Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1995 February 22 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Helen Xenakis has been involved in the fashion business since her teens, working as a fashion buyer for major retail companies such as Macy's and Sears for several years. She later transitioned into education and joined the Fashion Institute of Technology as their Internship Director.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Carol Poll was a professor of sociology at FIT and interviewed members of the FIT community for the FIT 50th Anniversary oral history series.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Helen Xenakis, the Internship Coordinator at FIT at the time of this interview, began as an adjunct professor in theFashion Buying and Merchandising Department (FBM) in 1988, following a 25-year career in buying. She talks about the inception of the internship program at FIT and its growth ten-fold. She sees the program as mutually beneficial for employers and students, which explains its exponential success. At the time of the interview, FIT had over 900 company sponsors including Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Made in America, major television networks, and New York-based start-ups. She discusses networking through alumni and what the internship process entails. Xenakis then describes a successful candidate for the internship program and how eligible students have a conversion rate of over 40% following the internship. She discusses the especial success of the program with international students and delves into the demographics of most interns. She mentions that she is optimistic about the future of the program and how grateful she is for her time at FIT. Finally, Xenakis discusses her education and buying career during which she worked for Kresge’s, Sears, and Bamberger’s before developing a fashion merchandising program at Rockland County BOCES, a vocational high school.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Generated finding aid
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Legacy video file ID: VOH91
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Poll, Carol (Subject)
- Xenakis, Helen (Subject)
- Macy's (Firm) (Subject)
- Bamberger's (Subject)
- Kmart (Subject)
- S.S. Kresge Company (Subject)
- Donna Karan Company (Subject)
- Ralph Lauren (firm) (Subject)
- Calvin Klein, Inc. (Subject)
- Sears, Roebuck and Company (Subject)
- Godnick, Newton Everett (Subject)