Self Review of the Year

I really have enjoyed at least some aspects of every single assignment this year, whether it has been strengthening my writing skills in the critical journal, trying something completely new in trend forecasting or pushing myself out of my comfort zone in group work tasks. There are several projects, discussed below, which I feel have been particularly beneficial to me. My analysis of them offers a glimpse into what has been a year of immense change; upon reflection, the standard of my work has taken huge leaps from last year and my confidence in my own abilities/interpretations has been proven in the end results. 

ASSIGNMENT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR

I created a VIDEO CV during the Brand Me assignment last term which was a really fun process. I hadn't handled professional camera equipment before so I took some time first to familiarise myself with the camera and tripod I rented from the photography studio in the technology building. It was good to have the opportunity to experiment and be brave with the content of the video, being creative with my shots and channelling my creativity into a new skill. The video CV is a really useful tool because it shows off my skills and experience in a memorable way and I can easily link to my social media platforms and include more information that doesn't fit on my traditional CV. In the past few months, I've found a lot of companies have been impressed by my video CV and I plan on recreating an updated version over summer to show off my new skills and experience.

I got to grips with Adobe Illustrator last term in the Typography assignment by creating a poster for The Vulgar exhibition at the Barbican Centre. Creating the poster involved a long development process as I needed to understand more about typography and watch a lot of tutorials on Lynda.com to be able to achieve my vision. I really liked that this assignment was based around a real concept that I could research about, rather than a hypothetical situation/brand. I even took a trip to London especially to visit the exhibition, which was really beneficial as I already knew so much about all of the different cultural themes which make up the concept of 'vulgarity'. My final poster demonstrated a lot of advanced programme skills including the use of vectors and shape effects.































I discovered this year that I actually really like marketing, having been a bit unsure about it during first year while I was still getting my head around the complex strategies and models. I completed two marketing reports this term - one of Coach and another on FRAME - which both resulted in two really extensive analyses of the brands, their performance and their potential areas of improvement. My approach to the Coach marketing strategy was much more creative, as I included in-depth detail about the tone and style of various adverts and the campaign overall. My approach to the FRAME marketing strategy, on the other hand, was much more theoretical and I really enjoyed doing a lot of in-depth secondary research into the Indian market. This assignment allowed me to find out a lot about a culture that in hindsight, I recognise I had a very limited understanding of. I even made contact with a top Indian blogger who I was able to reference in my group presentation for the module. I was so proud of my final marketing strategy report for FRAME that I had it printed at the end of the term and now I plan on taking it to placement interviews and keeping it to refer back to as a really great resource for final year. I created this marketing report really independently and I feel that I had a really confident understanding of its contents. While I've yet to receive my grade back at the time of writing this post, I know that I'll still be just as happy with the outcome of this assignment regardless of its mark. 

I also had the Fauna handbook printed off at the end of this term, which I completed alongside my group. The idea of creating a brand from scratch has been such an interesting process and along with the lookbook, it has been quite a mammoth task that I was very relieved to see the end of. Despite the sheer scale of the assignment, I definitely learnt a lot and it was a really enriching process to see mine and my group members contributions build up to make something really successful. I never would have predicted at the beginning of this term that the lookbook and handbook assignments would require me to work with a dog (albeit a really well behaved dog!) or style six looks in the Yorkshire moors during terrible, freezing-cold weather. Despite how stressful I found it at times, it was a very memorable and rewarding project. 

In comparison to the end of my first year of FCP, this year I am definitely taking away with me a lot more skills that I didn't have eight months ago in September. I finally feel less like a fashion newbie and more like a fashion professional, having proved to myself firsthand that I can undertake some really challenging tasks and produce outstanding content. My skills in critical evaluation have been strengthened this year by once again creating a critical journal, although using a blog rather than a physical journal to write in has been a lot more effective as it's been so much easier to get my thoughts across and I think it has really broadened my perspective in terms of the type of publications I can access and analyse. I have found inspiration in historical, cultural and commercial areas in fashion and used my critical eye to find connections in these topics. I've also found the value in reflective thinking as I have monitored my methodology processes much more closely in order to get the best outcomes in my assignments and I have been required to reflect a lot on the group work process which - despite its hurdles - has been rewarding overall. 

