Manager's meeting

Before the animal instincts of the managers came out at the sample sale, they had all been pretty civilised at the manager's meeting. It was one of my high points of my time there as well as a top event in the company calendar.
All the managers from over the country come together to see the new RTW, shoe and bag collections and be talked through them by the designers. This allows them to get to know the product before it gets to store as well as letting the designers and merchandisers know which items are popular among the staff, what they think might sell well and deciding whether anything should be removed if it gets a bad reaction.
There were also updates from the press, web and wholesale departments on sales progress and best sellers, expansion to other countries and where the products were featured in magazines and newspapers.

Oh also: Champagne, mini sandwiches and cakes. Need I say more haha!

Placements are hard.

They really are. It's hard not to think why the hell am I here when you've been sat in silence at a computer for 7 hours pretty much being ignored. Don't get me wrong I love being independent (London has forced me to have this attribute) and being 'left to it' when you're sure of what you're doing and you are enjoying it but there's also a feeling of 'I'm working here for free, I'm getting no direction and I should be learning a shit lot of stuff.' 

I'm all for the experience of things but bit annoying when you come out the other side feeling empty. TEACH ME STUFF GODDAMNIT. 

My last placement taught me that you learn a lot more stuff at a smaller place as bigger companies just don't have the time or the right kind of people to help you along the way. I felt a lot of the time I was being annoying if I asked for help or things to do, when I was expecting to be rushed off my feet and have a proper supervisor. I would much rather be busy than spend half my day on Daily Mail, even though that is a truly enriching experience...

So I left.

The only thing I'll miss is the lunch vouchers and Oyster card. That kind of says it all really. I was becoming wayyy too much of a regular at Pret. WHERE ARE ALL THE GREGGS?! 

And the sample sale pretty much killed me off. It was feral. There wasn't really anything I liked and people thought I was mad for not having my arms laden with everything I could carry.

I was pretty happy with my free bag and shoes but the lady with 12 bags was over the moon.

Time flies...

Can't believe how fast my time's going in London, it's nearly Christmas! I'm actually the most excited I've been in years for it because I've been on a proper lil jaunt rather than just a hop and skip away to uni. At the minute I'm going through phases of being in love with life and London and on the other hand; being excited to get back up north where people talk to each other and I don't have to avoid awkward eye contact on public transport. 

Although London at Xmas is just MAGICAL to say the least, as long as you can manage some shoulder barging on Oxford Street. 

So the new placement... Let's just say it's a lot different. I always knew it would be with the company being on such a bigger scale and it's merchandising rather than being a PA/hand-sewer/errand runner which I now realise I enjoy a lot more than spreadsheets and computer work.

I thought I'd be really into a job like merchandising or allocating but it seems I can cross these off my list. 

Firstly I definitely don't have the attention span for computer work (to quote a friend I have 'the attention span of a pie'...yes) and secondly staring at a screen for 8 hours a day hurts my face.

As everyone says you put it all down to experience and it has definitely opened my eyes into other areas of the fashion industry, unfortunately just ones I don't want to go into!

So onwards and upwards, wonder where my next adventure will take me...hopefully in the right direction. I've only just got used to actual journeys in London, never mind metaphorical ones, help anyone?

Makes you realise things don't turn out how you'd sometimes hoped or expected; was buzzin' to work in central London everyday...until I got my first central line tube at 9am. 

Lord have mercy. 

I was late for my first day because I couldn't get on the first 3 trains. We were all crammed in like sardines, people were fainting around me! (Okay so that last one's a lie, but it's definitely happened before!) 

So I arrived for my first day late and sweaty. Maybe that's where I went wrong. 

Rewind

So let's turn back the clocks a bit. After the collection launch, we had the showroom for two days at Wolf and Badger during London Fashion Week. This meant me going to stand next to the collection in a room full of up and coming designers and talking passionately (half blagging) about it to buyers and anyone else that was interested in the hope of getting some orders. Luckily for Teija she already had some interest, so she knew when to expect some visitors and it was nice to see other people so interested in the collection and the concept. Some of the other designers were amazing, personal faves Judy Wu and Krystof Strozyna had really strong, colourful collections.
So looking at clothes, talking about clothes, drinking tea and eating croissants isn't a bad way to spend the day, apart from the next day when not a soul came into the showroom. 8 hours of standing with the fear of leaning or sitting down in case someone important came in is not fun. And the croissants were hard that day.
(First world problems)
Luckily I made friends with a slightly eccentric lady with a lot of pink eye shadow. She gave me a vodka and told me how she'd met Michael Jackson. It was lovely.

