Trend Book over and out!

Finaly I have finished this trend book!!Soooooo relieved, lets hope I dont get a referal!!

I thought the idea to do this book was a really good idea and to be honest I think I underestimated how hard it would be. So a very few stressful weeks!!

I based mine on the romantic/grunge themes that ran through our group project. Splitting it into "I'm with the band"-my rock chick look, "through the looking glass"-alice in wonderland/dressing up inspired and "a dark love affair"-dark romance.

For each I produced pages on colour, accessories, trend and inspiration. To be honest I don't know if perhaps the layout I chose to do in the end was to magazine spread like, but I thought it gave my book more of a scrap book feel to it which I personally liked.

Depending on what comments I get back, I may then work into the pages abit before getting it printed off. A few of my fave pages are below.

Mac Viva Glam

Macs Viva glam spring summer 2010 campaign is featuring Lady Gaga AND Cyndi Lauper!!How fabulous!

Exciting new stuff!!

Whilst being a star pupil and doing some research for my trend book I came across this amazing web magazine, N.E.E.T. It's an online, individual fashion magazine, think Nylon but even cooler with the most gorgeous fashion shoots. http://www.neetmagazine.com/

(All images above taken from NEETmagazine december issue)

Second exciting news involves me, necklace shopping. I've wanted a personalised name necklace for ages and have found the perfect one and the perfect website. http://www.lolapop.co.uk/

Note:sample picture with my name=MUST HAVE!

Other wants-lady luck necklace and hello sailor earing!

123.. everybody loves Britney!

Can she do know wrong? back with yet another amazing hit, and is it just me or is she starting to actually look kind of fashionable in this one?shocker i know!!check out the lace leggings!!
http://

Rhianna Russian Roulette

Slightly wierd but still great, especially loving the simple styling and Rhianna's new blonde locks!!


http://

Peclers

We had someone from trend forcaster Peclers give us a presentation yesterday on the future trnds for a/w2010 and inspiration for s/s2011. There was loads of infomation given but this is just an edited version.

A/W2010
4 main headings- Transmission, Wild, Dream and 4th Dimension. Each having a few sub stories in them

Transmission-

• about comfort, back to basics, influ global cultures, quality and luxuary.
• Colours-chic neutrals, pine green, kaki, coral pink, slate.
• Customer profile- she's classic, sensual, type of person to wear cashmere next to the skin.

Within this there was:

Relaxed Elegance- harem pants, head scarves, elegant, modern, 20s 30s and 40s influence.

• to style- fluid silks, cotton, wrap and drape.

Ancestral folas- pleats, sculptural aspect, ruching, relaunching pleated skirt. raw edges.

Monopic design- functional but beautiful

• style- about a total look in the same fabric

Traditional Outdoor- riding/car and trench coats, ponchos and capes.

Transfolk- japanese kimon/african prints, jaquards, melting pot f patterns.

Accesories for this story-either- faux leather patches, fringe boots/ simple classic shapes, wide belts, round sunglasses.

Wild- dynamic, liberating story, exciting

• colours-exotic petrol, saffron, orange, raisin purple
• Customer Profile- suductive, intimidating feel to her.

Very Chic Safari

• African textiles, animal skins,
• Style- animal stripes, YSL inspiration, blazers, pocketed shirts, 80s couture touch.

Get Down and Boogie

• Showgirl(30s) sequins, theatrical, tuxedos updated, graphic.
• Fabric- graphic black and white with shine.

Decorative Artist

• luxurious and redefined, statement pieces
• Style- 80s, 40s, art deco influ, jewel covered tops, puffy sleeves, taffta, furs.

Thundergirl

• Comic strip superheroes, martial arts,
• Style-aggresive, kimono style sweatshirts, sharp.
• Fabric- comic strip, 80s, graffiti imagery.

Accessorize- everything between 20s-70s, gold jewlerry, boxy bags, sculptured buckles, sturdy heels/ panther, tiger, feathers, hunting trophy.

Dream- getting away from everyday reality, 19th centuary inspirations.venetian rreferencs, 40s, fantasy, gothic, dark alice in wonderland.

• Colours-dusky&darks-lilac and coral, midnight blue and foggy grey.
• Customer Profile- Freash but mysterious, good and bad side, vampy but peachy skin, eyebrows, pale and interesting.

Belle de jour

• cold elegance, beehive hair, womenly feel.
• Styling- net, blouses and shirts, ruching, transparency, high necklinss, pencil skirts and tuxedos.

A flower Conspiracy

• Styling- japanese filter, floaty tops, washed out satin, silk, ornamental, flowers.

Galent Bohemia

• dandy aspect, equastrian feel, riding pants, wide lapels.

Labour and Dream

• Workwear, finding poetry in everyday, wear and tear, indus' revolution, dirty, damaged, have history, chimney sweep
• Style- denim, squared shoulders, corset lacing, lace
• Fabrics- mouldy/worn look, faded, well loved, smokey blacks and blues.

Swan Lake

• delicate, lightness, degas pastels, ballett tutus, add sharpness.
• Stle- pleats, ruffles, gathers, layers, put with blazer.

Accesoories- curiosity shop feel, art noveau, unicorn heels, petal bags, pearly shimmer, flirtygirlie/ vampy, trashy laces, grainy lather, lingerie.

4th Dimension

• future-60s, 70s shows, low tch.
• Colours-illuminous yellow, tals, apricot tones, mercuary, flannel.
• Customer p- cool glamour, adrogynous feel, clean.

Strange Tailoring

• remodelling suit, sharp angles, trinagular lines, vnecks layered.

