2011 May 3
The Assistant Files, Vol. 9: Nita "NaNa" Loyelty, Zang Toi
(NEW YORK) This week, "The Assistant Files" drops in on Zang Toi's lovely jewelbox of a design studio on a tony stretch of 57th Street to get the haute lowdown on working avec the delightfully quirky designer. Turns out, everyone in the vicinity of Zang has personality and charm to spare. Meet Nita "NaNa" Loyelty, 27, a former computer programmer from Indonesia who has been part of Zang's posse for the past five years. Read on for an über intimate glimpse into Zang's world according to NaNa, as she's called around the office. Don't fret, chicettes, The Daily will explain the whole nickname backstory... and a few other riveting traditions that set Zang and his zany, closeknit clan apart from the rest of the fash industry. ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV
How did you land this gig?
I started in 2006, the month I turned 21. I got this job through a friend of mine who used to assist JoJo, the office manager at Zang Toi. I didn’t have any fashion background at all; I had been a computer engineering major. I arrived in the United States from Indonesia six months before I started my job here. I worked at a tiny Korean restaurant downtown, and they offered me a raise and begged me to stay when I told them I was leaving. My parents moved here after I graduated, and I came with them. I barely spoke any English. I interviewed with JoJo, and everyone made me feel very comfortable even though I can be a nervous wreck in interviews!
What was your first day on the job like?
The first day I arrived at Zang’s, there was a photoshoot for the Daily! It was very glamorous. I actually Googled him first. We were in his house, and the shoot was a dinner party set up in his gorgeous apartment. Zang was doing it all: he was cooking, he was styling the models, and everything stayed clean and calm the whole time.
What’s the story behind Zang’s nicknames for everyone in the office?
Zang comes up with 'fashion names' to make it easier for him to remember our names, and it's become a trend. Everyone wants a fashion name now, including his friends. A few names from our staff of 13-person staff include: Zang’s office manager Joanna Lee is JoJo; Randy Singh, JoJo's assistant, is DyDy, pronounced “dee dee”; our interns, Shuh Jiuan is YiiYii and Ariana Moumunas is MouMou, and Patrick Michael, Zang’s good friend, is PP. Even when Zang travels, the sales associates request fashion names from Zang.
How do the fittings go down?
I work with our patternmaker on the fittings. We do “fitbacks.” The first thing we do is print out photos of whoever is coming in… so they can sign an autograph after the fitting. The other assistant was very brave and she got the autographs. Devon Aoki came in right after I started here, and I was like, “Oh! It’s the girl from Fast and the Furious!” Patti LaBelle is the nicest. Zang only works with nice people, he’d rather not work with mean people. He likes people with good auras. If Zang doesn’t like someone, I have the patience to deal with them, but he really makes sure he’s surrounded by great people.
How does a fashion show come together at the House of Toi? A lot of design houses do their production for fashion shows out-of-house, and we do it all internally. I start with the fabric selections, and I usually schedule all the fabric appointments in one day. Zang knows exactly what he likes, and he knows it the second he feels it; he already knows what patterns he like and doesn’t like. For example, if it’s a floral pattern it has to be a big, pronounced flower - Zang doesn’t like abstract floral prints. We work with the same fabric vendors every season, and once Zang has made his selections we double-check that the fabrics he’s chosen fit with his inspiration and concept. He gets his inspiration from his trips. For last fall, he knew he wanted to go to Patagonia for inspiration so I booked him a trip there. He will do rough sketches on and after his travels, then he’ll go to the fabric appointments before meeting with our patternmaker so the garments can be produced.
How often does Zang travel?
All the time—that’s how he comes up with his designs. He’s usually, but not always, here during the summer, and he comes back to New York two months before each fashion week. But otherwise, he's on the road.
What are Zang’s creative trips like?