New adventures

So forgive me for the delay I've been a little busy. It's not easy making the transition from one placement to next, juggling having interviews throughout and lying to employers about why I needed a day off. I hate that you have to lie just in case you don't get the job, thing is it's even harder trying to persuade a busy fashion designer who needs you pretty much 24/7 that you have some 'uni work' to do. buulllllsshiiitttttttttttt. I'm terrible at lying too so I sent an email to avoid eye contact and a lot of sweating. Basically it didn't go down well but weirdly I got an apology on the grounds that said designer was stressed with her collection. (How bad do I feel now?!)
Turned out I got the next placement so the next leap was telling her I was leaving. I get so worried about these things (sweating) and then in the end everything's fine and dandy. I think she was sad to see me go, I bloody hope she was anyway..!
My last day in her studio was just me and her finishing some work off from the previous day's shoot (info to come later!) It was dark outside and a Friday night so we decided to call it quits, then she announces she doesn't have a key to lock the building, we're the last ones there and the building has been burgled before. Fucking fantastic. 'What are we going to do?' she says...There's me thinking WE aren't going to do anything.
Then we proceed to stand outside fretting as she won't let me leave because someone got mugged here last week. OH MY GOD. I can honestly say, perfect sitch right there.
Eventually I left (ran) with prosecco in hand (lil treat off the boss, not so chuffed as was leftovers but whatevs it was free booze) and got home with all of my possessions.
I never did find out what happened to the unlocked building.

TEIJA & Emma J Shipley

So I should probably tell you a bit about the collection..! Teija's SS14 collection is entitled Arctic Summer which is reflective of the designer's Finnish roots. The colour scheme is white, nude and black with subtle hints of grey and blue within a Teija own-print chiffon. The garments are designed to curve with the body and create a simple but statement silhouette. 

The collection is very wearable in the shapes it creates; flowing dresses, more structured leather jackets and the colours aren't invasive. Personally I would wear a lot of it and my favourite pieces are the blue and grey printed shirt and a gorgeous soft white leather jacket. 

The Emma collection incorporates Emma's prints into Teija's designs with a similar muted colour scheme to the SS14 collection. The prints are animal based, my favourite of these is a gorilla and rib-cage print. The high waisted shorts and top combo in this collection are beautiful with a bird print in a pinkish hue. 

Both collections echo each other whilst successfully showing both a Teija Anglo-Scandinavian feel and a distinct Emma style within the prints. 

Consistent and beautiful. 

(Bit like me, really.) 

Teija and Emma J Shipley launch

So it's been a little while since I last blogged, work has been so busy! Everything the team and I have been doing over the past month had been culminating up to the event last night: the launch of Teija's SS14 collection along with her collaborative capsule collection with print designer Emma J Shipley. 

The event was at Wolf and Badger's Dover Street store which I seem to be a regular at, having delivered some of Teija's last season items there, although with pleasure as it's such a lovely shop! Once again I can't afford anything I just like to touch haha ( Lovely stuff by Ever Reve and Lulwa Al Amin but I'll save that for another time!) 

Anyway me and the other girls had a manic day doing the last minute preparations for the launch, putting finishing touches on some pieces (I never want to sew on another popper, think I must have done hundreds!), running to London College of Fashion to press and steam everything whilst doing other little errands, mixed with sewing button holes on a shirt on an ancient domestic sewing machine 5 minutes before we left the studio. Phewww...and then we were meant to make ourselves look presentable in a piece from Teija's AW13 collection. Bit hard for me when I'm not an 8, even though her 8's are more like 6's anyway. Nee chance! So I got put in a black wool jumper dress with gold neck detail and the other girls donned shiny gold leather hotpants and trousers. 

