This month I heart...

There are so many pretty things out there I want this month but at the top of the list are these lovelies...

This dress by Marc Jacobs I think is gorgeous, it has individual hearts cut out and would make a great party dress it's so different but at a price of over £2000 it's a bit out of my price range...shame.

I also love this jeweled heart bag from Topshop at £25 it's much more in my price range, it has a detachable chain strap if you don't want to hold it. The must have accessory for any party outfit I think.




















This dress by Yong at Liberty is stunning, I love the way strips of fabric have been attached in swirls, this would definately get you noticed at a party. But again way out of my price range at £1505. looks like i'll be getting my party season dress from New Look again.

23rd October 08 Geneveive Tolfield from George talk

Geneveive is the graduate manager at George, she came to talk to us about the company and also about working for George. Genevieve was a buyer at George then went on to HR and progressed to training buyers. She told us about Asda's values (Asda own George) and how important they are to the company, Their values are: Respect for the individual, Service and Strive for excellence. We were told we could apply for a 12 month placement at George or do 1-4 weeks unpaid work experience, I am quite interested in the buying department and am considering doing the work experience in easter for a few weeks. We were told a bit about what they look for in a portfolio and a CV. I think I will make some changes to my CV which I have now written and the next step is to put together my portfolio, I may put some of my work on here too.

Fashion Issues Project

Topshop Group Presentation

There are two parts to my Fashion Issues module. One project is to do a group presentation all about the ethos, history structure etc of a fashion company, our given company was Topshop. So far I have done some research on the marketing side of Topshop, they put their adverts in magazines such as Vogue and Elle, I thought as Topshop is a high street brand it wouldn't make it into magazines such as Vogue with all it's many designer campaigns but Topshop do actually have their Unique collection on the catwalk shows with designer collections. I have also noticed they have adverts on websites such as Perezhilton.com (not that I look at such trashy websites...anyway) this is an american website. Topshop has now launched in the US. Topshop support some charities too such as Fashion targets breast cancer, Peta and Starlight. They do a student shop event where they open their stores to students and offer a 20% discount and free goody bag also they visit universities this is what they call the Topshop campus tour, you can design and make your own Tshirt for free and get a goody bag. To get themselves out there Topshop also visit festivals such as Bestival where they give away free goodies!

Marketing Campaign

My other project is to create a marketing campaign to change the image of a company, this will be a double page magazine campaign, the company I picked is New Look, this is because I work there part time and I feel their main customer is young women that don't have loads of money to spend and are looking for a bargain. They normally advertise in magazines such as Heat, Look etc. I want to create a campaign good enough to go in Vogue that appeals to women who would normally go for designer labels. I will find a photographer and model for a photo shoot featuring some of New Look's nicest clothes. It will be glamorous and sophisticated!

14th and 21st October Steve Hind Careers advisor talk

Well I can't begin to tell you how nervous I am about applying for a work placement and writing my CV, yes i've got one that I adapt for part time jobs such as waitressing or shop assistant, but the CV I have to write now will determine whether I get the placement I want, I think i'll need all the help I can get. Steve Hind senior careers advisor came to talk to us and gave us some hints about writing a CV. Although I could not get them all down as there were so many (and I was quite busy trying to get over all the panic this was causing me) I managed to write down some good tips: make sure you do your research on the company you are applying to, that way when it comes to writing the CV you can include any points you think they are looking for, it's also good in an interview if you have company knowledge. Show you can demonstrate skills, don't just say your good at a number of things, when listing previous jobs, placements etc write what you did there and how you used your existing skills, also what new skills you learnt even if these previous jobs were not related to fashion, companies look for life skills as well. I dentify the clients needs and mould your CV around these, make it sound like you are just what they are looking for. The layout of the CV is important, after seeing a number of different ones and identifying what I liked and didn't like, I need to decide how I will lay mine out and how it will stand out amongst the other thousond CVs.

Directed Projects in Fashion...

I have researched all summer what will be in fashion in spring/summer 2009 and after creating some designs I am making an outfit that combines the themes 'Techno Romance' and 'Ruffles' after careful consideration I have decided to make the knitted garment in my outfit from spandex, this will be a pair of black hot pants with satin frills on the hem. I have never worked with a stretch fabric before and don't really know what to expect, I will let you know as soon as I have done my toile what the outcome is.

7th October 2008 Robert Hamilton from Puma talk

Today we had a visit from Robert Hamilton, he works as an apparel designer for the vertical retail team at Puma AG Germany. Robert studied Fashion Marketing at Northumbria University. He did a placement year at Griffin in Wilkshire as a design assistant (01/01/04 - 01/04/04)Griffin designs military style clothes for a high end market, a jacket costs around £300. Here Robert worked in a small team checking production, picked up collections from the factory and attended fashion shows.
"It's all about contacts."
Robert then went on to work for Fenchurch clothing as an assistant menswear designer (01/06/04 - 01/10/04)but again he wanted a change and so went on to work at Arcadia Head office for Topman as a print designer, this was a fast paced business, Robert had to design 12-14 prints a day. Good points about working for Topman were: they had good connections, he got to help out with the fashion show called Man, the company is very successful selling 1000 tshirts a day.
Robert visited to trade show 'Bread and Butter' this is where companies sell to different retailers, Robert went here to do an apparel report on trends.
After he finished his course Robert got a job at Abercrombie and Fitch after they came to graduate fashion week and offered him an interview, he recommended taking a sketch book with hand drawings in to interviews.
"Be proactive"
Puma also came to graduate fashion week they flew Robert to Germany for an interview, he took a jacket he had made to the interview that he had made from scratch and also used the same sort of glue on it as Puma often use, this was a talking point. Robert was offered a design position. I think Robert was successful in gaining this job role as he took some of his own work to show at the interview, found something of interest to the company to talk about and also had quite a bit of experience working at different companies in different areas.
Puma is a sports company started in 1948 although now they are trying to make themselves into a lifestyle brand, most of Puma's success comes from their motorsport wear. Robert has to design a collection containing 20 pieces in two days, he then has to fly to Hong Kong to hand over these designs and while there he has to start looking at new designs for the next collection.
I think Puma are successful because they now do clothes and equipment for lifestyle and not just sport this appeals to more people, although they will always have stronger competition such as Nike and Addidas which are much bigger companies.
Robert has now quit Puma as he wants a change and also does not believe in the company, he has already had a job offer from Nike.
"You are young fesh meat - this is your strength and weakness."