Glamorous Spy

• Military aspects, suit, 40s references-nipped in waist, legs slim.

Spaceship one

• Utility, practical, riveted detail, big front shorts.

Futurist Kitsch

• ergonomic modern shapes, space 1999 feel
• pleated skirts, high tech details, sportty couture aspects
• blues and apricots

Accessories- mechanical feel, UFO shapes, geometric bags, zips replacing trims/ loafers, pearl necklaces, riding helmets.

From all this info it seems like 40s and 80s styling is a recurring trend, blazers and tuxedos also seem to be staying for the next year. I thought it would be abit too much to put the s/s2011 info into this post so I may do that at a later date. OverallI thought the presentation was really useful in showing us how Peclers go about producing their trend books and the type of language that they use to describe each story.

Recent uni work

As i said in an earlier post we've been looking at the the role of stylists and different types of styling so I thought I'd do a little post on what we have learnt so far.


There are two types of styling, editorial and commercial. Editorial includes magazine spreads and papers.
Commercial is all about advertising. So billboards, advertising campaigns, billboards, tv and music videos.



Responsibilities of a stylist:
Sucess to a being a good stylist-keep all receipts and an invoice book to keep track of all your finances.

• Keep a book of contacts including stockists, photographers, make up and hair artists, locations, and models.
• Keep a list of colours, cost and names of the items used as using the wrong details can be disastrous.
• A research/source book is always useful.
• An ability to care for garments.

OBSERVE- what does and doesnt work on different body types.

LISTEN- target market-what excites, where they shop.

• Experiment but make it accesible. Also have a good personal style and don't be too eccentric.
• always have a goodie bag with safety pins, hair grips, bull dog clips, needle and thread EVERYTHING!!!in case of emergencys.

Editorial Styling

• Fashion editor and team.
• It's essential to: know what's comming- go to launches, events, trade shows, designer shows.
• At these events the team will be looking for: strong trends that can also be accesible to the public., looking at individual people on the street as this is wear the trends are really born and interpreted, ideas for fashion stories, hair and make up trends.
• It's good to keep a running order at the shows of items that you like and names.
• A stylist should show from various sources what is available to the reader and how you can mix it up.

Newspaper styling

• similar to editorial- has more of a celebrity angle to it, present look, name and shame.

Show Styling

• Must be organised
• Work with the show producer.
• Need an IMPACT -25min show takes months of preperation.

For all types of styling you need energy, hardwork and to be enthusiastic.

I think editorial styling like magazines or show styling sounds amazing. I've also been thinking that film or tv styling would be fun as well.

Glamping it up at Dsquared!

That's fashion lingo for glamorous camping if you didn't know!!Which is exactly what was going on at the Dsquared s/s2010 show, one of my faves!!! Clothes for a girl who still wants to look good whilst roughing it?Sounds like my type of thing!!!!
I've put the video from style.com below.
http://
All about that studded rucksack and the trucker caps!!

Louis Vuitton loving!

I know the videos a few years old but how hot is the Louis Vuitton interior on Britney's pink hummer in her Do something video??????!!!!!!!!!AMAZING!!!

Styling lessons and The September Issue

Recently in our lessons we've been looking at styling, the different types of styling (editorial or commercial everyone?) ,responsibilities that go with being a stylist, what makes a good stylist and thinking about what makes a good photgraph too.
I thought this would be the perfect oppotunity to watch The September Issue- its a documentary on producing the American Vogue september issue and is a really interesting insight into the way in which the magazine works as a whole but particularly the styling element of the magazine. I've put a clip below but the whole thing is deffo worth a look.
http://

Jimmy Choo for H&M

The new Jimmy Choo for H&M collection hits stores on 14th November. Here's a sneaky look at the new collection!Loing the zebra clutch!!!
http://

Mini fashion shoot

We had to do in pairs or small groups a little fashion shoot based on a theme, in about half a day. Sarah gave us a few themes 50s 60s 80s or could make our own up. Amy and I looked at the 50s housewives and how its so different to now. WE thought about the wag look for it, and how often is the case now that women dont do the traditional cleaning and cooking but men have alot of input in that as well.

It was just abit of fun to get us into the styling part of our course, but I think everyone really went for it and the pictures from everyone were really good.!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

Asos £95

Weekly Fashion Buy

How can you not fall in love with this super cute hat from Topshop(£22)!!!It'l be keeping me all warm and cosy for those winter months!

Juicy Couture fall 09 campaign

AMAAZIIINNNGG!!

Hello Kitty for Mac

http://We used this hello kitty for mac video that Amelia found for our group project as inspiration because it fits really well with our theme and I love it so much I just had to upload it. Love love love her hair!!!

Meet me half way

Love this!!


http://

Promoters presentation

We had our promoters presentation yesterday to explain our ideas on the customer profile, trends, colours, materials and theme/concept to the designers. I was in charge of the theme/concept board which is based on the two themes of grunge and romance-reflecting the idea of falling in love, being in love and falling out of love.

Ive put my mood board below. We had a few technical difficulties at first with the computor as we were showing our boards on the screen. But it seemed to go quite well and the tutors thought that it was professional, we knew what we were talking about and they liked our idea.!!

Now the designers have got to do their 100 designs(eeeek) but im really looking forward to seeing how they interpret the concept and brief into a jacket.!!

