Campus closets provide professional clothing and career confidence to students

All dressed up, with everywhere to go

By Kenna Caprio

Photos by W. Scott Giglio

A closet in Hennessy Hall holds racks and shelves of donated business clothes for students to pick from.

Students can visit the new career closets at the Florham and Metropolitan campuses to pick out free business attire.

May 13, 2022 — The Career Closet — a new student resource — has opened at the Florham Campus, with a companion effort debuting at the Metropolitan Campus.

“First impressions last. Professional attire helps students get in the right business mindset. Wearing business clothes that project your personality can help you showcase who you really are as a person and as a potential employee,” says Kwin Javelosa, a graduate student studying accounting and the Silberman College of Business graduate assistant.

Students can visit the closets to pick out business attire, or to seek fashion advice and styling tips. Whatever clothes or accessories the student selects, they keep, at no cost and with no questions asked.

A young man in a tuxedo stands a podium, on a fashion show runway, delivering remarks.

Senior CJ Milano emcees the career closet fashion show.

Professional clothing can be expensive, and the closet organizers want to ease this burden for college students as they venture into job interviews, internships, externships and the working world.

“Getting involved with this project has been a dream come true,” says Javelosa. “While styling the students, I also get to ease their nerves about their interview or job site visit. Helping them gain confidence is so rewarding.”

The Women in Business Club, the Devils Care Food Pantry, the Silberman College of Business, and the International School of Hospitality, Sports, & Tourism Management banded together to make the Florham Campus closet a reality.

A male model walks down the runway to model men's businesswear.

Hospitality student Edward Saddler on the runway at the career closet fashion show.

Mary Sakin, Paige Soltano and Pat Wyer from Silberman College’s Office of Placement and Outreach, the closet’s original advocates, had things just about ready to go for the Florham Campus closet in March 2020. The pandemic hit and everything was shelved. The staff and a team of dedicated students started over once in-person classes and activities resumed.

Many of the closet’s clothes and accessories were donated by Dress For Success in Madison, N.J., and the Club Management Association of America’s New Jersey chapter. The career closet also runs clothing drives on campus and takes individual donations. Student staff will manage the closet.

On May 5, the closet collaborators held a ribbon-cutting event and fashion show to officially launch the Florham initiative. An event on May 9 celebrated the Metropolitan Campus closet.

A female model walks down the runway to model women's businesswear.

Graduate student Kwin Javelosa co-organized the fashion show and walked as a model.

“Kwin and I worked together closely on the fashion show and ribbon cutting, to send out invitations, write the program, design the stage, dress the models, plan the menu and organize the audio and visual equipment,” says CJ Milano, a senior hotel and restaurant management major at the Florham Campus. “I’m so excited and so proud of all the work we did to get the closet open.”

During the fall and spring semesters, the Florham closet will be open four days a week. In the summer, it will be open by appointment only. Contact leadavis@student.fdu.edu.

The closet is located in Hennessy Hall, on the second floor adjacent to room 13. The Metropolitan Campus closet is in the Silberman College Advising Office in Dickinson Hall.

“At the end of the day, this feels like more than just giving back to the community. We’re leaving a proud legacy for FDU,” says Javelosa.

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