INTERNSHIP
REPORT
JAN-APR
RASHIKA
CHANDRA
FSID-B
L2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep
regards to my Industry mentor, Ms. Gitanjali Narula for her
exemplary guidance, mentoring and her constant encouragement
throughout the course of this internship.
INTRODUCTION
Each individual student was asked to create a final
REPORT at the completion of their internship period
to measure all the learning outcomes.
The report was required to be a reflective style
document which focused on our learnings and
projects worked on as an intern.
This report talks about the objective of this internship,
the company profile and its hierarchy.
It also looks into my experiences and the projects
undertaken while working on the internship, and the
processes behind each activity.
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JOB PROFILE
BRAND STYLIST
A brand stylist is a creative position where the person is responsible for coming up with the
visual concept behind any project undertaken by the company, especially if it is an
Apparel-based one like Benetton India Pvt. Ltd.
I was working under the Buying Department, where we handled the entire creative
process behind styling each and every core garment with the Fall/Winter + Spring/Summer
collection. Jobs such as creating ‘Training Dockets’ and ‘Styling Tutorials/ Videos’ for InStore training was also part of the job description.
Also included was modelling and photography, where I photographed my fellow intern,
with pieces styled by us from the Womenswear S/S ’16 range for in-store training and to
show the Buyers, what’s in-Trend!
In an industry like ours, where everything changes so rapidly, it is highly imperative for any
brand to be socially available, present and be extremely VISUALLY APPEALING in its
content; because in this age-of-Internet, visuals are literally the only thing that matter.
Hence, a Brand Stylist ensures that all such needs are taken care of and the company is
rapidly generating interesting and captivating visual content so as to stay on the top of its
game.
Research was also a big part of this entire creative process – creating and designing
interesting visual mood boards with unique layouts by browsing through trend-based
websites like Pinterest, WGSN, ASOS, amongst many others.
The best part about being a brand stylist is that one gets to be involved in so many things
and all at once. You can be a photographer, a graphic designer, a typographer, a stylist, an
art director, amongst many others. This is what it is all essentially about – gaining
knowledge, experiencing new things, learning perspective and most of all – broadening
your horizons.
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COMPANY
PROFILE
Today Benetton Group is one of the best-known fashion companies in the world, present
in the most important markets in the world with a network of about 5,000 stores; a
responsible group that plans for the future and lives in the present, with a watchful eye
to the environment, to human dignity, and to a society in transformation.
The Group has a consolidated identity comprised of color, authentic fashion, quality at
democratic prices and passion for its work: these values are reflected in the strong,
dynamic personality of the brands United Colors of Benetton and Sisley.
Benetton’s “universal” communication has accompanied the Group’s global expansion.
When companies export around the world, they normally adapt their advertising to suit
different areas. Benetton chooses a single, universal message that is valid for all
consumers: wherever they may live, whatever the color of their skin and whichever
language they may speak.
Benetton Group is focused on the future. Its story is built on innovation and seeing where
others fail to see. The Group has always been at the cutting edge: with color, with its
revolutionary approach to point of sale, with an absolutely unique production and
commercial network and with a universal form of communication, which created both a
phenomenon and cultural debate. Benetton was global before globalization, but in its
own way.
From the start, Benetton saw fashion as a global village where young people of every
race live. It travels at the world’s speed, overcoming geographical, political and
ideological boundaries. Benetton is a responsible Group, it creates value and aims at
growth, not as an end in itself, but as a means for contributing to progress.
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SANDEEP
CHUGH
CHIEF
FINANCIAL
OFFICER
SAMEER
CHHIBBER
VIVEK
MUKHERJEE
SENIOR
GENERAL
MANAGER –
BUSINESS
PLANNING
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COMPANY
HIERARCHY
CHIEF
EXECUTIVE
OFFICER
HEAD OF
HUMAN
RESOURCES
ABHIK
SAHA
DIRECTOR
OF
SUPPLY
CHAIN
NAMRATA
WAKHLOO
VICE
PRESIDENT CSR
SAMIR
BHUSHAN
SHARAD
MALHOTRA
VICE
PRESIDENT –
QUALITY
ASSURANCE
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INDUSTRY
MENTOR
NAME: Gitanjali Narula
AGE: 32
EDUCATION: NIFT Graduate [Accessory
Design]
PROFESSION: Brand Stylist
How many years have you worked at Benetton India?
6 years.
How has your experience been working here?
It has been a learning for certain. The exposure that I have gained
through working with both the brands – United Colors of Benetton and
Sisley has been incredible and an eye-opener. I have worked at two
departments in my time here – VM, i.e. Visual Merchandizing and now
Buying.