New Year new Start

After a super looong summer hols, we're all back and have just had our first week, and it's going to be hectic!!eekkkk!!
This term focuses on our jacket project working with the designers, in groups of 5 to produce a jacket, which could also be used in a live project!.My group consists of me, sophie and Melissa (promotion) and then Ameilia and Tanya (design). I'm thinking this is going to be a good group to work with, and develop a really succesful idea.
OUr brief "Traces" means basically looking back at memories, and we have to have a theme to go with that. At our first group meeting last week, we decided on either bad or good memories using lots of dark/grungey styles for dark or a really romantic approach for the good memories. I personally am more set on the dark memories, I think this could really be developed futher and have a really succesful outcome.

In a couple of weeks we as promoters have to present boards on the theme, colours and fabric and customer profile to the designers as you would in industry so they can get designing.
So far Ive just been pulling out images that can be used for the theme board which is the one im producing. I think Im going to need to talk to Jo about the layout of my board though as this is something I found quite difficult and need to improve on.

Aside from this we also have our learning agreement, trend book, and business plan to do!!soooo much work, but i'm realy looking forward to this year!!
On a final note, we got our feedback sheets for our placement reports today and I got 70% for mine. So I was really happy with that and will also try and keep my mind open to other possible careers in the fashion industry like Sarah mentioned!

Weekly Fashion Buy

I know theyve been around for a while now but im still loving the checked shirt look!I really want to get this Topshop one to wear with studded or pvc leggings and some buckled heels for this winter. I think Il get it in a size bigger so I can wear it loose and oversized!perfect for that rock star girlfriend feel!! (£28)

Weekly Fashion Buy

I've been on the look out for flat shoes recently since i seem to wear mine out super quickly and these FredPerry suade ones caught my eye. At £80 from asos.com they are in the more expensive price brackett but for some good quality shoes that will go with anything its worth it

Weekly Fashion Buy

This season its ALL about the jacket. In particular blazers(esp slouchy ones), trophy jackets and shoulders!! So it was super hard this week to choose what type of jacket to put on here!

Topshop in particular have came up trumps as always with a wide variety of on trend and wearable jackets. Check out the website for their sequin blazers (sequins are also bang on trend) and cute trophy jackets among others.

In the end I chose this grey, slouchy blazer thinking that the style and shape are very on trend at the moment and how versatile it is. Wear it in the day with leggings and skinnies or by night to add a casual quirky twist to that little party dress!! Perfecto!!

Premium slouchy blazer £65 at Topshop!

BHS Evaluation

I think this has been a really worthwhile experience to do. I t was alot of hard work but it made me realise how stressful and demanding it would be to work as a buyer.
It was definitely beneficial to see it in practise and interesting to learn about all the different tasks involved.
Befoe I did either of these two work placements (bhs and women&home), I really didn't know whether I wanted to be a buyer or a stylist, but one of the main things I realised was that I prefered styling/working at a magazine. I think it has something to do with the factthat they gave me more independance at Women and Home to ust get on with all the little jobs etc, and also partly because it's slightly more creative in a way then buying.
However if it wasn't possible for me to get a job in styling I would definitely consider going into buying still as a career. I feel it would be more satisfactory if I was in an actual position as a buyer therefore having more independance and not doing all the mundane boring jobs (which i realised i was doing at BHS)
Also if i worked as a buyer somewhere I was particularly interested int he clothes e.g. river island/asos it would be more apealing to me.

Anyway, Im extremely pleased that I had both these experiences and had the contacts to get them for me. Definitely worthwhile and mostly enjoyable!

Day 10 in the fashion World BHS

So my final day today. I have to say I'm looking forward to the lie ins.
It was quite an undemanding day today luckily.
First off was taking some pictures of more competitors samples, saving onto the computer and printing off for Santosh.

Stapling Cads to boards.
Printing Cads out for Laura and cutting out.

Finaly helping Santosh get ready for a meeting next week by pulling out loads and loads of samples and racking them up for her in the right month, age and gender with the apropriate board underneath each rack.

I got to go early today but just before I went Santosh called me over in front of all the team to say thankyou and give me a huge bag of clothes samples, and a topshop voucher to say thankyou!!!So now shopping time!!!!

Day 9 in the fashion world BHS

It was more Xcell spreadsheets this morning. Checking that for all the different styles contracts had been drawn up between BHS and the company who design the garments. Contracts are normally drawn up by the merchandisers. Normally they are meant to be kept on up to date however with alot of new members of staff recently joining the team it's fallen behind abit. So i just had to go through ckeck which ones there were contracts for and then highlight any ones which did not have them so that Denise knew these had to be done.

The main part of my day was helping Jess and Fatos with the essentials stuff.
Jess asked me to throw out all the a/w o8 samples from the cupboard(which i did) and to then move all the s/s 09 samples from one cupboard into the one i just cleared.
So i'd done all this like Jess asked me to when Fatos came up and decided that she wanted all the s/s stuff back in the original cupboard so all the a/w09 stuff could go where I'd just moved the s/s stuff to!!!AGH!
So had to move it all back to where it had originally been!!!(hope this makes sense)

By now i was preety hungry, so popped out for a bite to eat before comming back to an afternoon of moving all the a/w09 essentials into the cupboard from the racks. Sorting it into boxes of BTS girls/boys, underwear girls/boys, Hosiery girls/boys and hosiery baby.

I suppose it was worth doing as the cupboard is all nice and organised now thanks to moi!!

Last task of the afternoon=sooooo much fun!! I got to use the till!eeeek i loved it!
To make sure that the barcodes match what is written on the line details as the correct selling price, everything has to be scanned in and price on till compared to the line detail.
So downstairs I went with my box of underwear to scan everything in, note down the prices and compare ont he line detail back upstairs.
Luckily everything had been done correctly.

