I just heard from one of the presenters at our upcoming Fashion and Finance NYC retreat (there are a couple of open spots for the June 24-26 event, if you want to join us). Claire Meunier and her mother are going to do a joint session on the “Extreme Networking” it took for Claire to get established after earning an MBA from one of the top schools in the country. Their story is compelling and instructive. More than 16 percent of 20 to 24-year are unemployed and, short of a miracle, I am not feeling Pollyanna-ish about a big improvement anytime soon. The economy is undergoing a massive restructuring that no one wants to talk about. But more on that another day.

Not Enough:

At Fashion and Finance NYC (June 24-26) we about the "Extreme Social Networking" it takes to get great jobs now.

Claire and her mother are going to talk about what it took for Claire to land on her feet in a meaningful position, commensurate with her experience and education. It took Claire almost a year of relentless conversations, meetings, inquiries, reminders, letters, emails, more meetings, and outreach to everyone she had ever met in her life (You think I’m kidding; I’m not.) She understood she had to build a vast web of relationships—REAL relationships, not just Facebook friends or LinkedIn connections. She had to be relentlessly tenacious. She was and she succeeded. And her parents, used to a world in which hard work and a good track record are rewarded, had to adapt to the new environment their daughter faced.

Claire’s story is an important one because in many ways she had EVERYthing going for her: a great experience, top level education, supportive family, intellect, sense of humor, and social network that was already strong. Even with all those assets, her journey was challenging.

The implications for kids who don’t have such resources, or who are not prepared to attack the quest for meaningful, sustaining work are significant. Without Herculean effort, many young people will be left out of the pool for ‘great work’. And if they are counting on less challenging work where they can ‘get by’ they are still in trouble. Those entry-level jobs that used to soak up the energy of American kids are shrinking. Think of all the ticket booths, airline jobs, and retail functions once manned and womanned by actual people, now handled by bank ATMS, airline kiosks, self-service restaurants and electronic touch screens. The entry-level world that launched millions of boomers is vanishing.

Everyone coming to Fashion and Finance next week will enjoy the mother/daughter tale of how Claire got ‘launched.’ I plan to reprise my ‘Launch Webinar’ later this summer and will include stories from their presentation. This new economy requires that families manage their ‘human capital’ with a new attention to developing entrepreneurial kids with extreme networking skills and the capacity to build authentic relationships that will help them find a place in this new and changing economic web.

Fashion & Finance NYC just gets more exciting. We just confirmed that the girls will be meeting with Betsy Hilfiger. Ms. Hillgier, director of Community Affairs for the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation and sister of Tommy, spent part of her career in medicine before joining her brother in 1994. She ran stores and spent three years leading merchandising for J Lo before taking her current position. She says she intends to spread her message of, “it is not the outside but the inside.”

Other great parts of our Oct. 9-11 retreat include tea with designer Ranjana Khan and a behind-the scenes visit to Uniqlo’s flagship Manhattan store. Look here for more details or call us to register for one of the limited seats in this weekend retreat for teen girls, their moms, mentors and friends.

Getting ready for our Fashion and Finance Retreat, I’m  paying attention to who’s saying what about fashion. So Vera Wang got my attention this week when she said:

“In my 40 years in fashion, I’ve never seen women scared to shop — at all price levels.” [Vera sells dresses at $2000 a pop, as well as a line for Kohls that offers dresses closer to $100 and under.]  “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said, referring to the future of prestigious labels.

The tension between the micro-economics of fashion (smart consumers rethinking their spending priorities) and the macro-economics of the industry (jobs, creativity, leadership, profits, etc.) is causing tremors in the world of fashion.  The size of the earthquake–and what it means to both consumers and investors will be one of the topics covered at the Retreat Oct. 9-11. I hope you’re as excited about it as we are.

I’ve made the the design of FUN financial education an obsession over the years and though my friends think I’ve gone over the top more than a few times, I’m especially excited about the Fashion and Finance III: Voice and Values coming up on Oct. 9-11 in New York. It’s designed to be a pleasurable way to get started on a journey of financial discovery and independence. Putting it together has been fun in a way that has, frankly, surprised me. I am not a fashion maven. I like black for almost everything. But the first time I saw The Devil Wears Prada I finally gained respect for the business of fashion.

The scene that made the difference was the one in which Andy Sachs (the new assistant) smirks at the hubbub surrounding the choice of a belt. The editor (Meryl Streep at her best) responds to Andy:

Oh … ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh, I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean. You’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

That scene seriously made me a little less ‘holier than thou’ when it comes to fashion. So, we’re using the industry as a vehicle to teach something about investing, business, and yes, even careers and personal finance. The mother/daughter; aunt/niece; god mother/goddaughter pairs who come will leave with a new understanding of finance–and should have some fun in the process.

The Hotel Hudson Hosts Fashion and Finance

We chose the hotel a while ago. The Hudson Hotel is near Central Park, it’s sleek, cool, fun, and designed for people who like design. We’ll use it as our base in between meetings with designers, buyers, journalists, investors, and fashion entrepreneurs. The program has shaped up to be a very special behind the scenes look at the business of fashion. This is in part because we have a couple of amazing women who have helped pull the program together–Tamara Nikuradse (a former Revlon exec) and Yumi Kawana (principal in her own investment firm) are both HBS grads who are well connected in business and fashion and will lead the program in NY.

And, though it took some doing (she’s in the middle of preparing for Fashion Week now), we talked Ranjana Khan into hosting a tea at her fashion studio. Ranjana was an invisible (well not really, she’s always been a light on the fashion scene) but essential part of the industry for years. She supplied Oscar de la Renta, Gaultier, Prada, Lauren, etc. etc. with the most exotic and beautiful fabrics and accessories for their couture designs. Much of her work has shown up in Vogue, Elle, and on fashion runways all over the world. And about a year ago, she decided to go visible and start her own exquisite accessories line. Ranjana is going to share the story of her entrepreneurial journey–as well as some juicy tales about her adventures along the way.

Ranjana’s studio is simply AWESOME (and I mean that in the real sense of the word). She’ll talk about how a new line comes together, what it takes to create, manufacture, market and build a brand–and how one stays fresh in the fickle world of fashion. If you’re in NYC you can get a sneak peak of Ranjana and her designs on Wednesday at Bergdorf Goodman’s. She’s making a personal appearance from 6:30 to 9:00 PM as part of Fashion’s Night Out. If you plan to come to the Fashion and Finance Weekend, introduce yourself and let her know!

Well, stay tuned, I’ll share more details over the next few weeks!. If you’re interested in joining us for the Fashion and Finance Weekend, call the office (805-965-0475) or email Jen at IMI. It will be a small group–the people and places we are visiting won’t take large numbers.