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...

Bailey's Stardust

During a recent trip to London I visited the National Portrait Gallery and saw the David Bailey exhibition: Bailey's stardust! It was so interesting and exciting to be able to see all these iconic images first hand. I got told I couldn't take photos after about 5 minutes so these are all I could get but I absolutely loved it! 

I really want to get into photography more and photographic styling so I think during my time at FIT in NYC I'll take some classes which will help improve my skills in these areas! 

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! 

Who is our consumer?

Our typical consumer is someone who has much difficulty sleeping at night due to their very hectic and, in some cases, stressful days.

Their shopping habits consist of visiting stores such as Selfridges, John Lewis, Hobbs, Waitrose and Jigsaw and indulging themselves in the new health and beauty products they have to offer. 

Health and well-being is a huge part of their life and yoga and pilates take center stage. Having a healthy mind and body is extremely important to our consumers which is why they purchase Cloud Nine. 

Not willing to try sleeping tablets due to the risks and side effects, they are after a healthy alternative. Our body mist provides this for them as it allows them to drift off into a deep sleep so they are well prepared for the day ahead. 

London Fashion Week A/W 2014

I can't explain how lucky I feel...

These past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind! 

After emailing COUNTLESS PR Companies about work experience over London Fashion Week I finallllly got a response from Trace Publicity saying they would love for me to help for a week in the run up to LFW and then work two shows! Amaaaazing!

The week entailed of tasks such as writing and delivering invites for LFW, making goody bags for Boux Avenue and other PR taks but, the best part of the work experience was definitely working at both the Jean Pierre Braganza and Fyodor Golan shows. JPB was at Somerset House which was so cool! It was so amazing being able to work at a show never mind at Somerset House!! Fyodor Golan's show was literally outstanding. I loved every piece they showed and it was made even better as it was held in an 'abandoned' building which had been turned into a pink, fluffy paradise. 

It was literally one the best weeks, I loved every moment of it (even if my feet didn't!). It got me so excited to get stuck into it for real when I graduate in 2 years. So exciting!

And on top of this I got an email while I was in London confirming my place at LOOK Magazine for a one month summer internship!! 

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. 

Mulberry to die for

Now this is the brief I have been looking forward to the most...

Designing my own brand-zine is going to be so much fun! I love designing and creating things so this is right up my street. 

We got to choose any brand from a list the lecturers gave us so I chose...MULBERRY!

I've always wanted a Mulberry bag (Chanel comes first though) so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to learn more about one of my favourite brands. 

When we were in London I was going to go to Mulberry's store on New Bond Street but we ran out of time. Luckily for me we by chance walked past this store in Knightsbridge! I initially went into the store to try and take photos of their visual merchandising however it was difficult to do so with staff watching me from every angle! Instead I took photos of the window displays and attempted to sneak a photo of the inside of the store.

Even though the staff obviously weren't too keen on me taking photographs within the store they were extremely pleasant and helpful! I know people think this should happen in every store anyway but sadly it doesn't. Most of the times stores such as Mulberry would be very cold and almost rude to students walking into the store as its quite apparent we weren't going to buy anything. This is exactly what happened in Roberto Cavalli! As soon as we walked in we were almost followed around the store in an attempt to get us out of there! We got no 'hello' or we weren't even asked if we needed any help with anything. I have to say, out of all the stores we went into, the staff in Tom Ford were by far the nicest. The bodyguard on the door, the staff behind the counter and even the guard inside the store (even though he did follow us round quite a bit!) were extremely pleasant and were constantly asking us how we were, how our day had been and whether we needed any assistance! By far the friendliest staff we had met during our day in London. 

I admit I was slightly disappointed by their display especially after walking past Harrods about one minute before! I do love the 'simple yet effective' look but I just wasn't feeling it with Mulberry! Although as the brand was founded in England I did like the use of Buckingham Palace Guards and nutcrackers within their display. I thought having their advertisements on a large scale in the window was really eye catching and the bags were definitely still the main focus even though the images were busy with trees and owls.  

The trip to London has got me even more excited for this project and I can't wait to start looking at Mulberry's visual DNA, Mulberry's handwriting and any cultural references they use within their work which I am hoping will inspire my brand-zine!

London calling

London is a very magical place.

Ever since I was a little girl I've always gone to London and even now the magic still lives on, especially at Christmas. 

This is why the FCP trip to London was so much fun! We were going on the trip so we could collect primary research for both our group brand, which is Tom Ford and our own individual brand, which is Mulberry.

We started off by visiting the 'Club to Catwalk' exhibition at the V&A which was really interesting. It showed us all about how designers took inspiration from the club styles in London and how they transformed these trends into high fashion. Every time I go to the V&A it makes me see a part of the fashion world I'd never even thought of before. Maybe it's naive of me to think this but I had no idea about the connection between London club fashion and the catwalk shows. 

As I've just been on a two week holiday Ibiza I found it really interesting to read about how the coolest London clubs in the 90's recreated the sound and atmosphere from the drug fueled dance clubs in Ibiza and I can absolutely see what they mean. Of course people still get dressed up to the nines and make every night out a glamorous event but, as I read at the V&A, it's no longer 'dress to impress' in most cases and it's more 'dress to sweat'. I totally get this! Raves are so popular now with my age group with things such as the Warehouse Project in Manchester, festivals and underground parties. 

I've always absolutely loved Vivienne Westwood. I just think she is hands down one of the coolest designers around! Vivienne was one of the key designers within the punk era in the 70's and this is very much still referenced in her collections today. Whenever I see a piece of her work I can automatically see the cultural references to history such as pagans, hobo dress as well as modern art. She's still such a well known figure for re working fashion traditions and she is definitely not afraid to push the boundaries. 

The best part of the trip is yet to come...shopping in all the designer stores you could dream of! I'll write about that in a bit more detail on another post...