Day 8 in the fashion world BHS

First off I had to redo the may photo as it was slightly blurry. Then Santos wanted me to photograph what we had fromt he August September goldseals anyway.

After this i was just helping Emma to chuck out even more samples, and got to take some home for a little girl I know.(apparently Pepper Pig is what you should be seen in when your 4 years old!)
Santosh needed loads of large copies of the CADS printed off to go on her boards which meant lots of runing up and down the stairs to the colour printer. I then helped her place these on the boards, and typed up some titles for her to go with them.

The only other thing left to do was to help Fatos with her underwear boards. She just needed to present the BTS (back to school) packaging for hosiery and underwear, and just needed a bit of help laying it out.

Oh and saw THE cutest grey and pink all in one pyjama today!Deff be getting that when it hits the stores next season!!

Day 7 in the fashion world BHS

Obviously there are loads and loads and loads of garments comming in for every season and so Santosh needs to know which month all the garments went into the shops, and the easiest way to do this is to photograph them with a sign.
Soooo i was given a list by emma with the style number of all the garments on for May june and July which I had to pull out the goldseals of all these pyjamas, grid them up, put the right month sign with them and then photograph them. These were then uploaded onto a computer file ready for Santosh when she needs them.
Not all the August and September goldseals have come in or been approved yet, so for the time being i just found the ones which were available and racked them up ready to be photographed.

Bhs does alot of liscensed character pyjamas so they create a grid on Xcell with the year (at the moment its 2009/10) with infomation about the character e.g. Doctor Who andf then film realease, tv release, dvds, books, characters . This info is normally found in character fact sheets that the design company sends over.
I think the main reason for this is just to know when would be the best time to release a certain character pyjama, when there's going to be the most publicity for it and therefore going to sell best.

Finaly I had to find my way down to the "secret cupboard" and find the fancy dress outfits which needed sending back to one of the companies. I'm sure when i was younger the dressing up outfits weren't as cool as this. Now you can get super cute pumpkin ones and actual donkeys with the head on them and everything!!!

Day 6 in the fashion world BHS

Now that I've got my diary back with all my notes in (i left it in the office!) I can finish writing my BHS adventure on here.
Well my main tasks all day today were xcell spreadsheets.
To keep on top of the competition Bhs keep a record on xcell of the other shops items and prices. Some one from the buying team will go round the main shops e.g. Marks and Spencer, Asda, Tesco, Adams etc with a notepad and note down the prices and products that are available in the shops. At the moment Back to school is a main part of their products so I had to fill in the products from the shops and the prices that they are selling them at.
Beacuse alot of products are in packs e.g. a 3pack plain vest set., you have to divide the pack price by the number of items in the pack to find out the final price. This is because M & S may to a 5 pack plain vest but BHS may do a 3 pack version so you need to now the individual price to compare properly.
Once this is all recorded the cheapest price on each type of product is highlighted.


My next Xcell task was for Fatos. She needed me to go through the folder fall of underwear CADS and tick them off on the line details.
This was so she knew which ones were missing and needed to be printed off.

Apart from this which took most of the day, I had a few little errands to run such as finishing off the colour charts, and running things to the postroom.

Weekly Fashion Buy

This week im loving this cute seqiun parrot jumper.It's by Markus Lupfer at Topshop and costs £85.

Perfect for those chilly winter days!

Day 5 in the fashion world BHS

Today was really interesting. I got to go to a fit meeting that Laura and Delia were having.

In this they have a model whos the size of a 13 year old(even though shes in her 20s!). She tries on the samples so that Laura can see the fit and colours of them and decide what she wants to change if anything.

There were a pair of smiley face pyjamas where the factory had made the hodded top and the trousers in slightly different shades of blue. When the two items were worn together the difference was abvious even though it was only a shade between them.

Unfortunatly a whole roll of the top fabric had been made so that couldn't be changed because of the cost factor, and this happened to be the material that Laura had wanted to change. In the end she had to decide to change the colour of the bottoms as only a sample of this fabric had been made, therefore easier to change!!



On a snooopy shorts and tshirt set, it was decided that a thicker waistband would look better(thicker waistbands look more modern now), the zig zag stitching down the side of the shorts and top were made longer so that it would stand out more, and a little bit of material was put into the mid hips on the shorts so that they were looser.



When the model had the garments on both laura and delia would ask her how they felt to wear, were they comfortable, did the underwiring stick in in the case of the bra?



With the bra they had both plastic and metal wires. I think the plastic were cheaper so it had been propsed that this is what was used in the bra, and infact the model agreed that the plastic was actualy comfier and would be better to use.



With the knickers both Laura and delia liked the fit of them but thought maybe to just bring them up a tiny bit at the back.



I think one if the main issues was a vest top pyjama set. It was white and had a huge smiley face print on the front of it. It also had a faux placket down the front as well, but was thoght that because it was a fake it made the garment look cheap. However it would be hard to put an actual placket in as a shelf was going into the top and you would have to get into the shelf to achieve this. This would then defeat the point of the shelf.



This is when Delia is really helpful as she knows the technical side to the garments as well and can therefore say whether something would be possible.

I got to have my say in this as well and we all said that having the placket breaks the print up therefore giving the design an edge and making it look older. However the placket didn't look that amazing.

In the end Laura decided she needed to see the top both with and without the placket.

The top with the placket was going to have the shelf made seperately, so that both parts could be put on.



A few garments needed the seams moving forward on the shoulders and an extra bit of fabric was going to be added on the turn up of a sleeve so that when stitched back it didnt stick out.





