Chelsea VonMach and Aferdita Rakipi - do these names ring a bell? Well, the should because they were both speakers are DGG's very first FashionSpeak. The funny thing about that is they didn't know of each other until the day of the event. Since then, they have partnered together to take Chelsea's brain-child MODASearch™ to the next level. Read about the start up below, and the importance of networking.
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| Image Courtesy of MODASearch™ |
DGG: Tell us about yourselves, Aferdita and Chelsea.
Aferdita Rakipi: I had always had a love affair with travel, different languages and cultures thus I majored in History and minored in French. Naturally, that landed me in the fashion world. NOT. After a world wind of roads less traveled from my time in politics to technologies, I then of course landed in fashion. My experiences from living aboard and working in different fields gave me a unique perspective from fashion to everyday life. A coffee break in NYC is not the same as a coffee break in Milan, and there is beauty in both.
Chelsea VonMach: Well, I grew up in the greater Detroit area where, unfortunately at the time, there weren’t too many options like ‘The Detroit Garment Group’ to help cultivate and nurture my magpie nature for anything sparkly, texturized, and unique. I’ve always been fascinated and inspired by the world of fashion and after attending Michigan State University for a year, I realized that the only way I was going to be able to discover for myself if I had what it took to create a career for myself in the industry was for me to jump outside my comfort zone and explore what that meant. This lead me begging my parents to give me their blessing to move out to California and attend The Fashion Institute of Design Merchandising. It wasn’t an easy battle, but after some convincing, I found myself on the west coast actually pursuing my dream! I interned like crazy, and upon graduation from FIDM, accepted my first real paying job as a stylist assistant on the remake of the television show ‘Melrose Place.’ For the past 7 years, I’ve worked on several network television shows and feature films and have assisted for some of the top stylists and costumes designers in the industry including celebrity stylist, Rachel Zoe and Mad Men Costume Designer, Janie Bryant. It’s been an amazing journey and I’ve learned a lot, and am excited to finally be booking head stylist jobs on my own to take my career to the next level. However, I never just wanted to be a fashion stylist/costume designer, I wanted to do something innovative in my industry, which I’ve been able to do with MODASearch™.
DGG: Tell us about MODASearch™.
AR: This was Chelsea’s and her business partner’s brainchild. We were both speakers at the first FashionSpeak and we just got to talking about our experiences. I mean a real honest conversation not how fabulous it all is, but the real work that goes into it everyday.
CVM: The idea for MODASearch actually came about at my family friend, Laura’s (my now business partner) dinner table after expressing to her my frustration regarding how much of my work day was being wasted trying to find clothes and accessories for my jobs. I expressed to her how I wished there was a simple directory or a kind of ‘Yellow Pages’ of information where I could access information quickly at my fingertips and know where to go to find what I needed without having to drive all over Los Angeles, which if you’ve ever been in LA traffic during most parts of the day, can be a nightmare. Laura then suggested that we could come up with a database containing all the info and create a website where stylists like me could avoid the stress and headaches of research and racing the clock for last minute photo shoots. We immediately started working on it and shortly thereafter, as Aferdita mentioned, I had the privilege of speaking at the first FashionSpeak, where I met Aferdita and had some real talk about working in the industry. Laura and I were looking for a PR maven and someone who would really invest, believe, and evolve MODASearch™, and Aferdita had all of those qualities.
DGG: Is MODASearch™ only for people in California? Or can anyone anywhere use it?
AR: The beauty of MODASearch™ is that it is a universal tool. Everyone can use it. The features and benefits of becoming a MODASearch™ user is that each member enriches the site. All can use the Modatags, Modagalleries and request samples. In our current launch, major cities have access to other services which we will continually incorporate throughout all areas of MODASearch™ .
CVM: Aferdita said it perfectly. ☺
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| Image Courtesy of MODASearch™ |
DGG: I know this is early, but what are your plans for the future? Where do you see MODASearch™ in 5-10 years?
CVM: Ahhh MODASearch™ has so much growing to do! We are starting it off super simple and basic, because it’s a tool, but I see it evolving into an online magazine for people behind the scenes, a shopping guide for major cities and the go-to database in the fashion industry.