With regards to technical/manual skills, my ability to use Adobe Photoshop, inDesign and Illustrator has really excelled this year. I've watched a lot of Lynda.com tutorials in my spare time to understand some more complex techniques and googled instructions for some quick refreshers on techniques I had forgotten. On Photoshop, I created lots of mock-ups using Fauna advertising including this double-page spread magazine advertisement (below) and I designed an invitation for the brand's event (left) in the Event Planning assignment. I feel that I could have bettered my skills in graphic design this year and I hope that I will be able to progress with this during my placement year; I'd really like to learn how to draw digitally and create illustrations, a skill which would have been really useful in terms of presentation and layout this year. Being able to use Adobe Creative Suite is definitely a vital skill when it comes to achieving outstanding work and I'm glad that I have invested the time to better myself. I did however, try something new by learning how to use Adobe Premiere as part of the lookbook assignment to create a promotional video for our brand. I have seen a lot of placement positions advertise this programme as a preferred skill so when I recreate my video CV this summer, I intend to use it again to strengthen my knowledge. At the end of this term, I printed and bound my Fauna handbook and FRAME marketing strategy with the help of the staff at the print buro. I now feel much more confident with this process and now that the experience will be invaluable in preparation for final year when it comes to the magazine production project.

This last term in particular has been really monumental in building up my own personal, transferable skills which I know will be of use throughout my placement year, final year and further career. I adopted a team leader role in the handbook and lookbook assignments - something completely unfamiliar to me at the time - and learnt very quickly and under intense pressure about project management and role allocation. The group work process was challenging to say the least and at times I did struggle to be patient with less active or engaged members of the group. It was frustrating to be involved in every element of the assignment while others held back and didn't bring work to sessions as expected and my group didn't meet and share our thoughts and ideas as much as I would have liked as often, I was the only one willing to come in to university out of hours. Despite the hurdles, we did work successfully overall as a group; we compromised where we couldn't reach agreements and listened to each other's ideas and ultimately, I'm really proud of the work that was produced and satisfied that I worked extremely hard this year.

April Monthly Summary

In April, the political sphere yet again shifted as Theresa May announced a snap general election. Putting my political beliefs aside, I do believe that the idea that British citizens can once again make their voices heard and rally together to unite for a cause will be valuable for morale - even if that is only a temporary side effect until the cracks begin to show. The current political climate reminds me a lot of my developed trend for the Fashion Industry 2 module, titled 'BREAKING NEWS'. 

Having constructed a brand with British heritage centred at the core of its values in the Strategic Fashion Communications module, I have been thinking a lot about what it means to be a British brand in the post-Brexit era. On the one hand, brands like Burberry, Mulberry and Barbour may seem more exclusive to an outside world but this may also be detrimental, isolating them from trade and damaging their desirable reputations. The effects of Brexit still remain to be seen in the long-term, so for the time being I can only critically evaluate the hypothesise and the speculation churned out from political bodies nationally and internationally. 

I made a great deal of progress in terms of placement hunting this month, with two interviews lined up and four-week position accepted just in the last week. I'm glad to finally be getting the hang of the application process, although I have a lot of interview preparation to get underway with. I've found that the video CV I created in the Brand Me assignment last term has gone down well and I am considering remaking an updated version over summer as my skill set and experience will have hopefully grown a lot by then! 

Placement development

With the Easter holidays came a wave of new placement advertisements and a lot more spare time to apply. I noticed that a lot of positions were being re-advertised, including New Look, ASOS and French Connection, presumably because they still hadn't found exactly who they were looking for or their initial choice of intern had dropped out of their contract. Nevertheless, I applied to these with confidence which I hope was communicated in my cover letters, plus the many more I applied for. Before sending these applications, I adjusted my CV to make it much more visually appealing. I have become much more confident with my personal style in the past six months, and so the style which I branded for myself in the 'Brand Me' module doesn't really resonate well with me anymore. I included an image of myself which I think shows an edge of personality and confidence, while highlighting what I feel is the most valuable information in a box along the left hand-side. 

Charlie forwarded us a few intern positions which she had been contacted about from the various companies, and one at Forever Unique (based in Manchester) seemed to fit the bill in terms of skills required, hours/length of placement and distance from my out-of-term address in order for me to commute. I passed emails back and forth with the Junior Graphic Designer and arranged an interview, which seems to have more of a tone of a friendly chat where we discuss the position and my previous work. I went to the print buro to have my handbook and intercultural marketing strategy report printed and binded into professional books, which I hope will be really impressive on the day of my interview. After submitting my application some weeks ago, I also received an invitation to attend an interview at French Connection for a 9-12 month position as PR & Marketing Assistant which I look forward to attending as I have heard positive things from friends-of-friends about their experience interning with the brand. As well as deciding what to wear, I intend to brush up on my interview skills by preparing mental answers to some of the standard interview-type questions and reviewing my CV.

