La Vie en Rose au Parie: The Journey

Midnight on Sunday night and Megan and I were pounding the streets on Nottingham. Not an altogether unfamiliar sight but this time without our clutch bags and instead with suitcases. We had spent the last two hours in my room, certain we had forgotten something and desperately trying to cram as much food into our hand luggage as physically possible.

Meeting all the girls outside the Bonington building was when the excitement really started to build up. Everyone was there half dressed in their pjs and half in their finest outerwear carrying designers handbags on one arm and pillows and blankets in the others. The best fashion contradictions ever.

The journey itself was pretty ghastly as coach journeys go but making it to the Channel Tunnel has to be considered an achievement after breaking down 20 minutes outside Nottingham. I think it was after the second stop on our way down to the coast when our driver insisted we all get off the coach whilst he took his 45 minute break that us girls realised we were going to be dependent on coffee for the week!

La Vie en Rose au Parie: Pre Trip

Passport. Check. Euros. Check. Ready for my visit to the City of Romance? Ready to visit one of the most prestigious fashion cities in the world?

My perception of Paris from film and book depiction, plus my previous visits left me feeling a little anxious about going to Paris without my Loved One. Don’t get me wrong, nothing much can come in the way of a girlie city trip away but when I think Paris, I think Eiffel Tower and then it is only natural for a girl to think proposals! I actually have a family friend who proposed to his girlfriend at the top of the Eiffel Tower…pretty big gamble if you ask me. Awfully romantic if she says ‘yes’ but awfully dangerous to be that high up from the ground if she says ‘no’.

Pre-girls night preparation for Paris included the essentials…vino blanc and the final two episodes from Sex and the City. If there is anything that can get a girl excited about going to Paris, it is going to be seeing Carrie Bradshaw walk around the beautiful districts in beautiful clothes and being whisked off her feet by Mr Big (lets forget her faux pas of falling flat on her face in Dior).

Becoming Country Bumpkins

My parent's imminent move to the beautiful East Sussex countryside got me to thinking how fashion can be dictated by our geography, I have started to see how high fashion takes both the garments and setting for inspiration. There is the practical element of course which the country requires of you and whilst crunching through the snow and walking the grounds in freezing temperatures I was very grateful for my wellington boots and duffel coat! (Although one day I hope these to be 'Barbour jacket and Hunter wellies')

My favourite fashion shoot which encapsulates the eccentricity of the countryside features Emma Watson in Teen Vogue.

"Shot in and around an old English Country manor, the styling reflects the attitude of the new, more mature Watson that we have recently grown accustomed to." (Teen Vogue, 2009)

Not only is Watson absolutely stunning, I love the colour contrast between her colourful and texturised outfits against the hazy landscape settings.

Beautiful & Glossy

There is something about fashion magazines that get me all excited like butterflies in my stomach. Whether it is too many episodes of Sex and the City and wanting to live Carrie Bradshaw's life and in particular writing a column for a New York newspaper and in her spare time sitting reading Vogue in her beautiful Manhattan apartment. Last year at university I got into the habit of walking to the Student Express shop every Sunday to buy a couple of newspapers, a glossy fashion magazine and a weekly. It was the perfect Sunday!

Last Christmas I was very kindly given a year subscription to Elle and Harper's Bazaar. I'm not quite managing Carrie Bradshaw's lifestyle just yet and now have a pile of about ten unopened magazines which I feel like I am failing in some way. I resolved that 2010 would be the year when I can save a few pennies and make my way through the piles of magazines (including International publications which my parents have brought back from various holidays abroad) was short lived. Come the 2nd of January I checked my bank account only to see that National Magazine had debited my account by £15. Which of the monthly publications I shall be receiving I do not know but either Elle or Harper's Bazaar will be dropping on my doormat within the next week or so and I have to say, I'm very excited!

When Harry Met Sally

I am so excited about the classic film 'When Harry Met Sally' being put on the stage. In February this year, a group will go on tour around the UK and I shall definitely be buying tickets to take my girlies along to watch in Nottingham. It looks like it has got a great cast too with Hollyoaks' Sarah-Jayne Dunn and Coronation Streets' Rupert Hill. It will be very entertaining to see some of the scenes on stage!

Christmas Lists

It has become a long-running tradition in the Letley family for the grandchildren to write a Christmas list. I have very fond memories at my grandparents house where my sister and I would sit up all night going through the Argos catologue and writing a million different things down on a list as long as my arm!

It was halfway into December when my deadlines were completed and I got my life back leading to being a bit carried away. I added visuals, prices, places to purchase from... It seems these days to be such a luxury to sit down and write down a Christmas list but this year I found myself writing 'printer ink cartridges' and 'electric toothbrush head'...a definite sign of my age!

Birmingham Clothes Show Live

The Clothes Show was not something I had heard of before I arrived at university. I attended the huge shopping event for the first time during my first year as part of the fashion society. I didn't quite know what to expect but I was definitely overwhelmed by the number of people that had descended upon the NEC! The lesson I learnt was never return on a Saturday...it is worse than sale shopping after Christmas!

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work at the Clothes Show this year with fashion distributors 1927 Ltd who have a large stand each year for selling Juicy Couture. Due to university deadlines, I was able to work four out of the possible seven day. It was brilliant to experience the Clothes Show from a different perspective; a seller as opposed to a buyer. Along with other employees from 1927 Ltd we were all put up in a hotel which served the most amazing and longed-for carvery at the end of each tiring day plus plenty of drinks for team bonding!

The first day involved quite a lot of waiting around as the stall was still being painted and having its fixtures fitted. Once this was completed we had the arduous task of unpacking all the stock and visual merchandising. This year Juicy Couture was selling their infamous velour tracksuits alongside t-shirts, cashmere, dresses, bags, accessories and jewellery.

I had been warned previously about how busy it would get on the Juicy stand but I certainly did not expect the stampede of screaming teenage girls and their mothers as soon as the doors opened. As a result of events from the previous year, a separate security team was hired to help crowd control. Additionally we had metal railings around the entire stand to maintain the crowds.

The roles that I generally undertook during the day including replenishing stock, processing sales and unpacking back-up stock. It was an insight into how these events are co-ordinated and also a chance to see what working in a clothes shop might entail different from my shoe shop experience at Dune. It would definitely an experience which I would be happy to repeat.