What was the purpose behind changing your department?
The reason for my shift in departments is because the brand needed a
Brand Stylist. An understanding of specific themes and styling at the store
level was required. Since I had worked very closely with the Product
team at Sisley, I knew what had to be done. Also, this was the stepping
stone to get value addition to my resume.
Why Benetton and not any other company?
There aren’t very many multinational fashion companies in Delhi NCR. The
best part about working at Benetton is the ‘work culture’ which is
frankly, amazing. It helps establish a good balance of personal and
professional life.
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INTERNSHIP
OBJECTIVE
What is an internship? An internship is a
program that helps student and people alike to gain
real world experience so that they can explore and
gain the knowledge and skills required to enter into a
particular field of their choice.
The objective of this internship was to first and
foremost learn about the ‘Corporate Culture’ and also
experience real life in a WORK environment.
Secondly, another objective was to learn to bring
discipline into our lives engage in work experience,
the processes behind them and encourage personal
development.
And lastly, this internship helped me understand what
career path I want to pursue post-graduation and
engage myself in my professional colleagues and
become more social, responsible and liable of my
actions.
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PERSONAL
STYLE
PHILOSOPHY
Confident, Balance, Color, Zealous; the four words that describe me as an
individual and a stylist.
Since the beginning of my journey of gaining knowledge, one thing has been the key to
my survival and i.e. Confidence, as it is what makes ‘Style’. No matter what I present,
in my personal o professional life, I need to be confident of the things that I’m saying or
the work that I’m presenting. Without it, there is absolutely no back-up or spine to my
work.
Balance is imperative. For me, when I’m making layouts or creating any sort of
composition, whether mentally in my head or in reality, balance is a key principle of
design that I completely abide by. It helps make it whole and establish a sense of
symmetry and harmony in any work that I produce.
Color to me is perhaps the most important factor of all. I believe that it harvest
creativity and sparks imagination. Color denotes emotion, it can be attributed to any
feeling and used to showcase and represent anything in life.
And lastly comes Zeal. I strongly believe that if you aren’t passionate about something,
anything really, then it shouldn’t be done. My zeal for playing around with graphics and
styling is undoubtedly the driving force behind any work that I do.
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CAREER
PATH
Exploring is a very important part
of the academic process, and
gaining a work experience is a great
way for students like us, to acquaint
ourselves with a field that we are
looking to learn about.
After working in the corporate sector
and with such a well-established
company like Benetton India, I
realized that I too wanted to work in
the corporate world post-graduation.
Also another final decision that I came
up with was of adopting the career
path of becoming a BRAND STYLIST.
It’s a great creative position and with
all the learning that I have
experienced in my time in this
internship, I know what to expect of
this job.
It’s an extremely versatile position
where you can delve into styling,
photography, direction, and most
importantly, and my personal favorite,
graphic designing. That is something
that I feel I can do very well and have
a major interest in.
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INTERNSHIP
EXPERIENCE
ACTIVITIES
+ PROCESSES
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FIRST DAY
When I started on the 21st of January, my reporting manager introduced me to
my colleagues and people working on my floor from the other departments. I
was working alongside Vidisha Gupta, who is also from my class, which made
me feel a bit more at ease.
We were informed that the Benetton Trade Show, which is scheduled for the
22nd of February 2016, was the most crucial part of the year and hence till
it wasn’t done, things were bound to be hectic and we had to help in every
manner and aspect.
I started working on the A/W ‘16 line and learnt about all the themes in all
three collections, i.e. Women’s, Men’s and Kids. We had to study about their
mood boards and create a presentation of the mood boards and create notes
for them, describing their look, key elements and the likes.
We were also given all the necessary documents and shown the range books of
the S/S ‘16 collection to get an idea of the layout and format expected and run
in the company.
We also got acquainted with the collection of the A/W ‘16 WOMEN RANGE,
through the rack-up pictures that were given to us.
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Based on the mood boards, we then proceeded to garment
exploration and the final making of the Style Boards per theme.
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For example: Let’s
talk about the
process behind the
Bloomsters theme
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This is one such
garment from the
Bloomsters
Women’s theme that
I shot, edited and
converted to a .PNG
GARMENT
EXPLORATION
The Benetton A/W ‘16 Trade Show was fast approaching and there was still tons left to
do. My mentor wanted us to get acquainted with the range and photograph each
garment piece of every theme – Kids, Men and Women alike – so that later we could
make combinations and style coordinates, which would then finally be turned into ‘Style
Boards’.