It was great getting to see all this, how they come to the design descisions and the factors involved in it.



This took up the morning. I also had to throw out loads of samples that weren't needed anymore ready for the sample sales.



Produce colour charts for Fatosh



Take photos of other competitions packaging, it was marks and spencer today.

Bigging up Barbie

Check out these super cute pauls Boutique loves Barbie bags. They're part of the celebrations for Barbie's 50th anniversary. My fave is probably the zebra print one.

Available at asos.com, this is only a selection of the bags available. They are abit out of my poor student price range at £80 each so i may just have to lust after them for now!(until my loan comes through!)

Style bubble

Ive just discovered this fashion blog through elle magazine and its amazing.
Created by susanaa lau aka susie bubble she basically just blogs about all up and comming fashion things, great for keeping updated on what's going on out there.
http://stylebubble.typepad.com/style_bubble/

Weekly Fashion Buy

I am sooo in love with anna lou of london at the mo! She's an accessories designer doing loads of super cute and sparkly plasctic jewllery like slogan necklaces with billionaire or lady on them and lots of lil cartoon pendants.

This plastic fantastic hair clip is my fave this week. Super cute and only £15!!

Fashion Disaster

I would like to take the time to remind everyone that tights and sandals is stupid, tights and between the toe flip flops is even worse!!Especially the german girl on the tube today wearing silver/grey tights with her flip flops!!
I dont care if you've just bought said flip flops in accessorize, you look like a wierdo!!

The Capsac

Hmm not too sure about this new fashion item!A bumbag in a hat?Kinda like it, looks kinda cute but I dont really see how its going to be any more useful then a normal hat and tbh I think it'l just make you look big headed!

Some things are way to fashion 4 even me!!

Day 4 in the fashion world BHS

Remember yesterday i said i felt bad about not being to help emma out?well today i found out what she needed help with and wish i hadn't felt bad! Emma has loads of samples that she needs to sort out but everything is all ove rthe place and there's no room in the cupboards.

First off was chucking out all the 07 and s/s08 nightwear to make some room in the cupboard for the goldseal samples.

Day 3 in the fashion world BHS

I've been looking forward to today since this time last week when i found out my aunt was going to be in the office today. (She works for a company that designs for BHS and was in for a meeting) But i haven't seen her for about 4 yrs since i was 15!!!!So it was great to get to see her again even though it was only brief.
Then todays task was carrying on witht he CAD picture task from yesterday. I had to get out literally millions of these pictures in their colour coded groups. Well that took all morning, i was ment to be sharing it with mia but she had loads of urgent work to do so I had to do it on my own.
Anyway in the afternoon i had to lay them out on boards in paper squares depending on whether they were going to be in all stores, top stores or only selected stores. E.g. the more mainstream designs are in all stores because they're more comercial and are therefore going to sell well everywhere.
But all the squares i needed weren't printed out when i needed them so i had to wait for those, then we had been told to do all boys and girls on one board but it was really squashed so that was all moed and if that wasnt bad enough prints hadn't been printed off and then had seemed to of been coded wrong or mixed up.!!!!AGH!!!
Oh and of course it all had to be urgently done for a 10.00 meeting tomorrow and it was about 5.00 at this point.!

Plus Emma really needed me to help her but i couldnt beacuse i was needed to do these boards, so i felt realy bad about that!

Day 2 in the fashion world BHS

All morning was spent filing these samples that i started yesterday-took forever!
After this i was quite glad to go onto a less complicated task, doing colour sheets for one of the departments. They needed all the girls and boys s/s10 colours on a colour grid, which basically ment that I was cutting lil bits of the right colour fabrics out and sticking them to a grid.

For the underwear I also ahd to sort large Cad sheets, using an excell document with all their details on i had to search for the design style code, write that on the sheet, match it with any fabric samples that were there, and then file those away.

Quite an easy day today, my last task was just photocopying loads of CAD pics of the garments ready for cutting out and sticking on boards tomorrow.

Day in the fashion world 1 BHS

so today was my first day in the head office at BHS with the kidsnightwear and essential wear buyers!!
After a quick inductionfrom hr i was handed over to Santosh whos head of buying in this department. She quickly went through what they do as buyers, the brands which are at BHS: Tammy, Duck and Dodge, Sweet millie, bambini and introduced me to the team and the merchandising team.
I've already realised that this placement is going to be more hectic then my Women and Home one as i was given 4 completely different tasks in the first day with lots of multitasking-eek!!

Task 1: this was easy actualy.It was just labeling up the nightwear samples for different sections-fastest sellers,new reactions and slowest.

Task 2 :was going into the cupboard to find more samples matching up the style code on the sheet and the swing tag. These were needed for a meeting at 1.30, and even though they were ment to all be there, they seemed to be in different sections and over the department.
Anyways, once emma and i had found them they had to be hung up on the racks in season.

Task 3: sooooooooo boring!!! Basically loads of samples come in with the fabric, prints, colour samples etc and these are all filed into season, gender and supplier e.g. Aykroyds, fielding.
But of course loads had been taken out of the a/w folders and not put back in and s/s10 hadnt been even started.
So the rest of the day was preety much spent firstly filing the a/w back into the folders, then printing off labels for all the new samples, sticking them on folders and then putting the samples in.(you have to look at the style code to know where they go)
Sounds like im being a drama queen but it took forever because we ran out of folders so i had to swap other samples over and there were LOADS!Oh and i have to finish it tomorrow!The joys of being a work experience girl.

