Gone get gone

During my last few weeks at FIT I styled and assisted on this bohemian shoot. We took ourselves down to the West Village in NYC and after hours of adjusting and styling we finally came away with these shots, which I have to say I am so pleased with!

This is what I had been waiting to do in my styling class for the whole term, however we had to focus on food and objects before we could style an fashion editorial piece. 

The clothing are all pieces we all already had from home (and some of the girls parents wardrobe!). It  was so cool and interesting looking at spring/summer 2015 trends and following their history back in time. We focused on the bohemian vibe and included up and coming trends such as tassels, nude make up and braided hair. 

I love the relaxed look our model conveys on these images as I truly believe it makes the story come to life. 

NYFW

This is crazy..I just worked at New York Fashion Week!!! 

After working at London Fashion Week back in February I just knew I HAD to work at NYFW. It's such a rewarding job. Working hard helping the show go as planned is amazing and the best bit is definitely getting to catch the show. 

I was working at Isabella Rose Taylor's show - she's only 13!!!! Her collection was cool but obviously a little young for me! I could definitely see my little cousins trotting around in her clothes! Her collection is already being sold at Nordstorm but this was the first time she has shown at NYFW, making her one of the youngest to ever show! 

She also had Olivia Somerlyn sing her new single Parachute before the models headed down the runway which was a lovely added bonus!

I preferred working at LFW purely because I was interning for a PR company there so I got to know the rest of the team quite well and because I worked there for a couple of weeks before the actual show so I got to see how it was planned and organised in more detail. 

Now all that's left for me to do is Paris and Milan! In my dreams!! 

The city that never sleeps

This is crazy. As if I am actually living in New York. Okay it's only for four months but STILL! I cannot get over how weird it is! 

I haven't really been able to blog because it's been so chaotic here but I've managed to do lots of wonderful things in this beautiful city while also managing to sneak some uni business in there! 

Welcome week was mental, as always! We had a massive mess up with our course selections so had to start from scratch. This didn't exactly go well as the majority of the courses we all wanted were now full or not running any longer - absolute nightmare! We managed to eventually get it all sorted after countless phone calls and emails to every professor at F.I.T! 

I'm now studying quite a range of subjects here such as Fashion Journalism, Buying, Photographic Styling, Leather Accessories and Jewelry Fabrication! The description for all of these sound really fun and exciting which is exactly what I wanted! I'm definitely most excited for Fashion Journalism and Styling as these are the two areas I'm most interested about going into when I graduate at the moment. However, that could all change after these four months! I'm really hoping the Journalism course will help improve my confidence within writing. I like to think I'm pretty confident when it comes to public speaking but I've always struggled with presenting my ideas to peers for fear of them not being good enough - such a silly thought!!

We've done so many touristy things in the couple of weeks we have been here so I will just upload pictures to this post for you to have a look at rather than me banging on about them all!!

Next up - New York Fashion Week! Ahhh!!! 

Week one at LOOK!

As I've mentioned on here I've got my self a months long work experience placement at LOOK magazine in London! 

Well, it's the end of week one and there's so much to tell! 

As you can imagine I was pretty nervous at first but as soon as I got in the building and met the  other girls interning there and all the staff I got really excited! We got taught the ways of the fashion cupboard and then we were left to get to know each other.

Everyone is really lovely, which makes going to work in the morning a lot easier! 

After a couple of days of returns, call ins and general assisting the first couple of interns got asked to assist on a photo shoot which is so exciting! High St Hottest and 'Scuba' were the photo shoots for this week and seeing the stylists, Chloe and Lucie, style the clothes was really cool (it will be even cooler when I see it all in LOOK in a couple of weeks!). 

On Thursday night their was a bar on the roof terrace for all staff in the Blue Finn Building which we went along to! It was really nice to get to know the girls outside of the cupboard and have a few glasses of Pimm's after a long day at work! We planned a lot more for the week after, we thought it would be nice to grab a bite to eat and a cocktail! 

On Wednesday I helped Sam, a fashion assistant at LOOK, with 'tap to buy'. This is a feature where readers who buy LOOK on a tablet can click on products and be directed to the stores website so they can purchase the product there and then! It's a pretty long task but it was interesting to see how other areas of the magazine work and also do a bit of online shopping while working! 

I went home this weekend to catch up with friends with family which was lovely but I was extremely excited to get back to London today! Roll on week two...

Reminiscing..

I suddenly just got all reminiscent about my A-Level textiles work as well as my Foundation degree's final projects! It made me miss it  so much and miss how creative I used to be. I literally used  to find ANYTHING I could and try all sorts of different ways to make it something new. 

It's so weird to think I started my A-Levels three years ago and I learnt so many new techniques in art and textiles and now I barely use them at all.

It's definitely time for me to get back into my creative mode! 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/meganliv94/

Savage Beauty

This is amazing!

Alexander McQueen's exhibition is coming to London!

This beautiful collection, which includes everything from his 1992 graduate show to his unfinished A/W 2010 collection, was originally displayed in New York at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011.  

I've always been intrigued and inspired by McQueen's work, especially during college when I was studying textiles as an A-Level. His Spring/Summer 2010 collection is the collection that stands out the most to me because of the beautiful colours, textures and patterns he used to create the gorgeous pieces. 

When I'm in London for my months work experience at 'Look' magazine I will definitely be paying 'Savage Beauty' a visit! 

Tom Ford

I am so happy that is over with! and I have no idea why we were all so nervous...

