LFW SS 09

London Fashion Week is upon us, and this year they are celebrating their 25th anniversary, which makes it feel extra special. And to add to the excitement I have the privilege of helping out www.fashion156.com with their exhibition space. I sit here answering questions pretending I work for them, when in reality I saw a post on Facebook last night from someone I interned with at Asos last year saying that they needed help... at 10.45pm may I add! So I'm not the most knowledgeable exhibitor but I spent the morning researching pretty much everything I needed to know, and to be honest it hasn't been too busy so I've been fine. But 10.45pm I'd say is pretty damn last minute! When I saw the post of course I e-mailed the contact immediately and luckily must have been the first or only willing person to agree to something so last minute! But I'm here, and its been great so far. I regrettably didn't put much thought into my outfit for today so I feel like an absolute disgrace next to everyone else! But tomorrow will be a different story! Not that I'll ever match these eccentric fashionistas though. I've seen quite a few designers, TV presenters and magazine editors already, so it's been a good day so far! My aim for tomorrow is to get photos! I've been told they'll try and get me into a show so fingers crossed for that!

Here are some street style photos taken by the photography intern this morning...

Some of my own observations have been that the longer length skirt is well and truely emerging, with many daring to style a full length, ankle swinging skirt with studded waistcoats, and anything else 'in' at the moment. Black is obviously the dominant colour here as always, and studs, PVC/leather and doc martins are still very much dominant.

Here are a few photos I took on my Blackberry. I forgot my camera yesterday and again today so the fuzzy phone ones will have to do!

2 months at Lulu Guinness

So Lulu Guinness... I interned with them for two months and it was thoroughly enjoyable. Not only is it an exciting company to work for, it is an amazingly friendly and welcoming company. Everyone made me feel at home from the very start, always willing to help me out and also very willing to give me responsibility. I was initially doing a one month placement, but they asked me to stay longer and paid for my travel for the second month - so I got more experience and they got more help! Win win. As the weeks went by, the work load and responsibilities went up, and I loved every second of it. Some of the things I got up to are... helping out on the product shoot, helping out at the press day (see photos below), creating the look book for wholesale, mock-ups of the homepage and newsletters, e-mailers, sales figures etc. I got to experience a wide range of things which I'm very grateful for. I even took over (or attempted anyway) the role of Lulu's and the director's PA for two weeks. I attended the bonding sessions that take place with every quarterly meeting. The task this time was to create a mock-up of a new collectable bag that was to represent what is happening with Lulu Guinness at the moment, and like her extraordinary singing bird cage bag, it had to automated. My team created a dressing table with flashing LCD lights... and we created it with whatever we could find in the half an hour we were given at Portobello Market! ...with £20! We did it though... check out our fabulous creation. (More photos to follow)

The press day



I set this out...

Hairspiration

This week I started thinking about the graduation ball thats quickly creeping up on us. I started looking at dresses online but didn't find anything good enough. I'm hoping to get a dress that no one else will have so don't ask why I looked on ASOS, but after trawling through 35 pages of evening dresses, nothing was good enough. I really wasn't impressed. So instead I decided to look for hairstyles and colour instead. My hair is blonde - so its pretty dry, and its really not the thickest hair in the world so I get annoyed with it easily, and get jealous of other people's hair quite often!! Here are the celebs I have hair envy of the most. 

 

I'd love to be able to wash my hair and it fall like this. It's my dream!! Because her hairs fine it makes it seem ever so much more achievable! (I know they're hair extensions though like most celebrities hairstyles. Hello dress!)

 

Beautiful. Whenever I see this print ad it makes me wish my hair was thick enough to have a plait this thick across my head!


 

The less ill looking twin has hair just as nice. 



 

Sorry for the third photo, but I love this colour. I took this photo to the hairdressers last time I went. I whipped out my mac and told her I wanted my colour just like this. She glanced at it and said 'ok'. I wasn't convinced she listened to a word I said. She didn't, because it turned out nothing like this! And they call her the master technician. Pah. 

 

Blake Lively's hair looks amazing in this episode of Gossip Girl. She makes the quiff look so far from chavvy.  

Oh by the way while we're on the subject of Blake Lively, have you seen her pooch? Omg... 

 

(Check out the hair along with the pup! I was trying to find a hairstyle like this but had no luck! Love it!)

 

Vanessa's hair looks cute and poodle like here. I have a love hate relationship with her. She irritates me incredibly (have you seen that sickening Neutrogena advert? Spots?! You haven't had a spot before in your life perfect girl!) but everything about her looks is beautiful! 

 

Goes without saying.

 

Tussled and fine looking. Again I feel it could be almost achievable if I purchased some good hair extensions. (And probably paid a top stylist too :S)

 

Bar's hair is similar to Giseles (along with their looks and the fact they share the same boyfriend/ex-boyfriend) and I love it for the same reason. (LOVING the necklace)

 

Look at her, she's all grown up!

 

Beautiful

 

Her extensions always look so natural and I hate her for it. Someone please just give me a little bit of money!