I teamed the dress with sky high cream platforms, a skinny belt and had a bit of help to be sewn in at the back as it was bordering on bin-bag territory which I don't think was the look Teija was aiming for. I loved the dress on the hanger but it was very obvious it was designed for leggy, skinny girls (models/bitches..!) and not me. ie the girl with the shortest legs in the world! haha nahh I thought I scrubbed up well to be honest! 

Me and another intern manned the door to greet the guests which was nice as I got to see clients and stockists that I had met before and it wasn't an arduous task as it was an intimate affair... I had a drink in my hand at all times which kept me happy too! 

Teija had designed the drink for the event which was a lavender bellini, delishh! I had many of those haha, disappointed in the other girls not taking advantage as much as me, maybe it's 'cause I'm Northern and love free stuff! Especially alcohol! 

We didn't see Teija for most for most of the event but the verdict at the end of the night was that it was a success! Which is obviously good but even better for me as I probably would've been on the end of some kind of wrath if things hadn't gone to plan...nothing personal obvss!

So I attended (and survived) my first fashion collection launch, kicking off just before London Fashion Week which is so exciting for me! So good to see all of the hard work paying off when you see everything on the rails and people appreciating the clothes! 

Hackney Wicked

So a foreign girl at work told me about Hackney Week. After some confusion and weird conversations turns out she meant the art festival at Hackney Wick, no wonder I couldn't find any traces of it on Google. Anyway once that was cleared up we started off at Broadway Market which is a really cute market with stalls selling all kinds of things like books, food, and vintage clothes. I found it really nice for a leisurely Saturday walk as there's street music and there was a lovely, busy atmosphere. After a few bevs we made our way to Hackney Wicked, which held a similar vibe to the market with street stalls and loads of 'trendy' people looking for their art fix, but afternoon drinking was definitely high up on the agenda. Luckily I was with someone that shared my love for getting merry while pretending to analyse artwork.
The open studios were all pretty cool, it felt like a kind of zoo for artists where we got to see them in their natural habitat. I liked the rustic feel to the event as it wasn't made to look glamorous like a gallery or museum. My friend didn't agree as she thought 'they should have tidied up a bit'...don't think she really grasped the concept haha!
As always with art there were pieces I loved and hated. I really liked Ben Hopper's work which included graphics on black and white photographs but after researching his past work I really like his photography, especially 'Naked girls with masks'... (Does exactly what it says on the tin haha, he says there's a concept behind it but he got to photograph naked ladies c'monnn!)
http://therealbenhopper.com/
Unfortunately I can't find the artist who had drawn political figures doing silly things, my favourite being Kim Jong Un enjoying a ride on a rocket which tickled me as my sister finds him hilarious in his normal life never mind when he's airborne.
This made me realise how many things are always going on in London and I'm definitely in the right place for arty events in the East! And on that note, here's the man himself:

What a treat! 

Dover Street Market

A lot of the time getting sent to different parts of London to collect fabric or deliver some of the collection to stores is an opportunity to see more of the capital. On my jaunts I always seem to find myself wandering into somewhere that looks 'artsy' or taking pictures of street art...or popping into a bakery for a doughnut. (Got to keep up my energy levels now haven't I?!) A lot of the time I do 'research,' ie. going shopping but I can't really include Dover Street Market as a shopping trip as it was a more a 'ilovethisbuti'vejustpickedituptoseethepriceandkeeledover' trip. The clothes in there are amazing, so many amazing designers and my faves Mary Katrantzou, Peter Pilotto and Commes des Garcons are stocked there. So good to see the prints and designs close up and put my grubby paws on the fabric and then run away because I'd have to take out multiple loans to afford any of the clothes. I also got a little paranoid that the shop assistants (not sure if they can be classed as this as unsure how many people actually buy stuff, so more like a 'I'll stand here a lot and maybe say hello' kind of job) were looking at me and thought I was a shoplifter as it was pretty obvious I couldn't afford to buy anything. That and maybe because my feet were bleeding..(see previous post!)
http://london.doverstreetmarket.com/

Peter Pilotto AW13 

Mary Katrantzou AW13 

The first rule of interning...