AR: We see MODASearch™ very much as an essential component to the fashion industry.
DGG: So far, what has been your most frequently asked question, and how do you answer it?
AR: Many ask “How did you come up with Modasearch™?” When Chelsea introduced me to the site, I was excited to learn of its creation since both she and I had similar experiences in the fashion world but on opposite ends of the industry spectrum. I was thrown into the business and a tool like MODASearch™ would have made my life vastly simpler. After working in the industry for over ten years, I feel MODASearch™ is still needed in organizing calendars, looks, samples, and essential in training new hires and interns. It is especially vital when new people are joining the team - half the work and history is one location.
CVM: Mostly it’s, ‘Where did the idea for MODASearch™ come from?’ and ‘How did you make it happen?’ The simple answer is that it was literally out of pure necessity. I felt like I was wasting so much time researching and running around trying to identify the names and contact info of showrooms and costume houses to find the best garments and accessories for the jobs I was working. I knew there had to be a better and quicker way to access the numerous resources needed for stylists like myself to efficiently find what they need for shoots. Thankfully, Laura was able to take all this information I had collected over the years and effectively organize it into one user-friendly database, which we today proudly call ‘MODASearch™.’ During its creation and development, I’ve been effectively able to beta test it for all my jobs and give Laura the feedback necessary to refine the site to not only meet our expectations as to its functionality, but also for our desire to have it evolve into a showcase for stylists to present the newest and hottest trends in the industry.
DGG: What are three pieces advice you would give to budding fashion entrepreneurs?
AR: As much as we are all artistic in some way, this is still a business. It takes hard work, commitment and time. More importantly, surround yourself with people and be in work environments that enrich you and not take away from your energy. Mind you, we will all have those not-so-great days, but my philosophy is to be in an environment where I am not stifled but always learning. My team was key, be it working late on a project or knowing that it was a NYC egg-and-cheese kind of morning.
CVM: It’s definitely hard work, commitment, and time, but my best advice
to any budding entrepreneur would be to simply follow your heart. Take on new
opportunities, fall down, make mistakes, and enjoy the journey. I could easily go on
and on about my story and how I got to where I am, but it’s mostly about taking
chances, risks, and putting one foot in front of the other to CREATE your own path
to accessing your dreams.
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| Image Courtesy of MODASearch™ |
DGG: How important is networking in fashion? And what are good tips for people who may not be so confident to go out and network on their own?
AR: Networking is very important especially for those behind the scenes. It takes a village to make things run and never ever neglect the receptionists, assistants or interns. These are your gatekeepers. Never worry about not feeling 100% confident, we have all been there. Today, we are equipped with more information via social media. If all else fails, just ask someone about their latest instagram post that will get them talking (@modasearch).
CVM: It is so so so so important to network in this industry. I am one of the shyest people and being in this industry has pushed me out of my comfort zone to really reach out and create relationships with my peers. I love this quote on confidence by Into the Gloss creator Emily Weiss on confidence, “Confidence is overrated—it can be faked, whereas freedom is fearlessness. Freedom is being more or less okay with wherever you’re at, at any given point in your life or your day or your hour, be it really sucky or really great or somewhere in between (and there are a lot of in betweens.)”.
DGG: If you could have any one person or company use MODASearch™, who would it be and why?
AR: This is a tough one as we see MODASearch™ used across the board from Fashion schools to showrooms to on set tv/film styling teams. This is very much geared to professionals where we have vetted them with credentials and experience in our directory.
CVM: A fashion student, intern, assistant, Rachel Zoe, even Anna Wintour. I see a wide spectrum of users. We are making the fashion world accessible.
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| Image Courtesy of MODASearch™ |
DGG: How do you take your coffee?
AR: Plenty of it. Hot with milk or cream no sugar.
CVM: Ice Coffee with cream. Vanilla Latte’s with almond milk. Vanilla Coffee with hemp milk. I always order something different, keeps things interesting.
DGG: Carine Roitfeld or Emmanuelle Alt?
AR: Why choose?
CVM: I love them both… Can’t choose.
DGG: Vogue or Harper's Bazaar?
AR: We of course welcome both.
CVM: Can I choose Vogue Nippon, instead?
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