 

Trevor Sorbie's creation - again its very similar to all the rest, and I know you got the gist of what I love after the second image, but hey ho!

Sorry, I really did get a little carried away!

xoxo

Lulu Guinness

On monday I took a trip down to London for an interview at LuLu Guinness. It went well and they offered me a placement! So I shall we helping them out in all different departments (marketing, merchandising, web, licensing etc) for 4-5 weeks starting at the end of June. I obviously did a lot of swotting up on the brand for the interview... and window shopping! So I thought I'd show you my favourate LuLu Guinness items at the moment. 

 

Well of course the iconic lip clutches are a must-have! If I could choose any one item from the website I think it would have to be either the black, gold or pink. 

Oh and if I was really pushed to be greedy, I'd also take home lipstick gold t-bar bracelet. 

The SS 09 collection is currently in-store and online, boasting '50's prints, shell detailing, gorgeous graphic prints and beautiful, bold splashes of colour.' My favourate bag from the collection is the seafood restaurant edith tote. I'd never use it myself but I love the quirky, completely insane design of it. You do have to praise her for making lobsters, prawns and crabs on a handbag look cute and feminine! 

Her homewear collection is just as bold yet adorable as everything else. The bottom one - the China Rose Blue bedding with its beautiful silk embroidery is my favourate... if only it wasn't £700+! 

So now I'm positively depressed that I'm still a poor student that has nowhere near enough money to buy any of these gorgeous things :(

xoxo

There's no time like the present!

Hi!

(Now I've settled with a suitable name for my blog I will paste in my first post I wrote a couple of weeks ago!)

I finally have my own blog after a year of promising myself I would get started and keep on top of it! I know its not too much to ask of myself but when you get to your third year of uni you want to focus all your time and effort on the mountains of work due to the daunting prospect of not getting your desired grade at the end of it all! (Heartbroken would be a major understatement.) But here I am... I have decided that it is time to, as they say, 'pull my finger out' and get cracking on representing me as a person/fashion marketer/fashion as a whole, enthusiast! 

So what will my first blog actually be about? Well as I've said, I do focus a lot of my time of my uni work, so why not show and tell you what my current dissertation project is so that you can gain an understanding of what it is I do on my course... (Fashion Marketing and Communications at Nottingham Trent.)

Well, where do I start? Myself and my project partner (who is also my good friend and housemate) have explained our project that many times to potential exhibitors, sponsors, tutors and peers, that quite frankly, we could probably reel off our original proposal for the idea word for word. So here goes... 

‘Slash/Slash’ is a term which describes how today youth (15-25) no longer see themselves doing or being just one thing. Instead it is important that they must be ‘good at everything – do all, have multiple roles, be your own brand’. This is done by promoting their talents and building micro communities around their personalities. No longer does a person just have a name, but instead a list of subsequent ‘slashed’ titles that display these multiple roles. “Why just be a DJ when you can be a DJ with your own fashion line, DJ school, agency and styling career?”says The Future Laboratory who coined the term ‘Slash/Slash generation’ in 2008.

Thanks to our event , the youth of Nottingham can now become a part of one the most exciting, innovative and supportive business environment for young aspiring and creative entrepreneurs at ‘Slash/Slash’ Notts at The Rescue Rooms, Saturday 2nd May 2009.

Today’s youth are fast becoming a generation of on and offline business entrepreneurs, making vast sums of cash before they even hit 25. These fledgling brands need exposure from their peers to survive and a platform to showcase their talents. The ‘Slash/Slash’ generation are the “stars of tomorrow. They are the new generation of do-it-allers and excel in a multitude of disciplines woven together by their instinctive adoption of the ‘brand-me’ phenomenon.”

With this in mind, ‘Slash/Slash Notts’ (based in the heart of Nottingham’s city centre) brings the very best of young creative talent in the region together to display their multi-faceted business ventures from Fashion design, t-shirt printing , works of art , canvases to illustration, graphic design, accessories and music and have the opportunity to advertise and sell themselves and their product to like-minded young people, creating genuine peer endorsement. The event highlights the talents of those between the ages of 15 – 25, an age group often forgotten by the fashion (events) industry. Those selected represent the cream of the crop of talent in the East Midlands.

Our vision is that the event will eventually become a road-show; travelling the UK to promote young creative talent in several major cities and regions without it being restricted to London (as many events of this type are). By keeping the events regional it will allow cities and communities to nurture and acknowledge local talents. The event will also support and run alongside the Department for Culture Media and Sports guidelines to drive and promote Britain’s creative industries and show its importance for the future of the economy.

Well, there you are! I hope you enjoyed that informative piece on my dissertation project/current business! Here is a poster I created yesterday in order to meet the deadline for our uni's student magazine. Fingers crossed we will have a promo page. 

Well that's it from me for now. Thanks for reading... I will be definitely keeping you posted on the Slash/Slash event and its journey from now to May 2nd! And will of course avoid boring you by writing an array of fashion news and chat posts. 

xoxo (Gossip girl fan. Had to be done.)