Ela Marita Avitabile

When the Visual Merchandiser came back to work I was offered the Head Office position of Workroom Assistant.  Because of my knowledge of the BODY stores and product as well as my recent completion of Clothing Industry Studies course, the intention was that I would quickly learn the ropes and became the Design Assistant/Patternmaker soon after.  This was a fantastically creative position in a small company manufacturing locally in Melbourne.  I learned so much here and became skilled enough in Patternmaking to be able to successfully work in London when I left.  Below are a few examples of my Patternmaking.

After working in the BODY stores for around 1 year, I was offered the position for Assistant Visual Merchandiser.  This is a valuable part of my experience because I learned to understand from a retail perspective what customers want.  It was also highly creative in window display changes every week.  We concentrated on keeping the store fresh and interesting each week.

The Head Visual Merchandiser took leave for 10 weeks, and I took over for that time.  Below you can see 2 examples of window displays I created during that time.

During my time working at BODY, I formed my own accessory label called EMA.  I produced hand knitted scarves in various yarns and colours to compliment the autumn/winter collections.  For spring/summer I made knotted fabric scarves in different fabrics and textures.