Task 3/4:i multitasked 3 with this one. The buying and merchandising team were having their weekly meeting on last weeks weaknesses and strengths so I got to sit in on this. Quite alot of it went over my head i have to admit but it was interesting to see how tghey worked together, what sort of styles were popular, and how they thought about what to spend the'r money on.
BTW i dont think mr men for older boys was a very good idea!

oh and finaly i had to help santosh sort dressing gowns into month gender and age ready for a meeting tomorrow.
Think i left the office at 5.30 and got home at 7!!!!im soooo exhausted!!think il just be a student for life!!!

Maybelline mascara

I have to do a really quick shout out to 1. Maybelline mascaras in general beacause they're so amazing, but 2. their XXL pro extensions mascara.
I bought it today when my normall Maybelline mascara run out and I am impressed!(Which is something because im normally very hard to please with mascaras!)
Its made my lashes soooo long, I actually love it!!!Plus its only £8.50 i think!!Bargain!

Kidada for Disney Couture

I love the Disney Couture jewllery brand and whilst on the asos website looking for new bits i came across the new Kidada for Disney Couture range which is all Pocahontas themed.

Its gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous like the rest of the jewllery so i've included my fave pieces on here!

Red bracelet £32.50 also available in blue.

Gold plated bracelet £52.50

Ring £32.50

Coco before Chanel trailer

Now that i've worked out this loading video malarky(finaly!) I can upload the trailor to the Coco before Chanel film i mentioned before!
http://

I Gotta Feeling

I had to include the new Black eyed peas vid on here which im loving!I think the stylings really cute and Fergies new hair colour=lush!!im very tempted to dye mine the same!!


http://

Coco before Chanel

Really want to go and see this film, its following the life of the legendary coco chanel staring audrey tatou! I tried to put the trailor on here but it didnt want to work so ive just pasted int he link and some pictures. I think it comes out on the 31st july so tomorrow and looks beautiful in the trailor. Il keep you posted on what it's like once i've seen it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvDFPjx-uBU

Weekly Fashion Buy

This week i was torn between 2 amazing Asos.com jumpsuits. So ive had to put them both up!

The first is this preety floral one for £45. I love how it is quite a loud and girlie pattern but the clean shape of the jumpsuit stops it looking too fussy and gives it an everyday street look.

Like in the picture I'd team it with minimal accessories, in pale gold if i included any, and definitely high heels to stop it lookin frumpy!!Loving the co-ordinating pale pink ones here!

This black sequin one is my second hot buy this week, isn't it amaaaaazing!!I love the sequins, makes it look very glam and rock chick. This one is £40 from asos.com. Definitely a great alternative to wear out in the evening instead of skirts and dresses, team with black heels and clutch bag and again minimal accesories i feel!!

Weekly Fashion Buy

My top fashion buy this week has to be these black lace up ankle boots. Lace up boots are big fashion news for autumn and these Topshop ones fit the bill perfectly. Loving the patent and open toe, team with opague tights and dress or skirt for a cute autumn winter look!

Day 5 in the fashion world

Today was my last day at women and home which i was quite upset about actualy.

But it was a preety full on day so there was no time to feel depressed. The day began in the usural ringing up prs for item sizes and prices, sending stuff back to them as well.

However the most important part of today was the editors run through of the solutions fashion. Although i wasn't directly involved in this, i was allowed to sit in on it. Angela went through all the outfits saying why they'd chosen them etc as i explained in yesterdays blog.

Preety much everything was approved apart from some shoes, there were 3 pairs of Jones shoes and variety is needed in the article.

Angela managed to call in two pairs of possible shoes that could be used to replace these.

Sunglasses was the other thing that was needed to complete one of the outfits. Kaleigh-ann sent me off to select a variety of pairs for her to refine down so Angela could make a final descision.

The brief was black and expensive looking. Preety easy!I picked out several styles that I thought would be appropriate, focussing on glamorous looking pairs.

Kaleigh-ann then selected these down by thinking about what the reader would wear-nothing too quirky, and what would go with the outfits e.g ones with abit of gold would reflect the colour scheme in the gold jewllerry of the outfit.

In the end it all came down to the slightly grey oversized Balenciagas!(my personal faves!!)



Once everything was in the fashion cupboard(aka Rosie's personal office for the week), Kaleigh ann and i packeged and labeled everything up into clothes bags ready for collection. The clothes had to be hung on hangers in the exact jacket top bottoms combination so Rob the photographer knew how they were meant to be pictured.





Evaluation on the week: This week has really given me an insight into the world of fashion magazines. Before I did this placement I had a rough idea of what was involved in this industry but nothing as detailed as ive learnt now.
Although I obviously didn't do any styling or shoots or anything which is what i eventually aspire to do I got a feel what it would be like to start at the bottom of the ladder-phoning up the prs and sorting the cupboard out!!Which i actualy really enjoyed, it made me feel very organised and important when prs phoned up and knew my name!!
Being around the other fashion staff when they were going through things also meant that i wasable to get a slight insight into what they do and the other aspects of the job such as model castings, run throughs, the daily problems of styling a shoot.
Both Angela and Kaleigh-ann were really helpful in explaining why things were done certain whys, the process of a story or article from selecting the garments down to shooting them and getting them ready for the magazine.

Because women and home is a monthly magazine they're working about 2/3 months in adavance of the current fashion so at some point I want to do a placement at a weekly fashion magazine as they work much closer to the current season and see how that differs.

