This week, Her Campus got the chance to sit down with Alex Rakestraw– a junior from outside of Philadelphia who has integrated himself into the world of fashion. He attended Men’s Fashion Week from January 30th to February 1st in New York City, and has a very unique perspective as a student in the industry.
Her Campus: Do you remember what first got you interested in fashion?
Alex Rakestraw: I was with this girl in tenth grade- we weren’t really dating, but I had a crush on her. And as the whole thing was unraveling she told me that I dress like a child. That’s when I realized that I was wearing basketball shorts and ironic t-shirts to school, and the switch just kind of flipped. I decided that this wasn’t how I wanted to portray myself. I got really into fashion forums online, learning about what color shirts looked good together and whether you should really spend that much money on new boots. My sister dragged me around a few stores, and at the beginning of junior year I came back to school and had shirts with buttons on them. People were like “oh, this is new and different!”
I’m one of those people who is very serious about deciding which things in life are meaningful and not meaningful. I had always seen fashion something that was as not meaningful and thought that character, not fashion, which mattered. But it’s not so much that your physical appearance is above anything else; fashion just shows that you have a certain level of care that people desire in the professional world or even in human relationships. And caring about one things causes you to care about the other things, too.
HC: I know that you attended Men’s Fashion Week in New York. How was that experience? Did you learn a lot about the professional fashion industry while there?
AR: Yeah, I was in New York from January 30th through Februrary 1st. One of the brands that I work with, Dyne, was in the show. They make luxury men’s sportswear, and they are all movers and shapers in terms of the fashion industry. They are people who have done everything and have excelled in their craft. Being in the show was a pretty big moment for the label, and they mentioned that they were looking for people to volunteer their time. So, I packed up the tripod and the camera and so many changes of clothes (it was ridiculous).
On Tuesday, which was the day of the show, I woke up at 6 am, got breakfast, and double and triple checked my massive duffel bag for everything that I would need for the event. I got down to the event at 8 am and the entire team was there. BJ, who runs the company’s marketing came up to me and said, “Hey, 5 hours to show time, we’re going to do this.” It was so exciting!
With Dyne, there are five really talented people involved. For that day I was a part of the team. One of the tasks that they had me doing before the show was running around and making sure that the Samsung space was set up. Doing this connected all of the near-field devices for the show. This is especially important, since Dyne installs near-field communication (NFC) chips in their clothes- when interacting with a phone, these chips can provide the consumer with information about the piece of clothing, Dyne look books, and playlist.
I was there for whole the thing, but I don’t remember very much of it. It was this blur of being very excited and feeling constant emotion, moving around Dyne’s camera and my camera, taking care of Instagram. It was still really amazing being there. It was like nothing else honestly.
HC: What about the industry most excites you?
AR: The pace of it all. Fashion is one of the really rare industries where novelty isn’t just something that people desire– it is the life-blood of everything that’s going on. As we were finishing up the show, Ryan (the creative director of Dyne) was going through the look-book and saying, “On to the next one.” We’ve got another show in six months for summer fashion week…how are we going to grab onto what’s next and follow that relentlessly?
Also, fashion is an industry that touches all of our lives; it will always be part of our social fabric. Working in fashion is more than doing a new thing for yourself or another individual- it’s you creating a new and exciting thing for so many people.
HC: What part of the industry would you ultimately like to be a part of?
AR: I have this business degree that I really feel like I should validate somehow, and there are a lot of really good people on the creative side of things doing it way better than I ever could. I think that my love of writing, words, and storytelling lends itself way more to the marketing side of the equation than it does the design side.
When you think about it, fashion is pretty boring as is. It’s still a pair of pants; what’s inherently exciting about pants? You have to find a way to make that exciting, and the most reliable way to do that is through words and through communication. People want to buy into excitement, and so adding the ideas behind the product is my personal interest.
HC: What is your favorite clothing store? Who is your favorite designer?
AR: I really want to give a shout out to Today Clothing. The two guys who run it have found a way to make a men’s wear heaven in Ann Arbor. It’s on Fourth Street right between Running Fit and Literati. It’s one of those hidden gems. Today Clothing is a store that carries some major brands– one of the only ones in the continental US. It’s such a wonderful, wonderful store in every single way, and I think that the feeling of having something truly special here is cool.
It’s also really hard to go wrong with Uniqulo and J. Crew. And in terms of dressing for me, I like the brands Arc’teryx, Nikelab, and Brain Dead. And I would be remised if I didn’t mention All Saints! And Y-3!
HC:What else are you interested in? What else do you pursue?
AR: I try to find things that I love, relentlessly pursue them, and stay flexible. I do all the editorial and blog writing for Greats, a Brooklyn based sneaker company. That’s everything from talking to freelance writers and editing their pieces to coming up with a content direction. My own personal blog has been another example of this pursuit for happiness. I just like to write and I figured why not. Now I’m coming up on a year and half or so of writing three articles a week.
What I’m really interested in doing is not waking up at thirty-five and realizing that, now that I have other obligations, I wasted my time when I didn’t have as many. I want to have lived a good life.
HC: In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, what was your worst Valentine’s Day date?
AR: My freshman year at Michigan, I was getting coffee with this girl. It was a girl from class and this was my first big coffee date freshman year. As I’m leaving South Quad dining to go to State Street Espresso Royale, I got “love tapped” (keeping with theme of Valentine’s Day) by a car. I remember that I was so fired up about it that I freaked out at the driver. I was fine, but I was so amped up, and by the time I got to the date I was still trying to calm myself down. I figured, this is probably not going to go well. It was fine though– a classic small talk, shared interest type date. I just bet it was so funny because I must have been bugging out by the time I got there. I don’t even think that I told her that I got hit. But ya boy got dinged
Follow this link to Alex’s blog: http://asrakestraw.com
Photos Courtesy of Alex Rakestraw.