It’s easier for Zang to create beautiful things in beautiful surroundings. He knows what he wants to design before he travels, but he goes to clear his mind. He travels alone – but he meets people on his travels. When he was on his trip to Patagonia, he was on a hike with six people and one of the guys was cold so he lent him a fox fur hat. The guy wrote a nice email to thank him and to say he’d seen his work, after they met in Patagonia.
What happens once the inspiration journeys are done, the fabrics have been selected and the production is in full swing? Then we start booking the model casting calls. Zang likes really beautiful, very classic girls who can walk well. Zang is from Malaysia and I’m from Indonesia, so we speak really similar languages, and when we see a really beautiful girl we speak in Bahasa. That’s our secret code during castings, which take three to four days. But if we don’t get the right models we’ll always extend. We’ll see around 50 girls and then pick 10 to 13 for the show. Zang’s lucky number is 13, so everything is in 13’s when possible. Thirteen used to be the number of his parents’ grocery store. Even Zang's email address has the number 13 in it.
Sounds like he’s got a few superstitions up his sleeve! Anything else? He doesn’t like the number 4. He’s very superstitious about it. if I’m booking a hotel room, it can’t be on the fourth floor or the room number can’t have four in it. The receptionists at hotels will giggle in response. The number 4 means death in Chinese culture if you pronounce it wrong. Nothing is priced with a four, there’s no size four. Even for measurements while he’s designing, he won’t use, say, “3/4,” he’ll mark something as “7/8” instead.
Does Zang have any office traditions?The night before our shows, we have lucky chicken night. It started when Zang had his very first show in 1989, because the night before they were all very hungry and didn't have a lot of money so they got KFC for dinner. This year, Zang’s brother told him that the year’s lucky color was yellow, so around Chinese New Year we all had to wear yellow. He bought yellow lampions in Chinatown and he put peonies and yellow chiffon bows on the lamps. He gave us Live Strong yellow bracelets to wear as well. We ate pineapple, and obviously had to cut it open and get rid of the skin so that everything, really everything, would be yellow in the office. And then we had good luck! We got a lot of good press on that show. It’s the first year he’s had a lucky color for the Chinese New Year, but I have a feeling this will become a tradition.
What happens after fittings?We pick the models we really want, and we also always have like five backup models. We don't like to do things last minute in this office. Lucky for the last show we didn't have any cancellations, but it's always better to be prepared. Zang prepares the boards with the sketches with the models' names on them, and we'll have a meeting to discuss the girls we picked to assign the girls. We do those meetings on the floor, for fabric fittings. But nothing is messy. Even Zang's mood boards are tear-ups and interesting photos neatly organized in a folder. It's not like mood boards for other designers, where everything is messy on a board. That's not Zang! Everything always needs to be symmetrical, whether it's invitations or his sketches.
I started in 2006, the month I turned 21. I got this job through a friend of mine who used to assist JoJo, the office manager at Zang Toi. I didn’t have any fashion background at all; I had been a computer engineering major. I arrived in the United States from Indonesia six months before I started my job here. I worked at a tiny Korean restaurant downtown, and they offered me a raise and begged me to stay when I told them I was leaving. My parents moved here after I graduated, and I came with them. I barely spoke any English. I interviewed with JoJo, and everyone made me feel very comfortable even though I can be a nervous wreck in interviews!
What was your first day on the job like?
The first day I arrived at Zang’s, there was a photoshoot for the Daily! It was very glamorous. I actually Googled him first. We were in his house, and the shoot was a dinner party set up in his gorgeous apartment. Zang was doing it all: he was cooking, he was styling the models, and everything stayed clean and calm the whole time.
What’s the story behind Zang’s nicknames for everyone in the office?
Zang comes up with 'fashion names' to make it easier for him to remember our names, and it's become a trend. Everyone wants a fashion name now, including his friends. A few names from our staff of 13-person staff include: Zang’s office manager Joanna Lee is JoJo; Randy Singh, JoJo's assistant, is DyDy, pronounced “dee dee”; our interns, Shuh Jiuan is YiiYii and Ariana Moumunas is MouMou, and Patrick Michael, Zang’s good friend, is PP. Even when Zang travels, the sales associates request fashion names from Zang.
