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Since her first year as a student at Lafayette, art major Sara Beth Talias ’07 (Wyckoff, N.J.) has known she wanted to do something different with her degree.
She is working as a private stylist for CoCo Parì, an upscale women’s boutique in New Jersey featuring European designer clothing and footwear. Talias has worked at CoCo Parì for three years and is its leading sales associate. As a private stylist, she is leading the CoCo to Go branch of the business, which was launched for the spring season.
Through CoCo to Go, Talias visits clients’ homes to analyze their current wardrobes, discuss style options, and determine their overall image goals. She then selects merchandise from the store and brings it directly to her clients. The in-home stylist concept was designed to bring personal attention back to the shopping experience.
“I absolutely love being a private stylist,” says Talias. “It is so rewarding to work with clients who share my love for fashion and appreciate my style guidance.”
Talias has been preparing for her new career in fashion through a series of research projects and internships at Lafayette, using what she’s learned to provide direction and develop skills necessary for success.
She recently completed an independent study project under the guidance of Jim Toia, director of the Grossman Gallery and Community Based Teaching Program. Talias researched the visual significance of the figure in context, using the mediums of photography and paint.
“[Toia] encouraged me to take risks and push my work past conventional standards,” she says. “Professor Toia’s enthusiasm inspired me to create exceptional works of art.”
Toia also served as Talias’ honors thesis adviser. For her thesis, Talias studied fashion as an art form, not just as a designer but as photographer, stylist, artist, and business manager.
“Sara’s honors work was a huge endeavor,” says Toia. “This is a particularly difficult road since in many ways, it extends past the boundaries of art. Indeed, she met quite a bit of resistance taking this approach. But in the end, she achieved what I think is the true goal of any liberal arts education – an all-encompassing awareness and understanding of the area of study, in this case the fashion industry. She met with industry people, designers, stylists, photographers, and worked with models to produce a final project that prepared her for the next logical step: her introduction into the fashion industry.”
Toia believes Talias’ commitment to learning as much as she could about the fashion industry has prepared her well to succeed in an industry that is difficult to break into.
“Sara’s intelligence, diligence, and incredible determination helped her produce a project of great magnitude,” he says. “It also allowed her to explore many facets of the fashion world to get a feeling of the true goings-on of this exceptionally challenging industry. Ultimately, she came away with a strong portfolio which she will be able to use as a springboard in her new career.”
Talias also worked with Toia through Lafayette’s distinctive EXCEL Scholars program, in which students conduct research with faculty while earning a stipend. The program has helped to make Lafayette a national leader in undergraduate research. Many of the more than 160 students who participate each year share their work through articles in academic journals and/or conference presentations.
She helped Toia produce numerous aspects of his latest art exhibition Dawn, on display last spring at the Kim Foster Gallery in New York City. The video projects were given positive reviews in Art in America.
Talias also worked with Ed Kerns, Clapp Professor of Art and founding director of the Williams Visual Arts Building, as an EXCEL Scholar exploring every aspect of being a professional artist, from the design of a piece to its sale. She used her technological know-how to design clothing and posters, learned tips of the craft from artists, and helped make presentations to dealers.
This past fall, Talias served an internship at Christie’s Auction House in New York City. She was part of the Impressionist and Modern Art and Post-War and Contemporary Art evening sales.
“My background in art and extensive retail experience made it easy to understand the day-to-day workings of Christie’s,” says Talias. “Working at Christie’s was a wonderful experience. Being part of these record breaking auctions gave me great insight into the exciting retail side of the art world. Although I learned a great deal from my internship, I was not interested in pursuing a career in art sales. My internship at Christie’s made me realize just how much I love working in fashion.”
Talias also traveled to the Netherlands and Belgium through the Rothkopf Scholars program to study art and architecture. The participating students were selected through a competitive process on the basis of essays they submitted and their overall record within the art department and the College.
Toia is optimistic about Talias’ potential as she embarks on a career in the fashion industry after leaving Lafayette.
“Sara overcame a great deal of adversity to achieve her goals at Lafayette,” he says. “Such devotion and determination will give her the strength and fortitude to continue in an industry known for swallowing people whole. I am sure we will be seeing her name in the future. She has big plans, and I don’t think she will allow anyone to obscure her dreams.”