FASHIONOFFICE INSIGHT
by publisher Karin Sawetz
August 2008


The Work of a Fashion Journalist

Do you think that fashion journalists always wear nice clothes, have perfect hair styling, and no other theme than fashion, beauty, fashion,... to talk about? That's not right! Fashion journalists have the same job like political journalists or editors from the business section - with one difference: the majority of the colleagues from the other departments don't wear the most fashionable stylings or the newest exclusive fragrances, ... In short words: they are not looking and smelling as good as fashion journalists!!

Since the beginning in 1996 market research and surveys about the opinion of our readers belong to our daily routine. And such as it is common in the world of publishing, the exploratory work for the magazine started with a market research about the most interesting Online fashion sites in 1995.

You see, alongside the fashionable appearance almost everything is the same; research for articles or media analysis belong to the profession of a journalist in all departments. Some research with following analysis can go over months, years - such as fashionoffice.org's Styletrends Survey 2008.

One Day in August 2008

Now, for the first time I will give you a more personal insight into the work behind the scenes of fashionoffice.org. I pick up one day in early August 2008.

After spending hours for researching in a bunch of raw data to bring out valuable information about and for our readers, I decided to follow the invitation of a group of artists to the "Le Méridien" in Vienna.

In Vienna - such as in many other capital cities - a new trend is working for a breathable air: scooters are used instead of cars. It is easier to find a parking place and the costs for driving are convincing. Have I mentioned how eco-friendly motor bikes are? So I took instead of my Mercedes SLK the new Piaggio 125 scooter (www.piaggio.com) for driving into the Inner City of Vienna.

There I have met Gabriela Benz, General Manager of Le Méridien, and Gabor and David Merö, the founders of the artist collaboration Advanced Mintority, to celebrate the new collection: „The Blackval Series“ is the first „Le Méridien Code“ t-shirt edition. More about the collection and the new Vespa service at Le Méridien fashionoffice.org/design/2008/lemeridien8-2008.htm.

After small talking with colleagues, an interview with Gabor Merö about the new t-shirt collection, a gallery tour through the Shambala Bar of Le Méridien, where the original art works are exhibited, I drive back to fashionoffice for continuing the interpretation of the statistical data for the Styletrends 2008 and searching for interesting news to be published on fashionoffice.org.

The results of the Styletrends Survey 2008 are now online! Read about the behaviour, interests,... of the users with detailed statistical information of fashionoffice.org www.fashionoffice.org/survey>>>

fig.: Dr. Karin Sawetz, founder and publisher of fashionoffice.org (since 1996), is journalist, media researcher and fashion scientist.

Karin Sawetz has a diploma from a higher-level secondary college for the fashion and clothing industry. She was awarded with the first prize for her design of the male work trousers for the OMV filling stations (OMV is Central Europe's leading oil and gas group) - the design has been realised. Before and while studying for the diploma she was designer for her own label, which she has presented international.

Beneath her studies at the University of Vienna she worked as costume designer for theatre and film, was civil servant at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Economics (Department Fashion & Textile Industry), ...

After she has finished her studies at the Institute for Journalism and Communication Sciences, the Institute for Film-, Theatre- and Media-Sciences, the Institute for Philosophy at the University of Vienna, and the Institute for Artistic Sciences, Art Education and Communication, Department for Cultural and Intellectual History, at the University of Applied Arts, she was lecturer at the University of Vienna and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, published scientific studies, ...

In the last years she focused her work on fashionoffice.org as an international magazine and organization for intercultural approaches in fashion and art.

More about her publications> www.sawetz.com/publications.htm

FASHIONOFFICE INSIGHT Sept 2008