How do the fittings go down?
I work with our patternmaker on the fittings. We do “fitbacks.” The first thing we do is print out photos of whoever is coming in… so they can sign an autograph after the fitting. The other assistant was very brave and she got the autographs. Devon Aoki came in right after I started here, and I was like, “Oh! It’s the girl from Fast and the Furious!” Patti LaBelle is the nicest. Zang only works with nice people, he’d rather not work with mean people. He likes people with good auras. If Zang doesn’t like someone, I have the patience to deal with them, but he really makes sure he’s surrounded by great people.
How does a fashion show come together at the House of Toi? A lot of design houses do their production for fashion shows out-of-house, and we do it all internally. I start with the fabric selections, and I usually schedule all the fabric appointments in one day. Zang knows exactly what he likes, and he knows it the second he feels it; he already knows what patterns he like and doesn’t like. For example, if it’s a floral pattern it has to be a big, pronounced flower - Zang doesn’t like abstract floral prints. We work with the same fabric vendors every season, and once Zang has made his selections we double-check that the fabrics he’s chosen fit with his inspiration and concept. He gets his inspiration from his trips. For last fall, he knew he wanted to go to Patagonia for inspiration so I booked him a trip there. He will do rough sketches on and after his travels, then he’ll go to the fabric appointments before meeting with our patternmaker so the garments can be produced.
How often does Zang travel?
All the time—that’s how he comes up with his designs. He’s usually, but not always, here during the summer, and he comes back to New York two months before each fashion week. But otherwise, he's on the road.
What are Zang’s creative trips like?
It’s easier for Zang to create beautiful things in beautiful surroundings. He knows what he wants to design before he travels, but he goes to clear his mind. He travels alone – but he meets people on his travels. When he was on his trip to Patagonia, he was on a hike with six people and one of the guys was cold so he lent him a fox fur hat. The guy wrote a nice email to thank him and to say he’d seen his work, after they met in Patagonia.
What happens once the inspiration journeys are done, the fabrics have been selected and the production is in full swing? Then we start booking the model casting calls. Zang likes really beautiful, very classic girls who can walk well. Zang is from Malaysia and I’m from Indonesia, so we speak really similar languages, and when we see a really beautiful girl we speak in Bahasa. That’s our secret code during castings, which take three to four days. But if we don’t get the right models we’ll always extend. We’ll see around 50 girls and then pick 10 to 13 for the show. Zang’s lucky number is 13, so everything is in 13’s when possible. Thirteen used to be the number of his parents’ grocery store. Even Zang's email address has the number 13 in it.
Sounds like he’s got a few superstitions up his sleeve! Anything else? He doesn’t like the number 4. He’s very superstitious about it. if I’m booking a hotel room, it can’t be on the fourth floor or the room number can’t have four in it. The receptionists at hotels will giggle in response. The number 4 means death in Chinese culture if you pronounce it wrong. Nothing is priced with a four, there’s no size four. Even for measurements while he’s designing, he won’t use, say, “3/4,” he’ll mark something as “7/8” instead.
Does Zang have any office traditions?The night before our shows, we have lucky chicken night. It started when Zang had his very first show in 1989, because the night before they were all very hungry and didn't have a lot of money so they got KFC for dinner. This year, Zang’s brother told him that the year’s lucky color was yellow, so around Chinese New Year we all had to wear yellow. He bought yellow lampions in Chinatown and he put peonies and yellow chiffon bows on the lamps. He gave us Live Strong yellow bracelets to wear as well. We ate pineapple, and obviously had to cut it open and get rid of the skin so that everything, really everything, would be yellow in the office. And then we had good luck! We got a lot of good press on that show. It’s the first year he’s had a lucky color for the Chinese New Year, but I have a feeling this will become a tradition.
