It's been too long since I wrote for fun. And I know to some (perhaps most) people that will sound incredibly lame but I do, and have always, loved to write. Several times recently I've been asked how and when I decided I wanted to work in fashion, and to write. The truth is I honestly don't know.
From day one I would always carry fistfuls of crayons around and I was writing stories before I could walk, even to this day I'm still much better at the former. Then as I got older, I was fascinated by seeing my Dad always writing, granted where he debated the best router for building sheds, I pen the crucial debate of heels or flats. But we both love creating things with words, playing with as many adjectives as possible so each word leaps off the page… I'm already getting carried away.
But the point is that of late, with so many commitments to my internships and to work and to my impending final year hand ins, I've neglected writing about the things I love. So I'm going to go back to doing so, starting with a little recap from Summer.
While most of my friends disappeared back to Cheshire for a long break of sunning and catching up on the year we'd spent in various corners of the country, I decided to spend my four months working. The last time we spoke, my first month at Armani had flown by, and the following two only went faster. From monitoring the press coverage across mens collections and couture, to orchestrating the Armani looks for some of the biggest August and September issue shoots for Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, GQ and Esquire, my network became alight with new connections and as the end of June rolled around I was heartbroken to be leaving my beloved team at Armani. Will, the press co-ordinator and I remain incredibly good friends, having grown exceptionally close and Lara, who is now senior press officer for McQueen womenswear accessories, and I met for the fondest catch up last week over goji berry waters and superfood salads, the brain food that got us through a sleepless week of organising the PoP remix shoot!
From there, I left for Stylist, the weekly style paper handed out across major cities in the UK every Wednesday morning. Madness consumed the office from morning till night, and the fast paced weekly never slept as we finished putting together the bumper September issue and Christmas gift guide for the big December issue, whilst continuing to produce shoots and all the fashion content for all the other weeklies. We tended to work three weeks in advance and my role varied from assisting on shoots, to processing returns, to call in for red carpet events, to researching new products for 'The Style List'. The three weeks I spent there flew by in a blur and it was quickly time to move on. I was then introduced to Linh, the incredibly talented Junior Fashion Ed at Harper's Bazaar and was delighted to join the team there for a month. Again assisting the fashion team meant lots of call ins, credits for the November and December issues as well as researching for online pieces. The team was infectious and all so wonderfully talented, seeing each shoot come to life day by day reminded me why I wanted to do fashion in the first place.
Sporting the AW Saint Laurent's
December Shop Bazaar, Styled by Linh Ly and assisted by me
My final placement took me to InStyle and I was instantly thrown into the deep end. Arriving on Tuesday Lulu, the senior fashion assistant and now a great friend of mine and I pulled solid 14 hour days in the run up to the December issue shoot with Jessie J from organising her ryder, to sorting the edit, which included 38 pairs of shoes into cases look by look and ensuring everything was in order in the fashion cupboard. The issue is now out to buy and it's so exciting seeing many of the shoots and stories I compiled and worked on with the team in the issue. Again it was many long days of liaising with PR's, securing samples for up to four shoots at a time, all on top of fashion week schedules and outfit call ins, credits and transcriptions. But the team once again were incredible, and I was delighted to be able to work with Robyn, the Shopping Editor and one of the most incredibly talented stylists I've ever worked with.
And with that, October rolled around and it was time to swap my intern boots for my London College of Fashion boots and head back for final year. A little exhausted but excited to be getting final year out of the way I said goodbye for now to the amazing teams I had met over the summer with promises of Aperol Spritz and Pizza pilgrims trips closing every email.
I've been asked so much for this, so I'm promising the next post will be full of advice especially for those looking to do the same.
I also promise it won't be seven months before the next post!
