Hard-hitting and fashion usually don't appear in the same sentence, but ASU's Fashion Journalism Club is out to prove that stereotype wrong.
Cortney Kaminski , FJC president and journalism sophomore, says she is deeply delighted with how much the club has grown in just one year.
“Over the summer we changed the constitution, how the blog works, and how membership works,” Kaminski says, as well as launching their new website, thechicdaily.com, on Feb. 1.
Among the club’s most exciting changes is their blog, asufjc.blogspot.com.
“In the years previous the blog used to be a ‘post if you want’ type of deal and now we have actual deadlines, and stories are more newsworthy,” says the club’s vice president, Haley Buntrock. Members also must credit their photos and attend monthly meetings to pitch stories. Each of their stories now goes through two editors before they are published.
Kaminski says this is the first year that the club has been organized and put together, and that this is not without the help of Dean Marianne Barrett of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“I took this position because I am interested in the subject and because the students are committed to making the club a success,” Barrett says. “I really enjoy doing it and it is really great to see the drive behind the students."
“Many people come into this club thinking they aren’t going to have to do any work, but that is not the case,” Barrett says.
With these sophisticated changes, many FJC members have received internship offers from College Fashionista and other local businesses. This has helped contribute to the overall feeling of prominence and respect that the club has been longing for.
“One of the goals for the club is to help get members recognized and possibly get them a professional internship,” Kaminski says.
Still, the biggest change is certainly the new website. Kaminski says they are emulating the likes of Glamour magazine. The website will feature just what any trendy gal could want: fashion, beauty, health and fitness along with street style directly from campus.
“Our members will post photos to our Tumblr account and the photos that receive the most comments will then be placed on thechicdaily.com for readers to review,” Kaminski says.
“We hope to get a steady flow of membership and eventually have advertisement,” Kaminski says. Currently the club has about 20 members, which includes only eight returning members; the rest are freshmen.
“The hardest part about keeping members is having them make us a priority,” Kaminski says. “I have two internships and I go to school, but I make time for this club."
Another attractive feature to FJC is the fact that gives those interested in fashion an exclusive place to express it. Since ASU does not offer any majors involving fashion, FJC gleefully fills the space between business and fashion. It not only provides a creative outlet, but also a place for writers to improve their skills and, ideally, get them acclimated in the fashion-writing business.
Cortney Kaminski has a personal dream of working for Vogue Tokyo, but has dreams for her club as well.
“The No. 1 goal for the club is to get members to want to write and not have it be something they have to do,” Kaminski says. Through FJC, the common fashionista can be transformed into the tenacious Vogue editor she longs to be.
Reach the reporter at mnschwab@asu.edu