It took me and my fellow intern nearly three weeks to complete shooting every garment
in the range [from all three collections] and edit all the selected pictures that we were
going to be using for our styling coordinates. An even more tedious task was the editing
of every picture to remove its background on Photoshop and then converting the
image to a .PNG file.
But on the other hand, it was a great exposure to gain knowledge about the garment
industry, learn silhouettes, fabric structure and seasonal themes. Also since we were in the
buying department, we got to know a bit about the pricing strategy and how they
eliminated clothes that were out of their budget and segregated the budget into different
categories like accessories, belts, shoes, dresses, shorts and more.
One new word that I definitely learnt about was – TRICOT. Tricot were essentially made
up of knit fabric that clung to your frame and were soft to touch and ere almost akin to
sweaters; they are one product key to the Benetton DNA. Be it summer or winter, tricots
are always available in every Benetton collection.
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STYLE BOARDS
Style boards are something very close to my heart and what I spent all my
attention on very closely. The pressure was on to have these completed by a
specific deadline after which they were to go in for printing in the A/W ‘16
Range Book. These boards were to be the introductory pages before every
theme, so that the buyer looking at them could be attracted to them and would
be able to identify styled coordinates to buy for his franchise and store.
After I made the layout for the board [which was then followed by my fellow
intern], each style board had the following characteristics:
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Two – three model shots in the center [generally facing sideways]
Each model shot having its fabric swatch attached to it in a circle.
On both sides were the styling coordinates that we had made per theme
These were made from the garments that we had shot and then edited [as
described earlier]
Illustrations were added that went along with them mood of the theme or
were of accessories that could go along with the chosen outfit
Accessories from the A/W ’16 range were also added to complete each
look created and styled
Lastly, inside a fabric swatch circle, were the key words of each theme,
and a paragraph each talking about the general feel of the theme and how
to wear the styling coordinates.
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I made two
boards for each
theme
highlighting their
key aspects and
the styling
coordinates.
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The styling
coordinates had
complimenting
accessories and
illustrations to
accompany them.
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FABRIC
SWATCH
CIRCLE
STYLE TIP/
THEME
EXPLANATION
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DESI ROOTS
STYLING
ACTIVITY
Benetton hired a Sufi/Rock band – DESI ROOTS,
to perform at the Trade Show on 22nd February
2016.
Desi Roots is an amalgamation of four musicians
who have practiced and performed music for over a
decade.
I and my fellow intern were asked to style them for
the live show with garments from the CITY BEATS
theme in the Menswear S/S ‘16 collection.
Gavin Pacheco, the band’s bassist and manager had
sent over the garment and shoe size of each of
his member. So we went through the theme City
Beats and made a presentation which contained the
styling coordinates for each member of the band.
With every garment that we selected, we also had
to attach the style code of each, so that the
presentation could then be forwarded to the
warehouse, where they would send over the correct
sizes w.r.t. the style codes.
This was quite an exciting activity as I and my fellow
intern had a lot of fun deciphering each band
member’s personality through his photograph and
then choosing the garments and shoes for them
accordingly.
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SIZES SENT
BY GAVIN
FOR EACH
BAND
MEMBER
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STYLE CODES
FOR EACH
SELECTED
GARMENT
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THE CORE
PROJECT
The Core Project – was perhaps one of the most important projects undertaken by us
at Benetton. It was the first time that any of the sub-activities that were taking place
under this project were being done since Gitanjali had joined the Buying department as
the official Brand Stylist.
The following sub-projects were undertaken while working on this project:
-
-
Core S/S ‘16 Upstyling Range Book
- Core A/W ‘16 Upstyling Range Book
Photoshoot showing different ways to wear a basic trouser form the Core collection.
The Core collection practically remains consistent through all; the seasons and through
every new collection launched in India, hence it was extremely important to cover this as
a project.
Being such an extensive project, it of course couldn’t be done without the aid of a team
and this helped me learn a lot about team work and cooperation. Taking other people’s
view points into account and collaborating on different ideas and thoughts to make
something credible is a great learning experience in itself.
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CORE S/S ’16
UPSTYLING
RANGE BOOK
For the first time ever, Benetton was launching a separate upstyling
range book for the Core collection. The task was however, to pair and
‘UPSTYLE’ each garment from the Core collection with garments from
different themes in the current Spring/ Summer ‘16 collection.
There were a number of things that had to be kept in mind. While pairing
up garments, I had to constantly work in accordance with the Buying
Department and the Product Department to check if any piece had
been dropped from the range due to Budget issues or any other reasons.
