This past Tuesday I went to see Rob Brotherton speak in Newhouse 3. He is the public relations manager at Escada, which is a huge multi-million dollar company. He told his story about his journey to fame in the fashion world.
Rob Brotherton was a dual vocal performance and advertising major and has worked in the fashion industry for over ten years now. He started off in Newhouse and VPA and also completed the fashion and beauty communications milestone. He began his fashion career by working with Adam Lippes who worked with Oscar del la Renta. After that he worked with Zac Posen as an intern and then became the public relations coordinator and then soon after the corporate communications manager. After, he got his job at Escada.
The lecture began with Brotherton talking about what exactly fashion public relations is all about. He said that it is working internally for a fashion label and covering editorial, celebrity, and special events. At the events you meet very important people and Brotherton said that public relations is all about who you know and that you need to get to know the people in charge if you want to be successful.
Brotherton then told us all about how his boss at Zac Posen gave him the opportunity to dress Oprah for the Oscars. He said it was a great experience and that Oprah was actually pretty difficult to satisfy but that he enjoyed the experience because it gave him more opportunities in the future to dress more celebrities.
I learned a lot about the fashion world including the tips that media presence is huge when you are styling celebrities, and that brand campaigns are most effective when a celebrity is advocating for it. I also learned that entertainment is a huge industry and that it takes a village to cultivate fame. The final thing I learned was to sell your soul (in a good way). If you want to make it to the top, you have to be willing to put in the extra hours at work even if you are not required to. This presentation made me extremely excited to begin working in fashion public relations after I graduate from Newhouse.