What happens after fittings?We pick the models we really want, and we also always have like five backup models. We don't like to do things last minute in this office. Lucky for the last show we didn't have any cancellations, but it's always better to be prepared. Zang prepares the boards with the sketches with the models' names on them, and we'll have a meeting to discuss the girls we picked to assign the girls. We do those meetings on the floor, for fabric fittings. But nothing is messy. Even Zang's mood boards are tear-ups and interesting photos neatly organized in a folder. It's not like mood boards for other designers, where everything is messy on a board. That's not Zang! Everything always needs to be symmetrical, whether it's invitations or his sketches.
Sounds like Zang is pretty zen and orderly! He's super organized, he's always reminding us to do things. It's usually the other way around. He has his notepad of course, but he mostly just reminds us from memory. He double and triple checks everything, that's just how he works. He even organizes his email inbox very precisely. If an email has a subject line that’s too long, he’ll delete the email to make it look nicer.
What are the secrets of organization here?
We run by our notepads. They’re like our little friends. I’ll just scratch everything on the notepad and cross things off in the morning. Zang works late into the night, and he will email until 3 or 4 a.m.. Zang sends emails to me and leaves voicemails with JoJo, since Jojo doesn’t use email at all. We’re pretty old-fashioned that way. Zang likes to work very late at night all the time – not just when it’s fashion week.
What's the scoop with seating charts and the politics of who nabs a front row seat at Zang's shows?We get hundreds of emails each day from people requesting seats a few weeks before the show. Zang checks every single person coming, and we Google all the people requesting to come to the show so Zang knows who wants to be there. A list, B list, C list... The seating often doesn't get finalized until two days before. Zang is very hands on and he picks where people sit. He makes sure the people he knows are sitting in the right seats. It's really organized, so we didn't even have anything to do the day of the show!
Have there ever been any pre-show disasters?Well, we had Jill Zarin close one of our shows, wearing an elaborate, heavily beaded gown. The beading was done in India, and when it arrived Zang didn't like the color of the beading. So we had everyone working on it until three in the morning before the show to get it just right. If there's a gown with a shrug that goes with it and Zang's gut is telling him it doesn't work, everything gets changed—or the shrug is gone.
What do you do the day of the show?
I’ll make sure everything is properly lined up and the dresses go with the right models. We then travel with the clothes, in the dark, in the truck from here to Lincoln Center. We make sure the dresses make it safely from the back of the truck at the loading dock, to the backstage area of our show. Before my time, Zang had issues with that; people had stolen things out of the truck. When the show is done, I go back to the office and start editing photos for press until 1 or 2 a.m.. Surprisingly, out of all of my tasks, I like the photo editing the most. I can do it for hours… I do do it for hours! I also love working on the castings… the girls are so beautiful, I don’t know where they come from! We have market appointments starting the day after the show. Everyone else goes to dinner at Carnegie Deli. That’s another tradition. Let’s see how many people show up next time! I’m not sure why they go to that deli, I guess because it’s close.
Where does Zang eat?
For dinner, Zang likes to go to Daniel or Le Bernardin. For lunch, he goes to La Grenouille. They know Zang when I call to make restaurants, and I hear he gets special treatment. Everyone at restaurants seem to know Zang! For my birthday one year, I wanted to go to Babbo with another girl who used to work here. She called and couldn’t get a reservation, and then I called and said I was from Zang’s office and we got a reservation right away. Zang likes clean, simple food – nothing complicated.
Those are pretty swanky haunts. Does Zang have any cheap and chic eateries he frequents as well?
He goes to a pizza place on Ninth Avenue in the 50’s and he always orders double cheese. We once went there and he insisted I order two slices. He made everyone get two slices! The pizza place is right near his gym so he’ll go there after he works out. It’s the same gym Patrick goes to and that’s where they met. Zang does the stair-stepper because he thinks it’s the hardest machine, he’ll do the treadmill too and he likes the ab balls. He also goes to Gyrotonics sessions, one to three times a week. He always goes before a fashion show. He has a special diet before a fashion show, for about two weeks. He only eats fruit and drinks ice water. Am I allowed to say this? He might kill me!
