**disclaimer: I am no way well-versed, or even versed at all, in the realm of business, but want to look into it to create a platform for my idea. If any of you smarty-pants people in the PLA have any advice to give me on this, please let me know!
Over the past couple weeks, I have been listening to many interviews of Tim Gunn. For anyone who is unfamiliar with that name, he is the guy on Project Runway who is responsible for saying “DESIGNERS: you have five minutes” and “Make it work.” However, prior to the show, he was a prominent figure at the Parsons School of Design, one of the best fashion design schools in the country, for years. When it comes to fashion, this man truly knows his stuff.
In a few of his talks, he discusses his confusion with the fashion industry in one major area. He feels as though two demographics of women have been totally ignored. The first demographic is that of plus size women, which I think is an incredibly accurate statement to make, and the second is women who are not a size 0 or 2 but are not plus size either. These constitute the majority of women in the US, and the fashion industry is not even paying attention to them. In Tim’s opinion, this is ridiculous and poor business practice, as a huge and profitable market is being missed out on.
Now, as someone who loves fashion and clothes, I have come to realize that my strengths in this field are represented through styling; putting things together is my specialty, not so much modeling. Quite frankly, the way that I look is not what is wanted in the fashion community right now, so the opportunities for many women in this realm are not in abundance by any stretch. Despite this, I want to take advantage of this creative tendency that I have in a way that is helpful and inclusive for other women who are not afforded the attention of the fashion world but still want to look well-dressed (and might not know how).
This is where my idea comes in. I want to create a platform and service for these two demographics of women in mind, through an online styling service. In this situation, a customer would sign up to use the service and put important details down, like height, weight, and typical sizes. In this process, I would also like to include a section that has a wider spectrum of skin colors for women to choose from, so the stylist on the opposing end knows with great certainty what colors work best with the individual’s skin tone. In addition, I would add a section that asks to detail any fashion inspiration they may have and how they want to be perceived by others when wearing clothes (professional or casual? as an example). After receiving these details, the stylist on the other end would receive the information and put together 3-5 outfits for the client. Once receiving those, the individual would then choose however many they would want to purchase, and the outfits would be bought through the website and shipped to them.
Granted, I still have some points that need to be worked out, and that’s where the advice of others come in to play. Regardless of that, I don’t know of anything like this that exists, and would like to look into making it happen because I think it’s a great idea. Thoughts and criticisms are deeply appreciated, so please let me know what you think!!
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