Teens Learn How to Blog and Take Tours of Saks at Fashion Camp NYC

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For a not at all unreasonable price of $1,295, very young industry hopefuls can attend Fashion Camp NYC at Manhattan's LIM College, where they'll do things like tour museums, Barneys and Saks (these are called "market visits"), learn to blog, and attend lectures given by fashion stylists and editors. The price for the five day program, by the way, doesn't include housing or food; the Times clarifies that "most out-of-town campers stay in hotels with a parent."

The camp was started by Gordon Josey, a camp director, and his fashion wife Fran Della Badia, a senior VP at Coach. Their idea has saved a lot of tweens from the torture of summer boredom and—heaven forbid—regular summer camp. Madison Snyder, a 16-year-old from Atlanta, says, "I used to go to summer camp, but it was just..." Yea, we know. "We're all into fashion and know we want to do something about it later in life, so we found out about this and took an opportunity just to learn," she continues.

And don't think these girls are only hoping to gain the know-how to make their own prom dresses. Arizona Semones, who is 12 years old and from Idaho, says, "I want to be the next Coco Chanel because she's at the top of a fashion empire." Semones also ate at Nobu four out of the five days she was enrolled in the program.

But kiddie convos aside, the camp already sounds like it's setting the stage for what it's like in the fashion world of adults. The Times describes the scene like this: "On the table were piles of roughly torn magazine pages, colored pencils, bottles of Vitamin Water and cupcakes. There were nine other tables of girls, 50 in all, searching for inspiration for their own projects. There were only two males in the room, a reporter and a counselor."
· Summer at Camp Couture [NY Times]
· Fashion Camp NYC [Official Site]