Stylist's Assistant at Fabulous Magazine

It was my turn today to attend a photoshoot for the main fashion feature of an upcoming issue and I was so excited to get out of the office for the day to try something new. I was really nervous that I would feel a bit out of my depth but my experience on photoshoots in first and second year did ease my nervousness a bit. On arrival at the studio in Holborn, Shoreditch, I unpacked all of the clothing samples out of the cases which had been delivered earlier in the morning by a courier, hanging them on rails. I carefully laid out the jewellery and sunglasses on the table, of which we only used two pieces for the entire shoot anyway! I then got stuck in with steaming out all of the creases in the clothing; the ancient steamer broke halfway through so I rang the studio reception for a new one to be delivered. I've definitely begun to feel much more confident about making phone calls and putting requests in during the past couple of weeks at Fabulous. 

Tracey, the shoot stylist, selected the pieces she wanted to use for the shoot and sectioned them into different outfits. I made a note of where each piece had come from and a price if it was specified on a label to help me write up the credits the next day. This process was a bit stressful at times because certain outfits didn't look quite right or had to be changed so I needed to stay alert and on-hand at all times to keep up-to-date with any outfit changes for the credits. Writing up credits was a long but fairly simple process which took most of the next day to complete as I had to keep revisiting my emails to check for information on unlabelled pieces. I used Fashion Monitor to search for the email addresses of PR Assistants who could confirm what brand a clothing sample was and how much it cost. 

It was interesting to see the way that the stylist, hair and make-up artists and photographer all collaborated on the day to achieve a consistent outcome. The feature will be called "Age Issue" and is centred around the idea of finding age-appropriate clothing on the high-street. The looks utilised layering and bold colours to create some really wearable and cool outfits. I was really surprised (but relieved) about how relaxed the photoshoot environment was; the team were all familiar with each other and aware of their previous work. In fact, the model and Tracey, the stylist, even had an impromptu haircut! I was worn out at the end of the day, and being the hottest day of the year so far only made it worse as I had to pack everything away again at the end of the day and get two suitcases & two large bags full of clothing samples down a large flight of stairs ready for collection back to the Fabulous fashion cupboard. Overall though, it was a very successful day and I hope I left a good impression on all of the team. The best part by far will be getting to see my name printed in the magazine as the Stylist's Assistant; the thought makes me so excited! 

The Sun on Sunday's Fabulous Magazine

I happened to have a brief scroll through Twitter one day while waiting for my second year work to churn out of the printer in the print buro, when I saw this tweet from Daisy, blogger and fashion assistant at The Sun's Fabulous Magazine posted no more than twenty minutes before I'd seen it. It's funny to look back in hindsight and recognise that my split second decision to apply straight away has brought me to where I am today: a bit of a run-down flatshare in the middle of an estate in south London, about to start my one-month placement as Fashion Intern at Fabulous Magazine. 

My main duties will include: organising and overseeing the fashion cupboard, completing fashion returns, organising necessary couriers, completing the magazine mail out and updating books, assisting on shoots where necessary and writing up credits. Daisy emailed me an intern guide which gives me really in-depth instructions on the different processes I'll need to get to grips with. I'm so excited to begin tomorrow on Monday 15th May; I desperately want to impress all of the team and stick in their minds long after the month is over as one of their most memorable interns. I'm slightly apprehensive about making everyone cups of tea, since I don't drink it myself and therefore am a bit doubtful about my tea-making abilities! Other than that, I think I can more than handle what is expected of me. Organisation is definitely a vital trait that I'll need to have at all times to keep the fashion cupboard running smoothly. I spoke to a final year FCP student during the last week of term who told me she knew another student who did an internship with Fabulous and they enjoyed it and even met Nick Jonas - dream come true. 

I've definitely had more than a few 'pinch me' moments during the past couple of weeks and I'm so happy that after months of hurdles and rejections in the placement process so far, I'm finally being given a chance to prove myself and begin my fashion career. It feels like the best opportunity I could ever have been given to be working in The News Building alongside a whole team of colleagues from The Sun, The Times, HarperCollins and The Wall Street Journal right across from The Shard and in the very heart of journalism.

Forever Unique: The Second Stage

I attended an interview at the Forever Unique HQ in Manchester on Monday 8th May for an internship in content creation and photoshoot assisting. I was really surprised to hear midway through the interview (although I hope my poker face gave away nothing) that the company were actually looking for an intern to stay with them for 12 months rather than the summer that was advertised. Although I brushed it aside for the rest of the interview in order to stay focused on the questions I was being asked, I knew this would change my path on placement year pretty drastically as it would mean I could commute from my parents home within an hour everyday and be earning a respectable minimum wage on top. The prospect is definitely a far cry from the financially-stretched London-bound year I had anticipated for myself. 

When I left the interview I felt so happy with how it had gone that I couldn't stop smiling to myself. I had already told myself that no matter the outcome, I was happy with the answers I had given. I took along some work from second year, which included the brand handbook, intercultural strategic report, event invitation and typography poster and they were so impressed with the work. I was satisfied with their reactions - in particular with Eilidh's, who also did FCP at Huddersfield, because she has a good understanding of the standard of work I have produced this year. Just six hours after leaving the HQ, I got an email to say that they would like to progress me to the next stage of the interview process. While that would typically have involved me paying another visit to the HQ, they understood that I was actually beginning a four week placement with Fabulous Magazine in London and wouldn't be able to make it and so set me a task to complete within the week. 

The task was centred around Forever Unique's new U Collection and involved creating a brief consumer profile of the target market, a marketing comparison of the collection, suggestions of suitable influencers/bloggers, styling six selected pieces and finally, creating two GIFs for use on social media. Being set the task was a bit of a shock because the next time I expected to hear from Eilidh would be to accept me onto the team or reject me so I was a little bit frazzled to say the least at the prospect of managing this assignment along with finding a place to live and getting organised to begin my placement with Fabulous Magazine on Monday 15th May. It meant that I had to sacrifice some end of year celebrations and time with friends on my final day of second year to spend my day in the library straight after the Critical Journal presentations were over. I know I've made a lot of sacrifices this year to put my uni work first and it has always paid off in my final grades so I can only hope it pays off this time too.