Also because I couldn’t repeat any garment, I had to make sure that
the style codes were different for each and be in constant contact with
the interns working with Menswear, Womenswear and the Kidswear
collections as well.
Another fun thing to do while working on these coordinates for the
Upstyling Range Book were the ‘Style Tips’. I went on websites like
ASOS, WGSN and VogueRunway to get tips and know about the
different ongoing trends and then deciphered them into simpler terms so
that a layman could understand them as well.
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STYLE TIP FOR
THE
COORDINATES
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CORE
GARMENT
S/S ‘16
GARMENTS
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CORE A/W ’16
UPSTYLING
RANGE BOOK
While not much changed as far as the layout-ing and the Core
collection garments were concerned, the A/W range was a far cry
from the Spring/Summer one.
Which inevitably led to a change in the style tips. For instance, now I
could add layering as an option, be it with a jacket, a sweater or
even a shirt atop a plain polo.
The illustrations also nearly remained the same to keep the fun factor
alive, but now we had things like hot coffee cups added to give the
feeling of winter.
In the images shown on the next page, it is clear to see that although
the core garments remain the same [even in their color options],
what has changed is the way the Autumn/ Winter garments are shown,
with the collar being visible from below the sweaters in some
images, to show the option of layering.
The same things have been done with the Kids collection as well.
Also with every garment was attached a small black box stating
the theme it belonged to and its specific style code number.
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STYLE CODES
FOR EACH
SELECTED
GARMENT
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LAYERING
OPTIONS
FROM A/W
‘16
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CORE
IN-STORE
STYLING
Gitanjali [our Industry Mentor],
organized an In-Store Styling activity
for us where I was to do the
photoshoot and Vidisha [my fellow
intern] was to do the modelling.
We chose the Core garments from the
store, like this pair of beige trousers,
and made three looks each – Formal,
Semi-Formal and finally, Casual.
FORMAL LOOK:
We paired up a knife-pleated
sleeveless top with its complimenting
blazer. The top was tucked to give it a
neat look with a smart top bun for a
clean and sharp attire.
SEMI-FORMAL LOOK:
The second look consisted of a baby
blue tricot paired with golden metallic
loafers to give a semi-formal look,
which we achieved with a slightly
messier bun than before.
CASUAL LOOK:
For the final look, we went with a
more comfortable approach, pairing a
dragonfly foil print tee with a half-up,
half-down hairdo and reflector
sunglasses for a cool chic vibe.
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TRADE SHOW +
BUYING
EVENT
The Benetton Trade Show finally arrived on the 22nd
of February 2016. First was the Fashion Show,
where all the themes of the entire collection were
to be showcased. It was held at the Pullman Hotel,
Aerocity and was a grand event.
The stage was set up in a way that for the models to
walk through, they had to open the doors first,
creating a dramatic entry. Behind the doors were
LED screens that were displaying stunning visuals in
accordance with the themes that were being shown.
The came the week-long Buying event. It took
place at Taj Vivanta, Dwarka. There were tow
huge tents set up in the garden area where inside,
every garment from the collection was hung up in
rows, marked with printed boards from the Range
Book.
All of Benetton’s major franchises like GNB and
Saffron were present and took turns going through
all the rows, critiquing every garment and selecting
the ones they liked to plug in their numbers for the
final order later.
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My job at the Buying event was to style the
clothes that the franchises’ wanted modeled to
see the fit and look of the garment. I was happy
to say that they appreciated my styling and even
bought some garments once they were satisfied
with the look that I had created.
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STRIPES
STYLING
TUTORIAL
Vidisha and I did an in-store
styling activity where once
again she was the model and I
was the photographer. I
actually quite liked the job of
shooting and making videos,
panning her from head-to-toe to
showcase each garment and then
back. It was well appreciated
by my mentor and my
colleagues back at the office as
well.
We created 6 sets of
coordinates where we chose to
showcase ‘STRIPES’ as the
dominant factor, be it in the form
a of a dress, tee, shirt or even a
shrug.
We added small styling elements
by knotting her shirt, or rolling up
the bottoms or even using a color
block shirt to cinch the waist of a
dress.
These looks were later to be
used in the form of videos as
‘Styling Tutorials’, to be sent
out for In-Store Training
Programs.
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MOCK
PRODUCT
SHOOT
Benetton wanted to create content for their social
media pages and hence we decided to create that
for them by having shoots of their products done,
something akin to what Net-a-Porter or H&M does
for their Instagram pages.
So I created the Men’s, Boys’ and Girls’ Mock
Shoot boards while my fellow intern [Vidisha]
made the boards for the Women.
