Field trip to Milan & Rome

Field Trip to Italy

Milan & Florence

27th March - 1st April

Towards the end of March was our last week of our 3^rd term at ESSEC. It was a very busy time with some of us having 5 presentations and accompanying papers due over a 4 day period. All of these projects were group work and so simply coordinating our time to be able to do the work was a challenge as most all of the time we did not have the same members in each group.

After surviving our last week and with all our class work and stress out of the way we were able to take it a bit easier and focus on networking with a trip to Italy.

Our field trip to Italy was a fabulous experience as we got to meet with many of the top luxury fashion companies including: Ermenegildo Zegna, Bottega Veneta, Giorgio Armani, Richemont Group, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo and Gucci. Whilst we have already been lucky enough to meet with many of their French counterparts this was an opportunity to meet with the Italian luxury brands and to get an understanding of the similarities and differences between the two.

Our first day was a full day at Zegna’s factory just outside of Milan. Bernadetta Zegna gave us a talk on the company and then we were given a tour of their factory and Museum. The second day we met with the worldwide merchandising manager for Bottega Veneta and then a store visit to Armani Casa where we were given a talk by the store manager. Wednesday was a full day workshop with Richemont’s Creative Academy. They have roughly 20 students studying design at this academy. They do a one year course including an internship and at the end they have a position at one of the Richemont brands. In groups comprised of ESSEC Students and Richemont Students we had to work together to deliver a brand extension of one of their brands. It was a thoroughly rewarding day and I think both the ESSEC Students and the Richemont students really enjoyed working together.

Later on Wednesday night we met with the Merchandising manager for Prada for Asia Pacific who was an alumni from our course. He had come from a background in IT marketing in Canada and after the course got a job as a buyer at Printemps in Paris before being poached by Prada and moved to Milan a few years later.

Thursday we caught the train to Florence where we met with a representative from Salvatore Ferragamo and were given a tour of their museum. Friday was a full day with Gucci were we were given presentations and a tour of the factory. We were lucky that day as President and CEO Patrizio di Marco was in the office that day so we got to meet with him.

Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable and productive trip we got to meet with some great people and companies and I think everyone went home feeling enormously satisfied.

New York Field Trip Feb 12th-19th

As part of our course half of our class goes on a field trip to New york and the other half goes to Hong Kong. I would’ve been happy to go to either destination but I was lucky enough to get to go to New York - and it was fashion week!

The purpose of the trip is to get to meet with some companies in our industry, to network and to find out what is happening in the local market.

We visited 11 Companies: Moet & Hennessey, Van Cleef & Arpels, Coach, Calvin Klein, Polo Ralph Lauren, Tods, Rent the Runway, Elizabeth Arden and Saks 5^th Avenue, Bond Creative Search and Fahrenheit 212. All of the visits were really interesting and were all quite different from one another so we learnt a lot.

Breakfast on the first day -- Times Square -- VC&A Exhibition Launch

We stayed at The Standard Hotel in the Meat Packing District. http://www.standardhotels.com/new-york-city/ It is a really funky hotel but during fashion week the service was notably worse than after it was over. There were lots of really fun restaurants and shops nearby and seemed like it was only 5 mins from anywhere we wanted to go. The Standard runs above the Highline – the old disused train track which has been turned into a park but it was still too cold for us to really want to sit there for any period of time.

We were there for one week, which seemed hardly long enough but any longer and it would’ve probably killed me due to the running around to appointments and trying to sample some of New York’s best restaurants and bars.

Some of my favourite places for the week:

Pastis http://www.pastisny.com

Lavo http://lavony.com/

Morimoto www.morimotonyc.com

Buddahkan http://www.buddakannyc.com/

Bagatelle http://www.bistrobagatelle.com/ for Brunch

Butter http://www.butterrestaurant.com/ Restaurant with good Club Downstairs good on Monday Nights

Whilst we didn’t get the impression many of the companies were hiring it was still a really great trip and worthwhile for us to learn more about the U.S Market.

Quick Champagne at the Modern--View from our Hotel Room -- Crazy Brunch Party at Bagatelle

So long, farewell Cergy Residence du Port

I moved out of the dorm this week. I was surprised at how sad I was to leave considering how much I had been looking forward to living in Paris. I think I was sad to leave my friends because it reminded me that although I am only moving out of the dorm now, in 6 months we will all be going home or moving on and I will never see this bunch of people in the same place together again.

The night before I left I organized a few drinks in the club room and everyone was very sweet and came, despite the having a tonne of work. It was very casual but it was nice because this was the first place I had met my classmates when I first moved into the dorm last August.

Wednesday I caught a cab with all my bags to my new home in Le Marais. I thought it was going to be relatively straight forward. I had only one suitcase when I moved here, my dorm was only small, so how much stuff could I have? Well the taxi was rammed full with 4 suitcases and a whole lot of other small bags. Needless to say I don’t think the taxi driver was very happy. He was very nice about it though – I think he felt a bit sorry for me.