After spending the whole of the last two weeks locked in my room with my group I'm pretty pleased with what we did in the end! I thought the overall visuals of the presentation were really good and represented Tom Ford extremely well. It definitely suggested the sensuality and classiness that the brand has.

We all decided to wear similar things which we believed represented the brand accurately. The girls chose to wear a leather skirt with a black top and red lipstick while the boys wore a white shirt and black pants. It looked pretty good!

I wasn't looking forward to the feedback! Just because we thought it went well doesn't mean anyone else did! 

Some of the positives were:
- Good consistency of visual DNA
-Presentation skills were very good (could tell we rehearsed)
-Lots of detail, especially with the moodboard
-They liked how we identified the gap in the UK market
-Liked the new concept 'Tom Ford 10'
-We kept referring to the brand DNA
-Loved how we presented words on the PowerPoint (large text on consumer profile and visual DNA slide)
-Good teamwork 

Some things we could change:
-The brand model on the white background isn't  very Tom Ford
-Try and make it a lot more graphic
-Put Tom Ford more towards 'sexy' on the perceptual map
-Develop consumer profile (use a real person)
-Look at typography (make it a lot slicker and maybe smaller)
-Could crop some of the images like he does with his advertising

And now it's time for the Christmas holidays!!!

What do you wear to bed?

Normally adverts just pass me by and I never really pay much attention because I'm too busy doing other things at the same time! That was until I heard the opening line of the new Chanel No.5 ad and I was able to tear my eyes away from Topshop's website just in time to watch it.

I am a massive Chanel fan so anything related to the brand normally excites me but this advert was something else completely! I found it fascinating how they used vintage film of Marilyn Monroe within it and how the advert was based solely around her! 

The fact the perfume wasn't shown at all during the advert shows just how powerful the brand is within the industry! Having Marilyn Monroe talk about how she wears nothing but No.5 to bed really enforces this to the consumers and also gives the perfume a really sensual and sexual feel - which is very Chanel!

Tom Ford 10

Only about 1 week to go until we have to present and we've finally got all the detail onto our presentation! Perceptual map, consumer profile, brand essence and not forgetting our new concept...

We're all really happy with our presentation and just have a few minor changes to make so we can make it the best we can! This week we've been meeting up basically every day to sort it out and we will definitely be doing the same next week! I'm one of those people that can't sleep at night until I know whatever I was doing that day has been sorted and completed - strange I know! 

I've had the most fun thinking of loads of ideas for our new concept. We thought of collaborations, fashion shows and a new line of perfume aimed at the younger market but we finally decided on one which I'm sure is a million times better than the ones I've just mentioned.

We've decided to hold a celebratory event for Tom Fords tenth anniversary in 2015! This event will be the most luxurious that London has seen in a long time. It will be everything that Tom Ford stands for - Luxury, elegance and sensuality. It will highlight his most iconic and memorable moments, whether that's from his time at Gucci and YSL, his debut film 'A Single Man' or his iconic fashion shows which featured Beyonce and Lauren Hutton. After our visit to London we chose to hold this extraordinary event at 'The London Edition' in London. Each room will be devoted to a moment in Tom Fords history. From projects of his film and documentary on the walls to mannequins wearing the suits he designed for the James Bond films, this event will be the most glamorous around. We knew to make it the most successful it could be we had to have the most gorgeous celebrities walking down the red carpet. All this is sure to make Tom Ford 10 the most anticipated event in 2015. 

Floral Fever

I said in an earlier post that me and my flatmate went on a bit of a shopping spree...we should definitely not be let loose in Nottingham city centre!

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Zara but since I've been at uni its turned into more of an obsession! I'm constantly on their website trying to find new pieces I can save my loan for and this dress was one of those beauties.

I've literally NEVER worn a body-con dress in my life so I'm not sure what came over me with this one! Normally when I try them on the fabric is so thin and shows literally every lump and bump I have whereas this Zara dress was so much nicer and I felt like it covered everything up! 

I wore it on Friday night for my friends 19th so I wanted to dress it down a little, one good thing about this dress is it can be dressed up or down so easily! I paired it with a pair of heeled black ankle boots which I'd been after for quite a while so when I saw these in New Look they were so much of a bargain I just couldn't resist! 

The hairstyle took a few times to get it looking even slightly acceptable though! I've been going through a stage where all I do is leave my hair naturally wavy on nights out and I thought it was time for a change! Like I just said, I wanted quite a relaxed vibe so (with a little help from my friend) french plaited my hair round the back of my head and then left it in a low side pony. I have a feeling this is going to become my new favourite hairstyle! 

Dress - Zara £39.00
Ankle boots - New Look £27.99

Blow by Blow

I remember when I first heard about Isabella Blow. I was doing a project at college about hat design and came across Philip Treacy, who's work is SO cool! Then I obviously researched about Isabella Blow and that's where the obsession started...

Ever since then I've read books on her, documentaries, articles and now I'm beyond excited to go to Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore at Somerset House.

Reading her biography 'Blow by Blow' told me so many intimate and personal details that I never even knew about her. I found it so emotional when her husband was discussing all the things in her life that could have made her want to commit suicide. I always knew she died like that but I find it hard to understand how someone with such a bright wardrobe and personality could live with such misery.

When I'm low on inspiration flicking through pictures of her from my books always help. Her wild and wonderful choices in pattern, colour and shape ALWAYS help me! Some people may think she's far too bold and it's not a good look but I couldn't disagree more. I absolutely love her style and love anyone who is bold enough to be so creative with their outfit choices and not care one bit what anyone else says! I especially love her hats, I mean who wouldn't?!