ALWAYS WEAR A COMFORTABLE SHOE. ALWAYS. Although comfortable does not mean all of your style goes out the window...I still work in fashion, dahhlingg. I've found my trusty Chelsea boots have served me well, maybe too well as all the 'interning' has made them start sprouting holes... As much as I wanted to wear my studded nude ballet shoes with my cigarette pants it soon became clear it was a bad choice. Getting sent to every corner of London in the same day (one place twice) definitely resulted in blood, sweat and tears and I felt I couldn't say anything to my boss. Thought it was a bit sad to be like "Yeah soz not going for that fabric we need today 'cause my feet hurt," pretty sure I'd have been sent anyway haha!
Makes me think of those signs on the tube that say bags caught in the doors cause delays or when the tube's delayed because someone's jumped in front of it, it's the delay that matters not the lost bag or poor soul on the track... Anyway what I'm getting at is that there's always something more important to someone else, in this case it's the designer's collection over the state of my squashed toes. So my feet will have to be well padded and ready to carry me around, even if it does mean compromising a block heel for a brogue. This is where I turn up for work looking like shit because interning has crushed my soul and I can't be bothered to find an outfit that will go with a comfy shoe...jokes...

Länges Fadchen, faules Mädchen

I feel like I should explain my blog title... It was one of my first days on this new placement and one of the other interns: a German girl, was showing me how I should sew on care labels. There was loads of thread already on the needle she was about to use and she said her Grandma would have said 'Langes Fädchen, faules Mädchen' which she said translates to the non-rhyming version 'Long thread, lazy girl' and for some reason it stuck. I actually really like the phrase and I think it is quite representative of working in the fashion industry; you have to be patient and precise! (And obvs you should use lots of little threads instead of one big one which results in pulling your hair out/crying/bleeding fingers after 30 care labels with invisible stitching..)

The Big Smoke

Moving to London was a massive choice for me. I'd done my first placement in Newcastle, good friends and my sister were there and I thought London wasn't for me, much to the delight of my family in Cumbria. Then it got later on in the year and I decided just to try it. There are so many opportunities in fashion in London so getting a placement wasn't a problem but finding a flat in under 2 weeks and not being able to view it first was an issue...

My Dad and I rocked up to the block of flats on moving day and I just thought 'What have I done?!' It was horrible, there were rowdy children outside who I'm sure would have shouted obscenities at me if my not-so-little Dad hadn't have been there. The flat itself was nice enough, much to my relief. I felt like a fresher again, although I soon realised my first night here would be nothing like my first booze-filled, trolley-riding, lifelong-friend-making night in Newcastle. (Feeling nostalgic?!) Safe to say my Dad was pooing his pants that I wasn't going to be okay. 

A few weeks later and I'm settled, the placement's good and I can see the gherkin from my window!

I always just remind myself that this was my choice and I have to make the most of it! Cheese cheese cheese.....

Fashion Intern in London, GSOH, NS

So three weeks ago I moved to London. Loving it so far! So weird for me being this far south when my whole life has been spent in the north...and not the fake north, the actual north! And no, Cumbria is not Scotland as some Londoners seem to think! Pffttt!
I actually love it there and Newcastle too, where I've spent the start of my Uni years but I thought it was about time for a change of scenery. So I thought I'd blog some of my experiences as I'm not here for a long time..(just a good time haha) I can already tell I'll be back later on in life when I've finished my degree but I owe Newcastle some more years yet!
I study Fashion Marketing and I moved for a placement with a designer. I think it'll be good to tell others about intern experience as I've already got a lot to share after a mere three weeks!
Interning is so weird. Yeah I'm getting some valuable experience, but I find it hard to grasp that most opportunities are unpaid, even within huge companies that I'm sure could afford to give a few pennies to students who ultimately bring a lot to their business.
I've had two experiences within very different small companies, one with a home and interiors trend forecasters in the North East and one I've just started here in London with a fashion brand which is very design based. As both places are made up of very few people, it's meant I have been given a large amount of responsibility and you get to see all of the areas of the company. I definitely think this is beneficial, especially compared to a larger company where you could be asked to make tea and perhaps be swamped with the amount of people, although I am planning to move to a bigger brand so I'll let you know if I'm right on that one!