I got all my things into my new place and unpacked some of the bags before heading off the Chinese New Year celebrations organized by some girls in our class. We had a Chinese banquet and Karaoke room for the afternoon. I have to say I was really impressed at how much everyone got into it, I was even more impressed with the singing ability of my classmates. When I go to Karaoke in Australia everyone is terrible. We usually have to have a few drinks to make the dull the embarrassment which also helps so that no one can remember how bad you really are. Our Chinese New Year session was during the day so no one was particularly drunk and I can’t think of anyone who couldn’t sing. We did have some absolute standouts though Nora and Gilbert’s my ‘My Heart Will go on’, Gilbert's Chinese rap, Annie multiple Britney songs, Mario – Polka face (too bad they didn’t have telephone!), Sushant and Mauricio - Backstreet Boys and there were all these Chinese songs I didn’t know but I am sure they sounded exactly like the original (Irene, Lele, Michelle & Lan).

We wrapped things up around 8pm because lots of us had some work to do and some people had to head back to Cergy. I headed back to my place for my first night in my new home. I am so happy to be here and can’t wait to get out and explore Paris and hopefully (and most importantly) improve my French!

Burgandy, Lyon and Dijon

My dad was in town recently and I had 5 days off school as we had with Armistice day, a bridging day on the Friday (French often take off a day in between when a public holidays fall mid-week) and also the Monday off.

I took lots of photos and I think I will let them speak for themselves as I am a little brain dead after staying up late every night this week to catch up on Assignments I didn't do because I was away!

Our cute little hotel in Lyon the Le Royal in the main square where we spent our first night

In the old town in Lyon they have this crazy miniatures museum which was suprisingly really good. Check out the baby LV on the left!
We also visited the Cathedral on the hill, the Amphitheater which apparently dates back to B.C and Lyon has their very own Eiffel tower.





We had some amazing food, a one star restaurant in Beaune http://www.levernois.com/ and a 3 star restaurant in Chagny http://www.lameloise.fr/

We visited the old Hospice in burgandy, the Abby at Fontanay, the town where chocolat was filmed, did a wine tour and visited the chateau at Fontainbleu.

Parafection & Ecole Lesage

Lesage - Embroider
The middle picture is of the beads they had in storage there were hundreds

Parafection, loosely translated means "for the love of", and is the name of the company created in 2002 by Chanel to support 7 independant atéliers d'art. These 7 workshops have long been suppliers to Chanel and many other fashion houses, particularly for their couture and sometimes for their ready to wear lines. Chanel made the decision to form this umbrella company to avoid potentially losing these suppliers which they rely on for their expertise in different areas.

Included in these 7 workshops are a bootmaker, a costume jeweler, a feather and flower maker, a fabric pleater, a glove maker, a milliner and hat maker and an embroider.

We visited the Ecole Lesage and had a talk on the history of couture and background on the 7 different workshops. We then did a tour of 3 of the workshops Lesage (Embroider), Michel (Hat maker and Milliner) and Lemarie (feather and flower maker). It was really exciting to get to visit these places and what made it more exciting is that they were madly preparing for Fashion week which was in 2 weeks time.

On the second day we had lesson in embroidery at Ecole Lesage and we sewed a beaded pattern onto a screen which we were able to cut out and take home with us.

At Lemarie the Feather and Flower maker
The created they Chanel dress worn by Nicole Kidman for the Chanel No. 5 ads

At Michel's the Hat maker and Milliner

Discovering Place de la Madeleine with Monika

On one of our last really hot days in Paris, Monika - a fellow ESSEC student and Paris local, showed me around Place de la Madeleine. There were some of the most exquisite stores there and exactly what you think of when you dream of Paris and all the lovely things they have here.

There was:

Mariage Tea Shop
The cutest tea shop with teas from all over the world and all the most beautiful accessories for drinking tea.
www.mariagefreres.com

Fauchon
There are 2 Fauchon stores on the Place de la Madeleine. One selling all their amazing cakes (see pic), breads, cheeses. The other selling their deli type items (foie gras, oils, coffee, chocolate) this one also has a restaurant and bar upstairs
www.fauchon.com

Prunier
Caviar store and restaurant
www.prunier.com

Maison de la Truffe
Truffle restaurant and store
www.maison-de-la-truffe.com

Laduree
Macaroon shop - they have another store in St Germain is one of the most popular Macaroon stores with queues going down the street.
www.laduree.fr

Hediard
A gourmet food supplier with everything from oils, wines, fresh fruit, chocolates, sweets and exotic spices.
www.hediard.fr

Maille
Mustard Shop which also sells mayonnaise and vinegar. I am sure I have had their wholegrain mustard in Australia.
www.maille.us

......and of course we had to stop and have a cocktail after our exhausting walk around the square! @ Forvm: www.bar-le-forum.com