Richmond student interns at Fashion Week

Allison Toner, a junior, spent the past week behind the scenes of the runways of Fashion Week in New York City. From Sept. 4-10 Toner interned for D+V Management, a talent agency that works with fashion photographers, hairstylists and makeup artists.

Artists represented by D+V worked ten shows during the week. Only Toner and one other person interned with D+V, so the two split up the duties, said Toner. Each would go to a show and take pictures of the stylists and whatever products were sponsoring them. They then Tweeted, posted on Instagram and blogged the photos. When she wasn’t behind stage, she helped out the company by filing clippings of magazines into portfolios, Toner said.

“I did intern stuff, but it was cooler because instead of filing receipts, I was filing Vogues,” Toner said.

The intern duties were also balanced by star-studded events. Toner sat behind Rihanna and Bono at the fashion show for Bono’s line, EDUN. She also ran into Gavin Rossdale. “He physically bumped into me,” she said.

“I always knew I wanted to work at Fashion Week,” Toner said. In July, she researched companies and applied to be an intern. She had two interviews in August. After D+V gave her an offer, she first emailed her professors and asked if her grade would suffer if she accepted any offers, Toner said. Her teachers all gave her the green light.

“I have no problem with a student missing class if it’s for reasons that further their educational experience or enhances their career prospects. She can easily make up the work,” said Scott Allison, Toner’s psychology professor.

Leslie Stevenson, director of the Career Development Center, said: “While we value the experience of internships we also prioritize all of the learning that goes on in the classroom. However, there are certain things like Fashion Week and Cannes Film festival where you cannot negotiate the dates.” She encourages speaking “to all [the] professors in advance to explain the situation even before classes start.”

Toner, a psychology and political science double major, said she was unsure whether she wanted her career to be in fashion. She said that at this point she was “accumulating experiences.”

She said she had always wanted to work at Fashion Week. “I’ve had an opinion on fashion since I could talk,” she said.

“I’m more and more realizing that college is a time where you don’t really have responsibilities other than classes,” Toner said. And, of taking an opportunity like this one, she said,  “I would absolutely recommend it.”

Contact reporter Katie Mogul at katie.mogul@richmond.edu