Name: Jen Terry
Age: 23
Job Title and Description: Women’s designer at Kill City, a Los Angeles-based clothing store that has been described as edgy with punk aesthetics. Their clientele include many celebrities and their fashions have been featured in magazines from Vogue to Seventeen.
College/Major: Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri for fashion design and product development. It’s the second oldest women’s college in the nation and has a very strong fashion program.
Website: www.killcity.net
Her Campus: What does your current job entail? Is there such a thing as a typical day?
Jen Terry: There is no such thing as a typical day in my life! After the design phase of the season I’m responsible for making samples of my designs. I run to dye houses and denim laundries to drop off new developments and explain to the wash techs exactly what I need. I go to LA based fabric mills and trim suppliers for all of my materials if the style is domestically produced. I manage my sample-makers and patternmaker and fit the prototypes. It’s a one-person song and dance, so I’m always moving. Fashion is not as glamorous as it seems when you’re at a dye house at 7 am explaining “ombre” to someone in Spanglish, but I love getting my hands dirty, so it’s bliss.
HC: What was your first entry-level job in your field and how did you get it?
JT: This is my first entry-level job. I was part of the Rookie Program Underarmour offers, so I was a design intern there for a summer after my junior year of college. I beat out 7,000 applicants and went through an extensive application process to get that internship, but my portfolio and passion was completely geared for that company, which is located in Baltimore.
After graduation in May, I was visiting my sister in Utah, with plans to move to Los Angeles, when I received a call from Paul Roughley, the head designer at Kill City. I had sent my portfolio to him and called him constantly. He asked me to come in the next day and I made the 15-hour drive and met with him and other managers and I was asked to start work the next Monday. I interned for 45 days and then was hired.
One of my first assignments was to make a pair of custom leather skinny jeans for Olympic gold medalist and professional snowboarder Shaun White. They had to be finished in five days for his birthday. I chose black Italian leather and sewed the jeans using faux leather for a trial fit. The jeans were so tight a zipper was sewn at the bottom of each leg to make them tighter around his ankles. He loved them! Now I’m Roughley’s assistant, working as the women’s clothing designer.
HC: What is one thing you wish you knew about your industry when you first started out that you know now?
JT: I should have taken Spanish, especially being in LA. I wish they made a Rosetta Stone program called “Spanish for Fashion Designers”.
HC: Who is one person who changed your professional life for the better?
JT: My boss from Underarmour showed me what it looked like to be a strong feminine force in an otherwise male dominated company. She was always tastefully outspoken, always had the final say and was sometimes feared. I loved that.
HC: What words of wisdom do you find most valuable?
JT: My boss always says, “Gotta Keep Movin’”. I love this because you have to remember to put “stress” into perspective. If a trivial part of your day is stressful, you have to remember that it is just that—trivial.
HC: What is one mistake you made along the way and what did you learn from it?
JT: One mistake I think a lot of people make is that college is a completely life-changing experience. Going to college will give you the technical knowledge and supervision while honing your craft, but it can’t instill work ethic or a positive attitude—you have to bring that to the table yourself.
HC: What is the best part of your job?
JT: I love that I constantly bounce back and forth from the women’s collection to the men’s. I was originally hired as a menswear assistant, then became a women’s designer. If we have a private label project for men’s I’ll help out on it. Menswear is definitely my true passion, and it’s great I get to switch hats and be involved in all aspects of design for Kill City.
HC: What do you look for when considering hiring someone?
JT: I would look for overall energy and enthusiasm. I don’t want to spend 50 hours a week working with someone who is sarcastic and stubborn. Someone who says “yes” to everything—even if they don’t know right then and there how to accomplish the task—means that they are willing to absorb and learn in order to succeed.
HC: What advice would you give to a 20-something with similar aspirations?
JT: You’ll never regret trying and failing. I moved to LA without a job or expectations of becoming a designer immediately. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I knew I had to do it. If you try and fail, at least you can say you had the satisfaction of knowing you actually took the risk—that’s more than what most people can say. Be relentless.
Photographer credit: Don Shrubshell of the Columbia Tribune