The beginning of week 2. Today, I spent hours upon hours working on the press folders. I have come to find out that Camilla is huge here. She would be comparable to the brand ED HARDY at home as far as popularity. She is featured in all of the style magazines here. As far as her prices only the well-off people can afford her kaftans. Although Bondi Beach, which is were the store and office are located is a very ritzy area. She does have other stores in Sydney, and sells through many boutiques in Australia and around the world. We had a team meeting this afternoon on what each persons goals and tasks are that Camilla wants achieved by the end of the week. After the team meeting I organized more information from manufactures into their proper folders. I also went through manufacturers that we are currently using to see if they have signed the Camilla manufacturer agreement and to see how much we have already paid them and if we have received their samples yet.

Week 1 completed! 45 hours later it is FRIDAY! Today I checked in sample garments from manufacturers. I checked to make sure they sent the right garments in the right colors and that the invoice matched what we received. I also worked on examining the details of 2 samples from 2 manufacturers. Both manufacturers made the same sample, but I was looking to see which one created it closest to what Camilla was looking for. As far as quality, stitching, beading, etc. From there Brittany and I chose the one that had the best quality. We took digital pictures of some of the details from the other sample, and sent them to the manufacturer that we wanted to go with to make changes for the final production. The hardest thing for me to keep remembering is that it is winter here which is our summer and they are currently creating the summer collection. Which will hit the stores here around Oct.-Dec.(their summer) and the U.S. won't get it for another year. I also continued to work on putting together the press folders. I look for any page in any press that has the Camilla brand on it and organize the press by date in folders.

Day 4, Today I did some visual merchandising in the store. I put together a display at the beach house store, and am currently experimenting with de-cluttering the clothing racks to give the store a more rich feeling for its customers. Seeing how the price ranges are $250-$600 for a kaftan. I thought that by putting less amount of each style on the rack would make it feel less like a typical store like a Target or a Macy's. Since all the styles are a one size fits all there is no real need for having more than one of each style on display. Especially when there is 260 styles and there is several of each style in the stockroom. If a customer wants to purchase a garment that is on the floor the sales girl can let them try it on to see how it looks, but can sell them a garment from the stockroom. Not only will it de-cluttering the store and make it have a more rich feeling, but it will possibly make it easier for the customers to see the garments more easily. After the visual merchandising, I sat in on a meeting with international sales and a rep from the Australian government. The Camilla brand is trying to open it's own stores to sell it's merchandise internationally. Currently Camilla clothes are sold internationally, but the merchandise is being sold through existing boutiques. In order to do this international sales wanted to know what duties and taxes would apply and want grants they could receive. The Australian government gives 50 cents to the dollar for all marketing. Therefore websites, fashion shows and anything that is international marketing will be reimbursed 50% by the government up to 50 million dollars. When the meeting was over I went through magazines to look for anything that had Camilla in it. First I sorted the magazines by month, then I would take out what pages that had anything of the Camilla brand on it and would put it in her press folders.

Day 3 of working at Camilla. Again, a never ending of day of rain. So far there has only been one day without rain since I have been in Australia. I am beginning to pick up on some differences between Americans and Australians. Today I was asked to get the all of the "Hetch" manufacturing folders, meaning all the "H" manufacturers. I also found out that I was writing the dates wrong on the invoices I was writing 5/26/10, and they write 26/5/10. Another interesting fact is M:, means cell number because the call it a mobile and not a cell. Today I spent hours checking, double checking, and quadruple checking the newest look book for product name, description, and product codes. The look book is going to be sent to the printers tomorrow so there is no looking back now. After the look book I sorted through all the manufacturers A-H looking at what samples they sent us and if they sent us the amount of samples that we requested. From there I had to make note of how many samples each manufacturer owes Camilla.

Day 2 at the fashion house. It was crazy busy today. I worked with Sarah the girl that I am working under at Camilla checking quality assurance for the samples that we got in today from different manufacturers. Some of the samples had the labels sewn on crooked, wrong stitching, or horrible bead work. After sorting and checking in the good quality garments we had to accept them and record them in the manufacturers folders. Then we coded new garments for the latest look book. Once we frantically finished the coding that Camilla wanted done yesterday. We began organizing the Camilla press folders. So far in the past two days I have just had a dabble in the Camilla brand. Camilla, is a very happening brand that is exploding making the company overly busy. I am excited and anticipating putting together my SWOT analysis for the company.

1st Day @ Camilla

Today was my first day at Camilla. It was exciting, busy, and stressful all at the same time. The fashion industry is so fast past and trying to learn everything for the brand is going take some time getting used to. The crazy disorganized offices over look the store. With all the phones constantly ringing and all the customers going in and out makes it hard to concentrate in the offices. It was to my surprise that Camilla herself was working today. I met the "CAMILLA" my first day! Sarah who is the girl that I will mostly be working under went over how I will be able to complete my goal objectives and SWOT analysis for the company during my time here. After discussing the basics. I spent the majority of the day organizing manufacturers by the season. Can't wait to see how tomorrow or the rest of the week goes.

Pictures of Bondi Beach, which is located across the street from Camilla's. So if the weather ever gets nice and sunny. I will have a great view from work.

Internship Site

So, I arrived to Sydney Friday May 21st at 6:37 am Australia time. The remainder of Friday I spent unpacking and walking around Waverley, which is a suburb of Sydney that I am living in. I wanted to figure out where the public transportation was in Waverley and how to use it to get to Sydney and other suburbs of the city. I didn't last long exploring do to the fact that I was exhausted and had been up for 43 hours.

Saturday, I took the train into Sydney from Waverley and met up with Mario a representative from global experiences. We discussed my first day of starting work at Camilla's and what type of public transportation would be the best for me to get to and from work. To get to work I have about a 20 minute walk to the bus station in Bondi Junction, and from the bus station a 10 minute bus ride to Bondi Beach which is where my internship at Camilla's is located. After meeting with Mario I went to the Market to get some food. I knew that items would be more expensive here, but never thought that I would be paying $6 for a small brown sandwich bag of apples. Adjusting to their prices is going to take some getting used to.

Sunday, today was pretty low key. I walked in the rain again for the 3rd day in a row to Bondi Junction. I think packing my umbrella was the smartest move that I made. It is has been cold and rainy since I have been here, but that is pretty typical for their fall/winter here. From Bondi Junction I took the bus to Bondi Beach to make sure I could find my internship site for my first day of work on Monday. I took a picture of the outside of Camilla's and will be posting it shortly. I am very excited and eager to start work 2moro. Let the internship begin Mon.-Fri. 9am-6pm.

Does this look like enough room to pack 4 months worth of clothes? I think not.

For those of you that know me really well I am not a light packer when it comes to traveling. So, the stress begins on how to strategically pack for 4 months. Wish me luck!

May 16th

This is my first entry for the beginning of my down under adventure:)

I will be leaving MI on May 19th for Sydney (Bondi Beach), Australia!!!!!!! During my time in Australia I will be working 600 hours for a fashion designer named Camilla Franks. For those of you that are unfamiliar with her work check out the Camilla website: http://www.camilla.com.au/collections_babylon.cfm