?Reporting to the bosses about what?s selling and what?s not was like meeting Tim Gunn??Jazmin Reyes, Topshop intern
THE WORD ?INTERN? seems to evoke long hours of work, drudgery, and personal sacrifice. Think Andrea Sachs from the film ?The Devil Wears Prada,? and the things she had to endure from her boss from hell, Miranda Priestly. But for this year?s Robinsons Store Specialist Inc.?s (RSSI) Summer Experience interns, this is the one fun summer they will long remember for the way their internship changed the way they see fashion.

RSSI initially asked interested participants to submit a photo wearing their favorite outfit from Topshop, Topman, Dorothy Perkins, and Trucco, according to RSSI?s marketing manager Ina Sarabia. ?They also had to answer the question: ?Why I?d be perfect for this Summer Experience.?? Around two hundred entries were submitted but only the top twelve hopeful fashionistas, aged 15 to 19 years old, got accepted to the 10-day workshop.

Dirty work

Fashion, the participants learned, was not all glitz and glamour. Dressed in their respective RSSI stores uniforms, they worked behind the scenes as staff and cashier assistants. They were also tasked to style the mannequins of the different RSSI stores as well as to create mood boards featuring Spring-Summer 2010 trends. And they too had their own share of dirty work by cleaning up and rearranging the clothes rack every time a customer hurriedly gets something from it.

For Zikki Montalan, dressing the store mannequins was the most difficult task he had to do. Andoy Angeles, one of the facilitators in the workshop, explained: ?It?s difficult because it?s not just about dressing [the mannequin], it?s about styling and considering that the colors go together.?

The culminating activity for the workshop was a fashion show held at the Topshop Rockwell branch. Interns Gabby Go, Justin Pe, Kirsten Zapata, Stef Pajarito, Andrea Yu, Donna Hernaez, Zikki Montalan, Jazmin Reyes, Roxy Valencerina, Chelsea Madamba, and Wayne Coherco got to strut down the catwalk in an outfit they personally picked. They also brought along a friend who modeled the clothes they chose for them.

Intern awards

Specials awards such as the Top Seller and Creative Stylista were given out during the awarding ceremony. The former was given to the intern who sold the most number of clothes while the latter was given for the most stylish mannequin design. Another award, the Runway Star, was given to the ramp model that rocked the catwalk chosen by the Candy magazine staff, headed by editor-in-chief Mia Custodio. ?I was blown away because all of the participants are so talented,? Custodio enthused. She advised future applicants to ?just go for it, work really hard, and make the most of the opportunity because it will help you in life.?

The Ultimate Fashion Guru award was given to the intern who excelled overall in all the required tasks. Incoming Ateneo freshman Jazmin Reyes was ecstatic when she was called onstage to receive the award. ?I have always liked fashion and the arts,? she explained. The added bonus, which was being around people who had the same interests as her, was one of the highlights of her summer experience. She recalls how tough it was when the store was jampacked and how ?reporting to the bosses about what?s selling and what?s not was like meeting Tim Gunn [of the reality television program, ?Project Runway?].?

For Jazmin, fashion is ?your story in clothes.? Indeed a story well-told for these 12 RSSI interns who have been through ten days of grueling work and play while learning the ropes of retail merchandising that allowed them to look at fashion from the ground up. And if they do decide to pursue it as a career, then Summer Experience 2010 is one such internship they will never forget.