What is Zang like in chef mode?
He loves to cook, and the first time I met him at his house during the photo shoot, he made his famous curry. He just invited us for a thank-you dinner after the February show, he’s very thoughtful. He made pasta. Zang also does movie nights sometimes. He had his staff over to watch My Fair Lady. He originally thought it was for inspiration for his show, and that didn’t work out, so we had movie night instead. We will sit in his beautiful house, Zang will cook, and everything is served on beautiful china. Even if it’s takeout, everything has to be served on china. He loves this Afghan takeout place near the office, and even that gets served on china. Not just Zang’s meal, either. There are cloth napkins, too. I always say it’d be easier to just eat out of the containers! But not for Zang. He cleans right after he cooks, too. Zang doesn’t like to have dishes in the sink or anything like that—it drives him crazy.
What are Zang’s entertaining secrets?
He likes to have dinner parties, and he invites either six or 13 people. As for the décor, he likes to have touches of silver everywhere; even on the table, there will be bowls of silver-coated almonds for decorative purposes. His refrigerator contains tea, iced bottles of water, bottles of champagne and apple juice. I think the apple juice is there because it matches the champagne.
What are the secrets of organization here?
We run by our notepads. They’re like our little friends. I’ll just scratch everything on the notepad and cross things off in the morning. Zang works late into the night, and he will email until 3 or 4 a.m.. Zang sends emails to me and leaves voicemails with JoJo, since Jojo doesn’t use email at all. We’re pretty old-fashioned that way. Zang likes to work very late at night all the time – not just when it’s fashion week.
What's the scoop with seating charts and the politics of who nabs a front row seat at Zang's shows?We get hundreds of emails each day from people requesting seats a few weeks before the show. Zang checks every single person coming, and we Google all the people requesting to come to the show so Zang knows who wants to be there. A list, B list, C list... The seating often doesn't get finalized until two days before. Zang is very hands on and he picks where people sit. He makes sure the people he knows are sitting in the right seats. It's really organized, so we didn't even have anything to do the day of the show!
Have there ever been any pre-show disasters?Well, we had Jill Zarin close one of our shows, wearing an elaborate, heavily beaded gown. The beading was done in India, and when it arrived Zang didn't like the color of the beading. So we had everyone working on it until three in the morning before the show to get it just right. If there's a gown with a shrug that goes with it and Zang's gut is telling him it doesn't work, everything gets changed—or the shrug is gone.
What do you do the day of the show?
I’ll make sure everything is properly lined up and the dresses go with the right models. We then travel with the clothes, in the dark, in the truck from here to Lincoln Center. We make sure the dresses make it safely from the back of the truck at the loading dock, to the backstage area of our show. Before my time, Zang had issues with that; people had stolen things out of the truck. When the show is done, I go back to the office and start editing photos for press until 1 or 2 a.m.. Surprisingly, out of all of my tasks, I like the photo editing the most. I can do it for hours… I do do it for hours! I also love working on the castings… the girls are so beautiful, I don’t know where they come from! We have market appointments starting the day after the show. Everyone else goes to dinner at Carnegie Deli. That’s another tradition. Let’s see how many people show up next time! I’m not sure why they go to that deli, I guess because it’s close.
Where does Zang eat?
For dinner, Zang likes to go to Daniel or Le Bernardin. For lunch, he goes to La Grenouille. They know Zang when I call to make restaurants, and I hear he gets special treatment. Everyone at restaurants seem to know Zang! For my birthday one year, I wanted to go to Babbo with another girl who used to work here. She called and couldn’t get a reservation, and then I called and said I was from Zang’s office and we got a reservation right away. Zang likes clean, simple food – nothing complicated.
Those are pretty swanky haunts. Does Zang have any cheap and chic eateries he frequents as well?
