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| There are a lot of reasons to believe that stardom comes with one mighty swoop these days - just consider popular reality shows like RuPaul's Drag Race, America's Next Top Model, Project Runway or American Idol where eager, talented dancers, singers, models and fashion designers lock heads once a week with dreams of taking home the gold and achieving instant success. |
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| But in the real world, success comes with preparation, persistence and the ability to think outside of the box. Just ask Robert Schafer, an award-wining men's and women's fashion designer whose skill at marketing his own ideas proved to be his entrance into the lucrative fields of fashion and textile. |
| And while his name hasn't always been the one on the label, this gregarious New Yorker has been designing and manufacturing men's wear for such recognized fashion moguls as Oleg Cassini, Nina Ricci, Pauline Trigere and Pierre Cardin.
In fact, in the men's field - which he once dominated during his almost 50-year career, there was a time that he had more front pages featuring his designs on fashion periodicals - GQ being just one example - than almost any designer in American history.
Schaefer was only 19 when he began his career and traveled the globe, from his hometown of New York City to London, Paris and a host of Asian countries including China. A seasoned "fashionista," retirement is a word that he refuses to use, keeping busy with projects like his consulting gig for Fujian K-Boxing Warpknitting Inc., a China-based, high-tech manufacturing and sales company for medium- to high- end knitting fabrics or designing men's and women's bodywear for Miami-based Softouch, Inc.
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And he is putting the finishing touches on a combination text book and memoir tentatively titled, How to Fashion Your Future in the Fashion Industry: What I Did to Win.
"I started thinking about this book because so many young people say they want a career in the world of fashion design, but don't know where to begin," Schafer said. "It's a comprehensive guide for hopeful designers and merchandisers that tells them how to prepare, how to assess their own abilities and mentions the various pitfalls they should seek to avoid."
Look out for some of Schafer's mouth- watering stories about his experiences with some of the industry's top designers - from Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren, to Nina Ricci and Coco Chanel, hanging out on the main strips of Paris, on Fire Island and in Greenwich Village.
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"If your goal is to thrive in business, you have to be creative because business is a creative activity," he said. "Success comes from looking for the next opportunity and having the ability to find hidden connections.
So while brain power is our most valuable resource, great ideas are still in short supply. That's why the opportunities are still out there."
Schafer added that while every day is not about glamour, lights, cameras and action, the fashion world is one that he has cherished throughout his life.
"There's isn't anything I would rather do," he said.
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