Every Graduate Needs to Hear Donna Karan's Advice

WWW: Is there any advice you would give women, specifically, who are looking to create their own career success—in fashion or otherwise?

DK: Create a posse. You’re only as good as the people you have around you.

WWW: And finally, having stood in the Parsons students’ shoes before, what do you credit to be the best first steps you took in your career?

DK: I think the most important thing as a fashion designer is to work at retail, which I did prior to going to school and then continued doing after school. It’s one thing to design, and it’s another thing to understand what the customer needs and what she can wear. Also, it’s important to work for another designer to have the experience and learn from someone.

WWW: Okay, on the flip side, what was your first big career misstep? How’d you deal with it?

DK: I got fired from Anne Klein right after she hired me in my junior year of Parsons, and after that, I didn’t walk into a large organization. I walked into a much smaller one, and I was able to really learn from Patti Cappalli at Addenda, which prepared me to move forward and work again with Anne Klein. Learning about fabric, color, the body, fit … it’s so important. You can’t be a designer if you don’t understand these fundamentals.

via Who What Wear http://ift.tt/2qQyLN1