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"I learned a ton," the New York Rangers left wing, 28, told PEOPLE Tuesday night at the Whitney Contemporaries Art Party presented by BCBG Max Azria. "I was surrounded by some of the greatest minds in American fashion and in the world."
Self-confessed clotheshorse Avery, whose on-ice antics have inspired an official NHL rule named after him, fulfilled a lifelong dream when he started at the fashion mag only a week after he was hospitalized for a lacerated spleen during a game in May.
Downplaying the comparisons between Wintour and her fictional doppelganger played by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, Avery said his least favorite aspect of his internship was having to do some of the unglamorous grunt work behind the scenes.
"The production aspects sucked, setting up the shoots," he said. "That's a little difficult. Yeah, I did it all."
For now, Avery said he's looking forward to hitting the beach, where he'll be showing off some of the fashion sense that rubbed off on him during his internship.
"I'm bringing the European flavor back to America," he says, "and I'm rocking a straight Speedo all summer."
