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.

Universal Works

We were set the task of developing the visual identity of the brand to appeal to a wider audience. At present Universal Works has a very clear raw and industrial visual code, however they appear to be targeting the primarily the older man through the use of the model in their website visuals. This is something that the Brand Director and Sales Director did not want as they believed their garments would appeal to men of all ages, whether 18 or 54!

This was the big issue which had to be resolved; for a brand with 'universal' in the title, it wasn't appearing to be very universally accessible. As a group, we decided that the best way to identify the target market was to ask a sample of men of all ages who they believed the designs were aimed at. Critically however, we removed the face of the model. Our results concluded that by concealing the age of the model, the participant selected their own age or similar age group. This was evidence that the garments did appeal to all ages, so clearly the breakdown in communication was occurring by showing the face of the older model.

It seemed obvious to us therefore that if the face of the model was alienating segments of the market, we should simply remove it. Our innovative marketing strategy which followed incorporated the idea of a mask to disguise any particular age range and therefore allowing the viewer to identify themselves with the clothing worn, rather in the same way we do with mannequins in shop windows.

University: Year Two

I don't think I had quite anticipated how much the work load would increase this year! Oh well, it will keep me out of mischief! Within the first week we had been set three projects, with a further three being set later in the semester. Furthermore our seminar groups have been mixed up and I am working with a new team of girls. We have named ourselves K.E.R.B based on our initials spelling the word and it conveniently fitting with our Kickers project, i.e. Kickers to the K.E.R.B ...or K.E.R.B Kickers?!

The exciting thing about this year is all our projects are 'live'. This essentially means that brands in the industry are setting tasks which they wish us to fulfill. This is the best experience I can hope for as I am working to realistic deadlines which could well exist in my career (and nine days to pull together a visual marketing strategy for Universal Works was a great challenge!). I am hoping to learn more about the career paths in the industry and also gain more contacts which I can gain work experience.