Day 4 in the fashion world

Today was mainly a phone day, relaxed but a little bit frustrating at times! For the solutions page, and some of the main shoot, prices were needed so Kaleigh-ann could type them up ready to go in to the magazine. So between us we phoned up all the relevant pr companys and spent the day describing the items tot hemto get the prices.Slightly tedious but it has to be done!

Aside from this the odd spare minute was spent sorting out the jewllerry shelf into a labeled system so we have SOME idea where that Accesorize bangle might be in the sea of all the other accesories!
The usural sending items back.-jewllery today, and i was toldto wrap them up ALOT so asnotto break anything like the last girl did!!
Ringing up Kurt Geiger for these shoes we requested last week,which haven'tcome, we urgently need for tomorrow and we still can't get through to them!GRRRRR!
Tomorrow is my last day :( and it'salso theeditors runthrough of the solutions page outfits,which she will thenapprove orask to be changed. Kaleigh-ann kindly explainedtometoday how the run through works as we won'tbe present tomorrow when it happens.Normally whoevere'sstyled it would be there with the editor,however Emma is away tomorrow so it will be Angela doing it. She takes the Editor through each outfit bit by bit, saying where the garments are from and why they've been put with that bodytype.For example narrow shoulders equals a top which has shoulder pads and detailing on the shoulders to widen them out. The outfits must alsocomply witht hemain fashion shoot so this isillustrated as wellusing the shoot photos.If the outfits are approved they will then be bagged up and sent to the photographer who will then photgraph them on clear manequins ready to goin the magazine!

p.s.found out todaythat ive got a 2week placement at BHS head office comming up with the childrensnightwear buyer!!eeeeeeeekkkk!!!

Day 3 in the fashion world

After getting drenched in the pouring rain this morning i made it in to the office to make a start on some reader inquiries. Basically they can't find an item of clothing that's been featured on the web site so they email in with a description of what said item looks like etc, and we have to phone up the PR to see whether it's gone into production yet, sold out or where it's available.
Once this was done Kaleigh-ann and i decided we really needed to sort one shelving unit. Untill about 2.00 was spent sorting it into sections-bags, tights, hats, belts, and find lots of items that we needed to send back, including the missing PRINGLE bag!!!yeeeeeeyy!!!!!!!!!!
We also had some models in today for castings. This was actualy really interesting,Andrea was really good at explaining to me what type of models they look for for the magazine. As it's aimed for over 35s the models have to have a more mature look, preferably with longer hair as this is more versatile. For the reader fashion articles she aims to have some one in their 30s, 40s, 50s and preferably 60s if possible and of different body types show different clothes examples can be shown. Infact neither of the models who came in where suitable for the magazine's "look", but it was really interesting to see how they cast them.
Once i'd tidied the rest of the cupboard up and packaged up the items to go back i was off home early ready for hopefully a less tiring weekend!!

Day 2 in the fashion world

So it was my second day at women and home today and i was given abit more responsibility then yesterday due to the fact the it wa sonly me and Kayleigh-ann in the office.
I was basically in charge of the fashion cupboard. I mainly had to search for all these different items that PR companies had emialed in and asked for and then send them off to them, either by shuttle or by running down to the post room with them for pick up. Now this my seem easy but when your on your hands and knees searching through about 30 bags stuffed with jewlerry to find this one ring that just HAS to go back, and have hangers and bags falling on your head not so simple!!
Obviously there's stuff which you search for for ages and can never find-like a Pringle handbag(eeeek) or a dress which when you phone up the head office you're told actually has gone back, they just didn't cross it off properly!!!!!!!
This carried on most of the day, occasionally i had to answer phone calls from PR wanting to know if we'd finished with a certain item and could we send that back. Often they were sending a bike right then to pick it up so there was a mad rush to find them, package them up and get them down tot he post room.
My last couple of tasks for the day was 1. i had to call up the bike company that we use, and order for them to come up to the fashion cupboard and collect a package from me to be sent back to Clarks PR.
And finally i had to call in black patent high pointed court shoes for an article on size solutions.( the originall pair had already been used in a previous shoot on the magazine so could not be featured twice in one issue)
4.00-home time to rest my tired feet ready for 6.30 tomorrow!!

Loving the leggings

Right anyone who knows me knows that i absolutely adore leggings, as i mentioned in an earlier blog-i think its the 90s child in me.
And ive recently noticed how many different and exciting new leggings there are around at the moment!They're a wardrobe staple still, fun, fashionable and i think actually quite flattering as when worn with the right top and shoes. Because they're so skin tight they dont have loads of excess material flapping around your legs which can infact make your legs look bigger then they actualy are!Anyway that's my personal opinion on the matter, and getting back to the point of this blog ive compiled together some of my favorite leggings out there at the moment. Ive mainly stuck to cheaper options from the high street as none of us have money to texactly throw around at the moment with this recession (i think it has come at a most unreasonable time with all this amazing fashion i want to spend my money on and cant!:( )
With a few of them i've thought about the different options that you could pair the with.so enjoy!

Work placement

So today was my first day in the world of magazines, working in the fashion department at Women and Home magazine!

After a 6.30 wake up call(not nice!) i arrived at the ipg building at about 9.40. First off i was shown around the office-the kitchen, art departent etc etc before being taken into the fashion cuboard!! Basically there's one other placement girl whos there for 6 months and is my boss for this week, and gets to tell me what to do!

In total i think theres about 5 people on the fashion team so its rather small.

Women and home have just shot their october and November fashion storys in new york so I got to take alook at the pictures for that, they'rre just coming up witht the outfits for the shape soulutions page which have to tie in roughly with the main stories to give the magazine an overall "look".