He goes to a pizza place on Ninth Avenue in the 50’s and he always orders double cheese. We once went there and he insisted I order two slices. He made everyone get two slices! The pizza place is right near his gym so he’ll go there after he works out. It’s the same gym Patrick goes to and that’s where they met. Zang does the stair-stepper because he thinks it’s the hardest machine, he’ll do the treadmill too and he likes the ab balls. He also goes to Gyrotonics sessions, one to three times a week. He always goes before a fashion show. He has a special diet before a fashion show, for about two weeks. He only eats fruit and drinks ice water. Am I allowed to say this? He might kill me!
What is Zang like in chef mode?
He loves to cook, and the first time I met him at his house during the photo shoot, he made his famous curry. He just invited us for a thank-you dinner after the February show, he’s very thoughtful. He made pasta. Zang also does movie nights sometimes. He had his staff over to watch My Fair Lady. He originally thought it was for inspiration for his show, and that didn’t work out, so we had movie night instead. We will sit in his beautiful house, Zang will cook, and everything is served on beautiful china. Even if it’s takeout, everything has to be served on china. He loves this Afghan takeout place near the office, and even that gets served on china. Not just Zang’s meal, either. There are cloth napkins, too. I always say it’d be easier to just eat out of the containers! But not for Zang. He cleans right after he cooks, too. Zang doesn’t like to have dishes in the sink or anything like that—it drives him crazy.
What are Zang’s entertaining secrets?
He likes to have dinner parties, and he invites either six or 13 people. As for the décor, he likes to have touches of silver everywhere; even on the table, there will be bowls of silver-coated almonds for decorative purposes. His refrigerator contains tea, iced bottles of water, bottles of champagne and apple juice. I think the apple juice is there because it matches the champagne.
How does Zang unwind?
He never schedules anything on Sundays; he’ll just stay home and relax. Sometimes he’ll have a nice dinner by himself. He has a big collection of books, so he definitely reads a lot.
How would you describe Zang’s designs?
Everyone who wears his clothes says they always get so many compliments. I’ll sometimes wear his beaded t-shirt, which is beautiful. There was an event in Tarrytown recently and we all wore his gowns; I felt like a celebrity. He used to do a lot of colors, when he first started designing. He started off with the colored suits, and that’s howAnna Wintour discovered him. But about five years ago, he stopped doing colors; I think it came about when he moved apartments, actually. Zang likes the clean look of black and white.
What is Zang’s personal style like?
He wears a bamboo P-THREE shirt, from Patrick’s line, every day. It’s always black. He has about twenty shirts, and he has larger sizes for travelling. They’re custom-cut for Zang. He used to wear Calvin Klein shirts for decades, but he switched over this past September. In the winter, he wears his silk velvet pants, and in the summer he likes his mini-kilts. He used to wear mini-sarongs a lot, but he switched to the mini-kilt. I think the kilt came about because of his Fall 2001 collection, which was inspired by Scotland. He doesn’t have a lot of clothes—when you see his closet, it's mostly black and white.
What was your plan when you were back in Indonesia, majoring in computer programming?
I wanted to be a programmer, but even then I realized I was really into designing. A professor told me that, too! We had to do a final project involving website design, and I was more concerned with how the site looked than the actual coding. Now, I really, really want to stick in fashion. It’s more fun! A few other employees actually also have backgrounds in computer programming or engineering, and also go to Parsons.
Did you ever get formal fashion training after you scored this job?
I started taking classes at Parsons two years ago, on weekends and nights. It was hard sometimes because I’d explain to my teachers that I had a full-time job and they’re usually pretty understanding. I was taking classes there with one of Zang’s interns at one point! Regularly, we have two interns. They do everything as well, and they work with Zang directly; he’ll assign them special projects, like doing the press kits. And we had a lot of press this season.
What’s on your bucket list?
