It's summer time again. Summer is here? Summer isn't until the middle of June you say? Well, not if you're a college student it isn't. For us, summer begins as soon as finals ends. Now, I bet you're wondering: "Naomi, why the calendar talk? Shouldn't you be writing about fashion?" Yes. That is true. But, wait! Everybody needs money - uh, oh you're thinking, another sidetrack - naah, just think: what do I need money for?  For clothes and accessories of course! And how do you get money? A job. And what do college students immediately start thinking about as soon as classes end - if they haven't done so already? A summer job! So that's what this post is all about, summer jobs those temporary, short lived things that are supposed to garner us tuition and spending money and some much valued experience as well. One of the great things about working at a company is that you get to surround yourself with really sharp people who you can tap into when you need some advice. Those sort of jobs are usually called internships. But what makes a great employee is being able to trust not just those people, but yourself. There’s really something inside every employee that just knows when something’s right… or not.
Well, enough of a resume's cover letter, it's time to take stock of what I've got and can get with it,
meaning: what's my past work experience and how can I apply that experience to get something good out of this summer? So, I worked for the Detroit Auto show as a car girl - more about that later get back to the old grind in just a bit - I had a summer job at an ad agency, working as a dancer - no, not that kind of dancer - at a club,  and there's something I've had my eye on for a while it's this:

 I gave Mr. Ali a call some time back, didn't speak to him, it was someone else, explained my work
experience in the entertainment biz and that I am in college, was asked to be interviewed,
went to the interview - more about that later - and yay! I was offered a paid internship.
The down side is that it is just for the duration of the Grand Prix and the motor sports surrounding it, and that's pretty short. So I'm going to have to start looking for something else as well, though I think I've got that covered, more about that, too, later.
During my interview for the Grand Prix gig, I was curious about what just the heck I'd be doing.
Now, that's where the fashion part comes in. You might have read my post about car girls - sorry, the post about my own car girl experience is coming up, just you wait - and it seems I'll be doing something along those lines, here, take a look:

Matching uniforms, except for the shoes. Not sure if that's what I'll be wearing, got to check back in soon.
That's about the size of it. Now, as I wrote earlier, the Grand Prix isn't the only show in town on Belle Isle,
they don't call Detroit the motor city for nothing. Of course there are other similar jobs, check these out:

 I'm not sure if they're local girls or not. They're working for a toy car company that sponsored a truck race preceding the main event. Two, different, uniforms and like the Grand Prix gals, dissimilar shoes. But wait! One of them looks familiar! Oh, there she is:

 Seems there's more to their job than just handing out trophies. You can get a lot of information out of
just photos, a picture really is worth a thousand words. And there are other jobs still yet, like what this young lady is doing:

 Helping some drivers autograph posters by means of looking pretty. Last, but not least, the Italian tire
company, Pirelli, gets into the act with their own sponsored race, and, their own team of girls to deliver the goods, or goodies:

 In answer to my previous uncertainty, my economic sense tells me that both Pirelli and the toy car company, Traxxas, must have hired local girls and provided the uniforms; I can't see them busing or flying their awards girl teams from city to city. 
What the girl on the far left is wearing reminds me of what I wore  to the Grand Prix last year when I went to it with my ex Buddy: just a t-shirt, jeans and platform sandals. We didn't stay for the whole race, just passing through, frankly I was bored and only went because Buddy is such an avid motorsports
fan. You don't need tickets to watch the race, it crawls all over Belle Isle and there are lots of places, except for the finish line (seats for bread) to get severe hearing damage. Let me tell you baby, it is loud! Especially when the only thing between you and the cars is a wire fence and it's like you're sitting in you're den and they come ripping right by your couch. Oh wait! I said I was bored! Now, does ripping through my den sound bored? Bored is bored... No, no it's the whole thing, the whole scene, that's what I told the interviewer at my job interview, ok, that's another story that I'm sure you'll want to check back here about later.
Until then, hope your summer, er, spring is going great.
Catchya later.
Ciao.