My first task was to go through all the samples that companies have sent in that have been used already put them in bags, look up the shop/pr company adress, label up the bags, check the items off in the sample folders, and then note down the adress as well for the delivery man. Which surprisingly can take quite a long time.

Whilst this was going on we had big delivery of items from loads of different companies who the magazine have either called things in from or they've sent them because they want to get them in the magazine. So these needed hanging up ready for the fashion editor to approve.(have to say i was very tempted to accidently walk off with a pair of Cavella studded heels)

Aside from the October issue the tea are also working on the christmas issue which is the biggest issue for them so there's lots of workwear and glitzy sequin items comming in at the moment!!!

The rest of the day included sending more samples back and trying to ignore pr companies calls wanting back a dress which hasnt been shot yet!!!And trying to listen in to the Marie Claire fashion department conversations who are just next door. There was definitely something about Keira Knightly's style being discussed!!

As the cupbard had a big tidy up yesterday there wasnt much to do today and i was allowed to go early, however with two of the main fashion team away tomorrow ive been promised it will be really busy and manic!

First year Evaluation

So the first year is over!!we've handed in our final cdp sports project, buying and merchandising work and now its just looking onto next year-exciting!!!
Looking back on the first year, i have realy enjoyed being here and learning new skills in mainly pattern cutting and making. Having said this i found it quite hard to motivate myself in this projects as i dont particularly enjoy these two sections or the sketchbook work. I found the sketchbook the most tiresome to do to be honest, not knowing really how i should set it out as well so that it looked good and professional. However, im glad that i had to do all this because 1. learning skills lke pattern cutting cutting and knowing how to sew different garments and Lectra is a great knowledge to have-even if im not very good at it!! and 2. when i first started this course i had every intention of being a fashion designer as my career, doing aleval textiles i didnt realise just how stressful and high paced it is and thought id really enjoy this as a career. So its made me realise that what i really like is actualy the promotional side of fashion which i hadnt really thought that much about before hand. Styling in particular is one of my favorite things to do, I loved putting outfits together for the magazine spread that i did, and am hoping to work at a magazine for my work experience which should be really good and worthwhile.
It was interesting to look into the buying and merchandising part of the course, we only really just touched on it but i enjoyed it and think it will be good to look into this in more depth next year.
We had our tutorials for what we wanted to do next year on monday. Sarah explained what the promotion course would involve and it sounds absolutely amazing!!!
First you work with the designers who are designing a jacket, then there'sphotoshoots, styling, shop reports, magazine spreads, visual merchandidng, looking into the trends, seeing whats on the street!!Basically everything that i love doing!!! I think il do much better in this year as its what i really enjoy and think il be very motivated to do it!!!
What i want to achieve next year-basically i want to reaaly improve all my skills in fashion promotion. And produce some really amazing work-perticularly doin the photoshoots and magazine spreads!!!!The photoshoots and styling should be the best bit for me, i cant wait to start finding a photographer, model sorting out the hair, make up and total look of it!to get abit of practise i may domy own one over the summer holidays!
onwards and upwards!!!

Over and out

sooo its handing in day 2moz for this blog!!
ive really enjoyed having a go at this and finding lots of inspirational bits and bobs to put on it!!!
i dont think ive gt that much on here of the actual course work, i just seem to prefer to blog other fashion things, so maybe thats something i could have improved on!!!

anyway this is goodbye for now and may see you next year!!!!xxxxxx

Fashion drawings

Thinking about fashion illustration i found these on the topshop website!!

Plans for next week

Next week was meant to be out New York trip but unfortunately it was cancelled last term(tres upsetting- i saw my mates who do BA fashion and they said it was amazing-barbie everywhere and buying manalo Blanik shoes!!!what else does a girl need?)
So next week is week off/studio time!
Im planing on doing loads on my sketch book because I dont really like it and havent done anything on it recently, and getting on with this buying and merchandising magazine outfit layout!which i love!!so should be quite good!!
also going to try and go on a lil road trip to fabric land!!and see what's in store!!!

We had design tutorials with azz the other day and she explained whta we should be doing-looking at fashion illustrations, the boards we have to do etc.So im going to make use of the library for once in my life and see if there's anything of use in there!

Toile Review

Today we had our toile reviews for our final sports vs fashion project! The making of mine went quite well actualy and i didnt need to ask anything about the construction which i was quite impressed with myself about!!Only thing was when i was on the over locker and i cut into the garment abit!!luckily this is only the toile-imagine if it had been the actualy thing!!Think i could have literally collapsed and died!!!
Initially i wasnt nervous at all about this, but then everyone started getting all panicky about it on the thursday when i came in to finish mine, so by the time i got to mine today i was tres tre sscared and had all butterflies in my stomach!!!
Anyways i went in with the lovely jen who had offered to model for me(thanks for waiting around jen ;) ), and what was i nervous for?!!Honestly, i always get worked up for nothing!!
Basically I have to make a few changes:

• Make it longer in the body-(it was abit risque on jen)
• No zip
• Take the drape over the bit of the top in more so its more fitted
• Take the band on the top in so more fitted
• And think about the fabric-I was originally going to make the catsuit bit in grey jersey and the drape top in lycra but the tutors said it would be better to do it the other way round and maybe look into using a pattern on the catsuit with a plain top!! They all really liked the striped material id used for the toile although I thought it looked abit like a pajama onesie!!oh well!!

So im going to make these little changes and go and source out the fabrics and voila!!I can start making!!eeeek!!

Shopping spree in River Island anyone??