customers. There are more than one person. While stylists, you only work for one person. Even though you might have a multiple clients, the product that you select is for one person. Which can be, you know, sometimes it could be fun, but it could also be very challenging because every personality, every client might want what works for client A may not work for client B. And that finding that the product could be very challenging while visual merchandise, or whether it's a small boutique stores or the global company, ultimately your merchandising. For your brands to communicate with the largest possible number of your target consumers. So it's a very different mindset. But either way, both cases, you should have a creative eye. You should have a conviction to say, I like it, I don't like it. I thought that was really interesting for me to hear that from her. And how do we develop that? This that skills, even now as a college student, you really need to start learning about principles of. photography or principles of proportion, colors, how to read colors, paying attention to the lighting and how these products can flow. You should have a visual image of certain products or certain group of the products in your mind. And I said I really like this is the vision, this is the theme. I want our products to look like this and that will, you know, speak for my brand as well as for my customers. She even said any retail experience will be helpful for anybody who wants to be in fashion industry in the future at some point. Because ultimately we're selling our products to our customers, right? So that the more you know about them, the better role you're gonna have. If you think you have this creative eye, if you're interested in visual merchandising, I will work for a retail store while you're at school for part-time, even five hours a week, 10 hours a week, find a way to spend some time and work at a store level. So a lot of our students tend to work at the store, right? Some stores, this store, that so it doesn't matter what stores are. Once you get there, you now need to volunteer. Hey, store manager, I'm very interested in visual merchandising. Can I? be responsible for setting up a window display next time when we have new products come in. I will love to do that for you. I will love to organize the products in a way that it'll be very appealing to our customers. Because I know so because I've been working here for a couple of weeks and months and I realize the customers want a product this way and that way. So I can have a window display ready for them and that will be great. So you volunteered to do that kind of project. If that work was done very well, your managers are very happy, then put it on your resume. You can say I volunteered to create a new window display. And then my manager was pleased, or we we believe we increased the foot traffic by however many percent, or you received certain compliments from customers about whatever window display you did. So now you document what was the instruction or what was in the past, what did you do voluntarily or proactively and what was your outcome? Like what the sometimes it could be quantitative outcome in terms of how many people or more people are coming in or more people are commenting about the Windows display or some people were saying how nice it was, whatever that it is, you document things your students, you now need to document all of that and put them in your resume so that you can say, hey, this is what I did. It worked. And I want to continue to learn. So please give me an opportunity for me to be be your visual merchandiser. That could be whether it's gift shops or you know, candle stores or fashion company. It doesn't matter. Almost all stores have a visual merchandising component to it. Whatever you saw, and come up with a new idea, talk to your supervisor, execute them and document the outcome. So then you can put it on your resume Okay, so that's number one. Having a creative eye, but that's not enough. You also need an evidence or proof that you do have a creative eye by doing this type of new projects or volunteering to do a new project for your part-time job or any internship. So number two, she also said visual merchandise, it's just such a it's more than just kind of setting up a store pretty or setting up the mannequin pretty or presenting products pretty. It It involves so many also logistics and having to work with so many different people. Like, for example, if you had all this idea, we're gonna have a lighting over there, we're gonna have prop here. You had all these plans ready, but what if it wasn't shipped? Or meaning like a FedEx got delayed or delivery got delayed, so you don't have that particular product that you are gonna use, or you don't have the props. That you are gonna use, okay? What if the products were sold already? I have no inventory to put it on the rep on the mannequin. Things would happen. No matter what your intentions were, there will be a situation where you cannot execute your plans the way you want it. So then she said, hmm, how do I make it work? How do I make it work with the stuff that I have, the items I have, or with the people I have? Instead of my plans are all over because my plan was A B C. I don't have a C anymore. So it's all, you know, out the window. We I can't do anything about it. Instead of thinking it that way, now you have to bring in your creative problem solving skills to say, okay, I was gonna use this prop to make the display this way, but I don't have it. What do I have? What do I have around me? Is there anywhere I can go and get them? Can I make something quickly? All that problem solving skills, that's what she was saying. How do I make it work with this incomplete information or situation or whatever challenges that you're facing, right? It's less than ideal situation. How do we make it work? So I thought that was really interesting for her to say that because. Anybody can do a lot of wonderful and beautiful thing when you have an infinite amount of resources or access to the products and items and people. But the reality is we will always face the challenges and unexpected situation things are broken and things got ripped off, things got lost, things got sold out. So whatever it is, how do we make? It works. How do we develop that skill set even as a college student right now? This is where I talk to my capstone students all the time. When everything is up and up and up, meaning everything is hunky-dory, everything is perfect, then we don't really need a leader. I mean, everything is working well, the wheels are churning, and life is great. But the true leadership arises when things don't happen the way you want it to happen. So, first of all, taking on some projects that it'll challenge you because the more experience you have solving such problems, the you will be better at it and you will become less anxious about it. I can do it. Like, you know, this happened to me before. What can I do about it? And being resourceful about it, right? Whether it's the sorority project, your department, your classroom group project. Or even your own home, like our everyday life. I was gonna bake something with all these ingredients. I don't have one particular ingredient, so what can I substitute with it? Instead of feeling frustrated or feeling like you're being limited when things are not there, you now have a positive outlook. This gives me an opportunity to problem solve. What can I do? Yes, I I couldn't get it done today, but I'm gonna get it done tomorrow by having something else, alternative option. So my group project, we were gonna do all of that, but somebody was late with getting the information by certain things, so we couldn't do it. Instead of being upset about somebody's being late, I'm gonna take the leadership or voluntarily do something more and actually, hey. We don't have that information to complete this paper, but we can leave it