Fashioning Their Dreams

By Jenna Mamorsky

Most girls dream of becoming an important editor at a prestigious fashion magazine. Attending the glamorous fashion shows in Paris, Milan and New York, viewing all the latest fashion trends before they come to the market, and seeing many celebrities - what could be better? For Sarah Meikel, Fashion editor of TeenVogue and Gina Kelly, Fashion Director of Seventeen Magazine, this dream has become a reality.

"I love going to fashion shows, which happens twice a year," said Kelly. "I've seen P. Diddy, Sarah Jessica Parker, and I saw Britney Spears once. Then I turn into this 16 year old girl." While the job has this exciting and glamorous side to it, both editors agree that the most enjoyable part of being responsible for the fashion pages at their respective magazines is working in the office. "I love working as a team," said Meikel. "Everything is always a collaborative effort. [The fashion department] has strong women who work together in the most supportive way. It's the best atmosphere."

While these young women have enviable jobs, they climbed the professional ladder by different routes. Kelly, now 35 years old went to Boston University, where she got a degree in journalism. "Strangely enough my first job was at Seventeen," she said. "I was a secretary. There was an opening in the fashion department six months into when I first started working. I interviewed for it and got the job."

Miekel knew exactly what she wanted and how to get it. She has worked at many of the most popular fashion magazines - from Glamour to Seventeen and now Teen Vogue. "I went to Cornell and I got a BFA in Photography and BA in art history. I have a very visual arts/fine arts background, which definitely helped," she said.

Both women share a passion for clothes and identifying new fashion trends. This is what makes their job incredible. But exactly how does a fashion trend get started? "A fashion trend can get started from a designer, from the street, from a celebrity, from this funny little punky person from who knows where," said Meikel. "It's a matter of finding it and grabbing it and bringing importance to it." Kelly believes that teen market fashion trends can come from teens' own creativity at home. "The teen market doesn't really come from the runway," she said. "I think it is influenced by your favorite music artist, what you see on TV, or maybe your friends are starting to wear something and other girls are starting to pick up on it and wearing it in school. I think that teens are very creative when it comes to fashion."

As decision makers for their respective audiences, Meikel and Kelly have the power to decide what's hot and what's not. "At all times we have 10, 12, 14 racks of clothes circulating in and out [of the office] and we are constantly pulling for different stories and thinking of all the different trends," said Meikle. Both editors make the rounds at all the designer showrooms gathering clothing. "I could go to one showroom and take 25 [pieces]," said Meikel. ". "But then if I am looking for Hollywood

glamour I may just pick up one little beaded cardigan. It totally depends on what the story is and what the showrooms have. Obviously if you go to J Crew or Club Monaco and you are working on a preppy story it's perfect."

As high fashion decision makers who decide what's hot, here's the inside scoop on the latest trends for fall. "There's a lot of prints and patterns - like plaids in rich berry colors, tweeds, and sweaters with cool details like bows, zippers, and buckles on things," said Kelly. "There's a lot of fitted jackets and a lot of bohemian stuff too. There's also a continuation of that all-American preppy look. Whatever your style is you can find it for fall."

Certainly the clothes you wear help define who you are. "As a young girl who is experimenting, trying to figure out who they are and what they are going to be, fashion can be very exciting," said Meikel. "They can take some chances [with fashion], and find out what it is that they like and who they want to be."