By Elizabeth Johnson-Wilson
Photos: Daniel McCarthy

On Tuesday, September 25th, Haute Fashion welcomed speaker Kendall Herbst, a student at MIT Sloan. With a friendly disposition and lovely ensemble de noir, Herbst recounted her personal experiences in the world of fashion and shared the new passion that is taking priority in her life now.

Kendall addresses members of Haute Fashion

Herbst started in fashion with her first internships at Jane magazine and Versace. She went from there to do blog and video work at New York Magazine  as an Assistant Fashion Editor for two years, which she described as her first time being truly immersed in fashion. After that, she was the Fashion News Editor at Lucky magazine and then the Online Market & Fashion News Editor at InStyle magazine. Most recently, she has interned at Altuzarra and Stylitics.

Now, Herbst is pursuing her MBA in entrepreneurship and working on her venture, StyleUp. She was inspired to create the website by her classmates who were not as fluent in fashion, but could look just as stylish with a little bit of help.

“It’s all about making fashion advice mobile and on-the-go and digestible to women as we get so busy juggling work and school and friends and trying to work out once in a while. StyleUp delivers daily fashion advice tailored to your local weather and to your sense of style, but it’s mostly about remembering all the great stuff you already have in your closet,” Herbst said.

Through all her experiences, Herbst learned valuable lessons and was kind enough to share them with the eager listeners at Haute Fashion.

“Don’t be afraid to be wrong,” advised Herbst. “Worst case scenario: You raise your hand, you’re wrong. Life goes on.”

Kendall spoke to a full house Tuesday night

Herbst also gave advice on what students can do now to have a successful career in fashion later.

“Write for magazines now, do internships, start a blog. Basically, build your personal brand now. It’ll take you sending ten emails to get one reply, but cold emails definitely work… Assert yourself; other people are, so if you’re not, you’re probably falling behind.”

Herbst was enlightening and informative, yet still humble and friendly. She set a good example and is great inspiration for not only us at Haute Fashion, but also for any young person who has goals and wishes to be successful in the fashion and business worlds.

Did you enjoy this speaker? Let us know what you thought, or who you’d like to hear from next.

Be sure to come to our next meeting to hear from online retailer Rue La La!