I have also amazingly received an invitation to complete a four week placement with Fabulous Magazine, the Sun's Sunday supplement magazine. It requires an immediate start, and so at very short notice, I will be packing my life up and moving to London. This will only be my fifth time in London in my life and I'm so excited by the prospect that it will be more than just a fleeting visit! 

"Brand Britain"

Above is an image from our my brand handbook for the Strategic Fashion Communications module. The brand was built around the values of Britishness, quality and and affordability and I am extremely proud of the end result. In the early stages of our planning process, myself and my group members were chatting with Stephen in a tutorial when he mentioned that there was something really interesting about the idea of producing a brand which emphasised its British heritage in the Brexit era. Since completing this assignment and submitting it, I have been inspired to do some further research into British brands and their position in the market as Britain proceeds to exit the EU. 

The Guardian claims with a bold headline "Brexit is a disaster for fashion" with the tagline "Fashion is all about perception –​ and in the eyes of the world, Britain is now ​a silly little country that cut off its nose to spite everyone’s face". While this article was written in October 2016, its message definitely does still bear a lot of relevance six months on as foreign media seems to have latched onto a defensive attack - totally understandably perhaps, with threats and headlines flying around worldwide that Brexit could affect the remaining EU state members just as much as it will affect Britain itself. The Guardian article begins by noting that since the referendum vote, tourists are spending more on luxury goods  due to the fallen rate in the pound. So on this hand, Brexit has brought about a surge in consumers willing to spend more and this could definitely support British luxury designer brands like Burberry and Barbour. The world's idea of Britain will continue to change in the coming years, and perhaps, given its increased security and heightened exclusivity post-Brexit, consumers will be encouraged to buy into its rejuvenated feeling of opaque luxury.

The rest of the article isn't quite so complimentary however, making very fair points that Britain's fashion industry has been shaped by fashion creatives from all over the world. While our fashion schools are some of the best on the planet, Brexit will make it harder for students to come from abroad on a long-term basis no matter the exact policy. The threat that British fashion could lose its creative edge is quite daunting to me. London as a fashion capital holds a really magical, fantastical appeal for myself and millennials. I wonder whether the pull of the city will be lost as its reputation as a fashion hub is tainted? 

Having constructed the personality of the Fauna brand within my group, I have a really concise knowledge of its values, its formality and its relationship with consumers which are all encompassed by the quintessential Britishness that it prides itself on. The second article I read as part of my research into the topic summaries to concept of 'British' really effectively, the journalist saying "for consumers buying into UK brands, there is a perception of creativity, innovation, quality, history and luxury. But it’s not just about the perceived product values, when people buy into British product, it is a reflection on how they feel towards the country." This perception of Britain from the outside world will absolutely continue to evolve as Brexit agreements take place. I recognised the shift in perception myself from a firsthand perspective as I visited Berlin last July - just a few weeks after the referendum - to a barrage of jokes and borderline insults from middle-aged men who picked up on my accent! In terms of my own perception of the 'British' appeal, I also think there has been a kind of associated consistency to the nation for so many generations; the royal family lineage and succession, the industry, the government systems... Now as a nation we face a great deal of change. The death of a queen who has reigned for the lifetime of a great proportion of the country's citizens, our isolation from the EU, terror in the streets and political uncertainty definitely have the potential to alienate the concept of 'Britain' to the outside world.

None of the articles I have read about Brexit can give a certain answer to the future of fashion post-EU, which makes the content of the features very hypothetical and biased to the political leanings of the journalists. While it remains to be seen what performance in foreign markets will be like, I remain convinced that brands like Fauna, with a proud British heritage - such as Burberry, Mulberry or Barbour - will thrive within the UK market. Despite increased manufacturing costs, the idea of buying clothing labelled proudly with the mark of "MADE IN BRITAIN" hasn't lost its appeal in my opinion. While tensions are high and emotions are fraught as we face quite an unknown path to Brexit, I still believe that culturally, British patriotism can become are more positively embraced concept within fashion and as a whole.

• Freeman, H. (2016, October 17). Brexit is a disaster for fashion. The Guardian.Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/oct/17/disaster-british-fashion-industry
• Marian, P. (2016, July 1). What now for “Brand Britain”? How Brexit may affect the British fashion industry. WGSN. Retrieved from https://www.wgsn.com/blogs/brand-britain-how-brexit-may-affect-the-british-fashion-industry/#