A year on Polyvore, a look back.
The other day on Polyvore I realized I've been an active member for over a year or thereabouts. I came to the realization when I saw on my profile that I'd been a member for one year, duh.
If you have studied this blog carefully, you may have noticed the plethora of Polyvore sets and ephemera.For those less studious or who are still in the dark, Polyvore is a brand/store referral website.It's a bit like Lyst with one distinguishing feature: visitors to the site may use the Polyvore set
system to arrange photos of products and see how they look. It helps a bit to see how different items
look together before buying. If a visitor to the site likes what she has created, the  photos have links to outlets selling the items.
Of course you don't have to create a set to find something to buy. The other feature distinguishing Polyvore from Lyst, is a bit more community involvement. Logged in visitors to the site may distribute their creations - sets - to other visitors through groups, contests and the oft chance that one of their creations is noticed by the Polyvore staff and highlighted. However, distribution comes at a price: the set's creator relinquishes ownership of the 'set  upon publication, so essentially works created on Polyvore become part of the public domain. The other community involvement
aspect of Polyvore is that visitors may contribute links to products by "liking" items they find on the web with the Polyvore button, which later pop up in her item list and Polyvore's item list.

So on this one year anniversary, how does Polyvore look to me? Well, when I first started on Polyvore I couldn't get enough of it.  I was making 5 to 10 sets a day. Now, not so much. So why the big change? Maybe I'm just burnt out. Burnt out from entering so many contests! I must have entered 200 - 300 contest by now! A year ago I thought to myself eureka! Here's a way to get some discounts by winning a contest, but, no, the best I could do was place third - just third ?! - and then the contest organizers - PPZ - never paid up. I received an email with instructions on how to receive the prize, I followed them, and nada.Makes me wonder about the legitimacy of these so called contests. 
Next, I've found interest in my work is directly proportional to my work output, so the more sets
I made the more interest I would receive. Sounds great, huh? Just make more sets and get more likes, yeah, exceptI'd have to make sets 30 - 40 hours a day - impossible - to be a top contender. Now, I wouldn't be the one to say my sets are the best on Polyvore, so what should I expect? Well, there's that old ownership snaffu/clause reering it's ugly head again, and in spite of the fact that I have not garnered that much appreciation I've noticed my sets have had - well, let's just call it "influence" on certain things; it might be a good idea that my finger is pointedin a vague direction on this matter. Let me think, if they sucked so bad, why use them for a basis for something else.Maybe someone else is burnt out too.
You might think my experiences on Polyvore have made me bitter: little acknowledgment for effort, no payment for success, and imminent failure always looming on the horizon. Nah, from the start I never expected Kering to contact me about designing for Gucci, or Conde Naste to offer me an editorial position at Vogue. I still make some sets now and again and still enter the contests - the studious will correct me: I enter the contests ONLY, wistfully thinking I have a shot at winning, probably not, but what the heck. The thing is most of the stuff in the contests is the stuff I'm buying, and if I see a bargain, I'll buy it, even if it's from a company that sponsored a contest
I did not win. Social media hasn't given me the ability to have a true conversation with the women I would design for - if I could; it's the fun factor.
A final comparison between Lyst and Polyvore. As stated earlier, both of these websites main purpose in life is to be a conduit through which commerce flows. Is one better than the other? Right off the bat I can tell you I almost never use Lyst, since most of the stuff they hawk over there is way, way, way out of my price range. As for Polyvore, in spite of the fact that many of the businesses affiliated with it are also members - they get the "official" stamp you know -it's tough to find stuff on it. The items uploaded - I guess they get to upload directly -by those companies aren't
their full merchandise line; just stuff they're promoting I suppose. Next, many times an item is listed either as not in stock, or in stock yet the opposite of either is true. Finally, searching for an item is frustrating, the search lists cut out shortly and are incomplete; I look for items in my item list and can't find them in a general search.
The one saving grace is that many companies seek out Polyvore to promote their goods, so their exposure has lead me to new opportunities.
So there you have it, a bit scathing one might say - really?!, yet the old adage of ignoring leading to a honest sideline bears true.
Check back again for more exciting fashion epistles. More good stuff is on the way.
Catchya later.
Ciao.