empty for a while, or we can incorporate another part of the research that somebody else did, and we can still complete it. So coming up with these new solutions without feeling frustrated and actually feeling more accomplished because you are able to get it done with limited resources. So that's what I would say as number two. Number three is she also talked about how do we work. with people, right? At the end of the day, you can't do it. Like can you imagine if you're a window display more visual merchandiser for basis on the thirty fourth street in New York City. You know how many windows they have and how big that is, how much work that is. You can't do it all by yourself. You gotta be nice to people. You know how to work with people. Sometimes you motivate people, sometimes you Demand accountability from people. Sometimes you do it yourself, but sometimes you also back out and let them do the work for you. How to work with people. I mean, do you know anybody who doesn't work with anybody? People just work all by themselves. I don't know anybody. No matter how big or small the company's jobs they have, everybody that I know works with somebody else. And so it's an inevitable and that. You're gonna work with people and you need to learn how to work with people. As to how to develop that skill set, you just get into the group project. Don't say, I hate the group project because they don't do the work on time and I gotta like, I'm so frustrated. No, you need to now learn to how to work with some people who do everything too early, some people who work everything too late, some people who just never listen, you think. some people who Take a lot of good notes. some people who never take notes. Every single person that you work with, there is a lesson for you to learn from. Okay. I only want to work with my best friends or the friends that I know that they're good at. You know, like somebody just like me. Then you don't grow. Actually, if anything, when you work with people who are very different from you and they give you very challenging Whatever assignment or situation, that's when you really learn how to work with this type of person who's totally different than me, not working like me, or very different work style. And that's where you need to learn. You're gonna learn, hmm, when I face this type of person, I'm gonna share my expertise in this way so we can find a way to work. Together, or how to motivate them, or how to encourage them, or how to say, I'm sorry, if made a mistake, but also how to be able to congratulate them if they do well. So let's do more group project. Don't be a passive passenger in your group project, be an active leader and driver in that group project while you're listening to every group member's concerns and ideas and all of that. If you have a part-time job. You do learn how to work with other people, whether they are just like your friends or not. It doesn't matter. Don't forget, you learn something, different thing from everybody you're working with. So document it and say, being able to say things like that at the interview. You, you know, I learned to work with people, different type of people, people from different backgrounds and different motivational background. So it doesn't matter. You say I work with the variety of different people and I learned ABC. You should be able to say that at the interview and all the employers will like you. Okay. So finally she was saying organized. So I I feel like organizational skills came in almost every episode. Every interview that we have, they all say organization. So it must be so important, right? Every body been saying how important it is to be organized. And I will say the same thing. I think you need to be super organized if you want to be a professor or teacher any anything. So organization in this case, what Zoe was talking about, I mean, ultimately everybody comes to you and asks you when she was talking about that flagship store turnover overnight, you had a five-story building your company, your brand store has five floors and then every store you might have different mannequins and different products and different lighting and different color scheme. And if you don't, I mean nobody can remember everything. So you have to take notes, you have to have your design planogram, you have to have your vision. And then you have to be organized so that when people come and ask you how about floor three, you know, section 10 about a mannequin, you yeah. You need to be able to go and remember and and find the information quickly and then being able to clearly communicate that. We've been talking a lot about organization skills even in the previous episodes, but I'll say one more time in visual merchandising case. I think the list of item, for example, like mannequin one, mannequin two, like even mannequin one women body, children's body, men's body, they're all different, right? So they're labeled, where they're gonna go, like how you're gonna describe it, what product's gonna be, what floor it's gonna be on. So that organization. After that, you might have props, okay, for window number five, should have a prop number one, two, three. And those one, two, threes are coming from where? Right? Like who's bringing them, who's supplying? Did we receive them or not receive them? Do we make it? Did we not make it? All that status, like status of what's going on in prop one and window number 10, while you're worrying about prop number five and one that window number one, right? So there's so many things to track so that organization skills in this case is the previous like. In a sourcing side, a lot of organization came through the calendar and the time management side of it. While this organization that Zoe was talking about was a lot of prop related, the product related, item related. So that the logistic, the delivery, the making of it, that was very, very important for her. So whatever strategies that you have. So in my case, if I were in her shoes, I will use Excel. And I will have a every column, like a product first, and then where it's gonna be and then what's the current situation is. So I might use Excel and I will sort them, I will, you know, review and all of that. So you can do that even in college right now. What do I have? And you know, when I pack my bags for a two week vacation, for example, are you gonna have a list of things to pack? That's organization. You know, even if it's this doesn't have to be your part-time job thing, it's your everyday thing. If you're vacation, you still have to have a list. You gotta be organized. What do I need? Where is that? Like it did I pack? Did I not include it? So that's all part of learning how to organize yourself, right? So I hope this would help you start imagining, hmm, can I be a visual merchandiser one day? If I because I believe I have a very creative eye. So then I want to know more about what Zoe does, and I'm gonna start reaching out to people who are whose job is a visual merchandising and you might want to shadow it, you might want to start internship, you might want to volunteer to be a visual merchandiser. Even if you just work as a sales associate at a store, any manager will be happy to have you if you want to take the initiative, do something more and do differently to make that store better. I was very happy to talk with Zoe. I'm very proud of her. And I hope you all learned a lot from Zoe. And we'll conclude that visual merchandising section today. And next week I'm gonna bring new professionals. So let's find out who I'm gonna bring. If you have any question, please leave comments down below and I will read all your comments and I'll do my best to try to answer to your questions. Also, please follow and subscribe and like the button so that the algorithm can find people like you and more and spread this fashion community even more and bigger and greater throughout the whole world. Okay until then see you then thank you bye bye