I created two boards for each theme, selecting the
garments that I believed would go well with each
other to create a look board and chose accessories
to accompany them as well.
Another addition was of an illustration or prop that
we could use as a value addition to the whole look.
Finally, I created a layout in a square format, as
most social media pages have a square layout
[especially Instagram].
In the layout, I took out mock images of a shirt’s
outline and similar garments and then cropped the
selected garment from each theme to fit in it so that
they would look like they were in that layout.
The mock shoot was to be done by Moksha
Designs in Saket, Delhi. These layouts were
created for them to have clarity on how to go about
the shoot.
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SQUARE
LAYOUT
FOR ALL
IMAGES
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PROPS TO
BE USED/
ADDED
ACCESSORIES
TO BE USED
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TRAINING
DOCKETS
Training Dockets – are something that I have worked on through the entire internship
period and have dedicated a lot of time and hard work on.
Training dockets are like miniature presentations, which essentially describe the look, feel,
color and the likes of every theme in the easiest way possible. These dockets serve the
purpose of training the store sales-people with all the information that they need to style
the mannequins in the store, or sell a particular garment from any theme and know all the
information about it in case a customer required it.
Each docket contained the following pages:
- Cover Page
- Mood Board
- Color Story
- Key Focus
- What’s Trending
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Each docket was designed to suit its personality and theme, with its elements being
inspired by its moodboard and also the garments themselves.. Hence not one training
docket looks like the other, with eah having individual unique elements and
information to accompany it.
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LEARNING
OUTCOMES
IDEATION: One of the major learnings that I have
experienced this internship is to develop my
personal design philosophy and fully explore it as a
professional individual/
RESEARCH: Another learning was in broadening
my horizons in terms of utilizing all means of
research techniques accessible to me – from
websites like ASOS and WGSN, to magazines like
Vogue and GQ, amidst a wide variety of options.
EXECUTION: Where fashion comes and goes in
the blink of an eye, it is highly imperative to hone
your skills to be as quick as you can if you want to
keep up. I learnt to do the same by executing
important tasks and decisions enforced upon me by
completing them dutifully and with great fervor.
ENGAGEMENT: Team engagement is an
important characteristic that always needs to be
worked upon, especially in the corporate culture. I
learned to cooperate and appreciate with my
colleagues’ and teammates’ perspectives and
work in accordance with them.
PRESENTATION: The one thing that I improved
upon in my time working, was performing all my
tasks in a systematic and professional manner, and
using my logical and creative abilities to the best
of my capabilities to present any work given to
me.
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COURSE
RELEVANCE
There were a number of different things that had significant relevance
to our course modules that we have learnt over the past three years.
For instance, all the photoshoots that I did on my fellow intern, where I
played the role of a photographer, all my learnings from our
photography course module with Mr. Rohit Dhingra helped in this.
When we went to the store, we performed a thorough analysis of the
store, and even sketched out some visuals of it to get a better
understanding, where everything I’d learnt about spaces and their
different forms in the Spatial Styling module taught by Ms. Shweta
Sood.
But most of hat really helped me in this entire internship, were my
teachings in one of my favorite course modules so far - Graphics
Communication Design taught by Mr. Prateeq Kumar. His ideas and
teachings in how to modify and execute your imagination into reality
through graphics was a big help, when I had to create training dockets
and upstyling mood boards and look boards.
All in all, my teachings at Pearl Academy helped me to travel through
my journey at my first internship successfully and with great ease.
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LETTER OF
RECOMMENDATION
To Whom It May Concern,
Rashika Chandra worked in the Buying Department as
a Stylist Intern under my supervision during the
summer of 2016. She has been efficient and
extremely competent.
Her graphic design skills have proved to be extremely
productive for the department. She often successfully
finishes a task before the deadline and is extremely
organized. Rashika has displayed excellent all round
skills as a Styling Intern.
Rashika has an upbeat demeanor and her strong
communication skills enabled her to interface very
effectively with different departments in the
organization.
In summary, I highly recommend Rashika Chandra.
Please feel free to contact me if you need additional
information or perspective.
Sincerely,
Gitanjali Narula Naithani
Brand stylist – Senior Manager - Buying Department
9971002682
g.narula@benetton.co.in
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CERTIFICATE
LETTER
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
The company profile and hierarchy belongs to
www.benettongroup.com.
All the campaign images and the Autumn/ Winter
Trade Show images used in this report belong to
Benetton India.
All the other content, visuals and graphics belong
solely to Rashika Chandra.
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