...From gallery openings to the Fashion Cafe, we ate and drank for free and oh so fabulously.
After pointless hours of frustration spent in Career Services trying to find
something to do this summer other than work in the mall, I finally landed a summer
internship at CNN. I worked out of the N.Y.C. bureau with a show entitled Style
with Elsa Klensch. For those of you who don't know Elsa, she's been listed as one of the
top five most influential people in the fashion industry. In preparation for working with
this famous woman, I read every issue of every fashion magazine I could get my hands
on. Finally my first day at Style arrived.
When I entered the CNN Bureau I was terribly nervous. Eventually I was introduced
to Elsa. I was overcome with joy and my stress abated immediately when she barely
glanced at me before going back to her Diet Coke and Slim Fast candy bar. Even though
my first encounter with Elsa was frustrating, I figured she would eventually warm up to
me and beg me to fly with her to Bali for Style's preview of Menswear Œ95. That
did not happen, but I was sent on a shoot the very next day.
I was psyched about this opportunity on only the second day of my internship.
However, when I arrived at F.I.T. (Fashion Institute of Technology), my excitement
quickly dissipated. Basically, I was a peon. Everyone there had on these thousand dollar
suits and backstage passes to meet with the designers. I, on the other hand, had to wear
this cheesy tag with my name scrawled across it. It was pretty lame. Despite my tacky
pass, though, I was able to meet some fabulous people.
Later on that same day, I had my first intimate encounter with Elsa. After my
morning routine of sorting and opening the mail, clipping any and all articles about
fashion from the papers, and filing paperwork, I began answering the phones for Elsa.
Fatefully, one of the calls I took was from Elsa's dear friend Cookie. I kindly asked Cookie
to leave her number, but Cookie assured me that Elsa had her number and there was no
need to take it down. I accepted this answer and went on with my life. I was wrong to do
this. When Elsa returned from the edit bay and saw that Cookie had called, she then
asked who took the message. My dumb ass replied, "I did." Elsa then proceeded to go on
a tirade about how irresponsible I was for not having taken down Cookie's number. She
ranted so loudly that the entire newsroom heard it. I was in total shock, her strident voice
ringing in my ears. After Elsa stormed into her office and left me looking like a complete
idiot, I got up and left. I didn't quit--I didn't have the guts for that. I just went into the
bathroom to seethe. When I returned to the newsroom, the bureau chief pulled me aside
and apologized for Elsa's behavior, as did my unit manager, both senior producers, the
writer, the production assistant, and the hosts of Showbiz Live and CNN-
International. This abundant apologizing loosened me up, but I still went home early
that day.
My internship progressed until, one day, the goddess of fortune spun her wheel in
my favor. I found out that Elsa was leaving for six weeks to do shoots in Bali. Once she
left, CNN was real cool. I was allowed to do all the local shoots like those for DKNY and
the CK men's collection. Eventually, the other interns and I were allowed to go to
gatherings in Elsa's stead. So from gallery openings to the Fashion Cafe, we ate and drank
for free and oh so fabulously. As my work with CNN reached its conclusion, I actually
thought that I would miss the glamour and high-life of the fashion industry. I don't, but
I'm glad I was there.