I’ve always wanted to be a children’s wear designer. And I also want to open a tea shop. I bake all the time. I make really good cookies! The other day, one of Zang’s editor friends gave him a cookie recipe. Zang doesn’t bake, so he gave me the recipe to try them out. They were a success! I made candied walnuts as snacks during market week and we served them with champagne.
What’s next for Zang?
He has a shoe license in Malaysia – that’s where my Mary Janes are from! Sneak peek: he’s working on licensing for shoes in America.
Is there an expiration date on your gig?I’ve learned so much from Zang, and I’ve never met someone who works as hard as him. It’s kind of incredible. I think of Zang’s team as my second family. JoJo, his manager, has been here for 20 years; Ying Ying, who takes care of Zang’s personal needs, has been here for almost 10 years. The seamstress has been here 15 years, and the assistant seamstress has been here almost 10 years. When I first started, I immediately had the feeling I’d be around here for a while. Where else would I get to work with all of the nicest people?
He never schedules anything on Sundays; he’ll just stay home and relax. Sometimes he’ll have a nice dinner by himself. He has a big collection of books, so he definitely reads a lot.
How would you describe Zang’s designs?
Everyone who wears his clothes says they always get so many compliments. I’ll sometimes wear his beaded t-shirt, which is beautiful. There was an event in Tarrytown recently and we all wore his gowns; I felt like a celebrity. He used to do a lot of colors, when he first started designing. He started off with the colored suits, and that’s howAnna Wintour discovered him. But about five years ago, he stopped doing colors; I think it came about when he moved apartments, actually. Zang likes the clean look of black and white.
What is Zang’s personal style like?
He wears a bamboo P-THREE shirt, from Patrick’s line, every day. It’s always black. He has about twenty shirts, and he has larger sizes for travelling. They’re custom-cut for Zang. He used to wear Calvin Klein shirts for decades, but he switched over this past September. In the winter, he wears his silk velvet pants, and in the summer he likes his mini-kilts. He used to wear mini-sarongs a lot, but he switched to the mini-kilt. I think the kilt came about because of his Fall 2001 collection, which was inspired by Scotland. He doesn’t have a lot of clothes—when you see his closet, it's mostly black and white.
What was your plan when you were back in Indonesia, majoring in computer programming?
I wanted to be a programmer, but even then I realized I was really into designing. A professor told me that, too! We had to do a final project involving website design, and I was more concerned with how the site looked than the actual coding. Now, I really, really want to stick in fashion. It’s more fun! A few other employees actually also have backgrounds in computer programming or engineering, and also go to Parsons.
Did you ever get formal fashion training after you scored this job?
I started taking classes at Parsons two years ago, on weekends and nights. It was hard sometimes because I’d explain to my teachers that I had a full-time job and they’re usually pretty understanding. I was taking classes there with one of Zang’s interns at one point! Regularly, we have two interns. They do everything as well, and they work with Zang directly; he’ll assign them special projects, like doing the press kits. And we had a lot of press this season.
What’s on your bucket list?
I’ve always wanted to be a children’s wear designer. And I also want to open a tea shop. I bake all the time. I make really good cookies! The other day, one of Zang’s editor friends gave him a cookie recipe. Zang doesn’t bake, so he gave me the recipe to try them out. They were a success! I made candied walnuts as snacks during market week and we served them with champagne.
What’s next for Zang?
He has a shoe license in Malaysia – that’s where my Mary Janes are from! Sneak peek: he’s working on licensing for shoes in America.
Is there an expiration date on your gig?I’ve learned so much from Zang, and I’ve never met someone who works as hard as him. It’s kind of incredible. I think of Zang’s team as my second family. JoJo, his manager, has been here for 20 years; Ying Ying, who takes care of Zang’s personal needs, has been here for almost 10 years. The seamstress has been here 15 years, and the assistant seamstress has been here almost 10 years. When I first started, I immediately had the feeling I’d be around here for a while. Where else would I get to work with all of the nicest people?
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