Summed up

                         

                         

                         

Top- Primark// Skirt- H&M// Necklace- Accessorize//Boots- H&M

Today I had uni all day and I pretty much feel like I live there at the moment. But in between lessons I was helping Melody film a video for Fashion North, the new website we're part of for uni, and so I took the opportunity to get Nancy to take a few cheeky pics as I hadn't done an outfit post in a really long time.

I slept in this morning and so very little thought was put into this outfit, other than, "is this clean? does this match? Good enough!" but I managed to get a few compliments on it so it seemed to work out okay. Most of this is super old and super cheap, (perfect for a uni budget really) The top is on its last legs at this point and that makes me really sad because it matches so many things so I need to replace it asap really.

I even included a shot of me laughing, because I always think I look like a moody cow on my outfit snaps! The rest of this week is going to be spent doing yet more uni work and partying on behalf of halloween, which will be a nice break from the books! 

BAFTAs 2013 Best Dressed

Last night saw the BAFTAs roll around again, and as usual I couldn't tell you who won any awards, but I could tell you what most of the girls were wearing. My favourite look of the entire night has to be Anne Hathaway's amazingly simple, studded Burberry gown. It is the perfect shape on her and goes very well with her new cropped haircut.
Also, bravery award of the night goes to SJP. She has received a lot of negativity over last nights outfit choice, but I loved it, especially how understated it was comparing to her usual outfit choices. Jumpsuits are definitely an underrated outfit choice, and need to be worn on the red carpet more often, I find them to be a lot classier than some dresses.
Special mention to Juno Temple's fabulous fur coat. It was disgustingly cold in London last night when I was leaving, so it was a good choice for keeping warm!

(Press the i button on the slideshow above to view captions)

In Good Company.

As I previously mentioned I'm currently in the middle of a two week placement at Company Magazine, and I am loving it!

I'm doing two weeks on the features desk, and I really am learning a lot, and it takes a lot more work than just making some tea (although that does have to happen occasionally of course!) 

so far in my two weeks, I've had an opportunity to see how a website gets put together (WAY harder than running a blog!!!) I've transcribed some interviews, which is great because it means I'm one of the first to hear all the gossip, and I've done lots of research.

Its a really nice thing to know that even though I won't have a byline in the issue, I will have contributed in some way to all the features, and it will be very cool when I read it and I see something I found in my research pop up in a feature, or I see the final write up of the interviews I typed up.

Of course doing such an internship means one very amazing thing. I get to spend two weeks living (or rather infringing on my sisters very small bed. Sorry Aveen!) in one of the most amazing, and fashionably inspiring cities. Every morning on my way into work I pass Liberty, Oxford Street Topshop, and even Jaeger head offices! I was also pleasantly surprised when I was just sitting in the office last week and Gemma Cairney walked in. Starstruck is an understatement for how I was. There was also a frenzy of excitement in the office when Liam Neeson was spotted downstairs in Prêt, and my Northern Irish accent was put to one of its only good uses, by doing an imitation of that speech from Taken.

I love just being in the office of a fashion magazine, and now I really can't see myself working anywhere else! The environment is so inspiring, and its really fascinating to see how everything works behind the scenes, and I especially love watching how everyone writes, as they spend a lot of time brainstorming and bouncing ideas off each other and I really like seeing that. Yesterday I was tidying around the office and I got a chance to look at back issues from really far back. (Like before I was born!) All these things, along with seeing how the styling is done for shoots, is really helping me see what I need to do in order to get working somewhere as soon as possible!

Also, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was ridiculously overexcited when I got my official email address and building access card. It really helps you feel very important, as does getting to see an issue, straight from the printers, a week before it goes on sale.

My sister and I also took a little trip to Harrods, (where I pretended to be a Disney Princess for a bit!) and then a little night on the town!

Welcome to Wonderland...

My latest Uni project was to create a fashion spread, and I was in a group with Jordan Charlton. We decided to take an Alice in Wonderland approach to the shoot, as we both love it so much! Thanks to Lorna for being our model in the snow!

Also, some good news for me this week: I'm doing an internship at COMPANY!!! I am so excited, and can't wait to get started, and definitely gain a few things to write about for this blog. Hopefully I'll get a few outfit posts shot when I'm in London too. 

Vogue Styling

You may or may not remember me posting this little snap on my last instagram post.

This semester in uni I did a module of styling and design, in which we had to arrange a magazine cover shoot. My group chose vogue for our magazine, and below is my final cover. I'm really happy with it and how it has turned out.

I also had to do a photoshoot for another module (I did it with my friend Jordan, check out her new blog here!), and I'll upload those in January sometime, when I'm back at uni and they're all handed in!

Going home on tuesday FINALLY! cannot wait. I shall fill you all in on my festive activities when they start.

My interview with Katrina Doran

Katrina Doran says herself that she has Fashion in her blood: “I’ve always wanted a career in it, and my uncle owned a factory in the 60’s and 70’s that made Burberry’s iconic trench coats,” she tells, “My mum and aunts all worked there on the elite sewing team.” This set her up nicely towards her future successful career as a stylist, and creative director of sugahfix.com. 

Sugahfix is a Northern Ireland based fashion and beauty website, single-handedly set up by Katrina. It was set up in order to address the gap in the market that she thought was so glaringly obvious: “I love fashion magazines, but up until a few years ago, many brands featured in the major magazines were very London-centric and not available in Northern Ireland. Some of the local magazines buying in their fashion shoots from London so they were still featuring designers and brands that were only available in the mainland.”  

For someone that loves fashion it was understandably frustrating that there were no fashion magazines exclusive to Northern Ireland, but there were other reasons for this: “I always worked in fashion and beauty marketing, and trying to target women here is very difficult unless you have a budget for TV advertising.” 

Katrina’s career path to fashion didn’t start out by her studying fashion, so she had quite a roundabout way into the industry. She chose to study Psychology at Queen’s University Belfast: “I absolutely loved it. But I never stopped ‘studying’ fashion as I lived on toast for a week as I’d spent my weeks budget on Vogue and Elle, But it was money well spent!” 

Although she never officially studied fashion, the ambition has always been there, she grew up surrounded by those strong family influences, and her mother passed her sewing skills on to her from a young age: “I used to draw a sketch of what I wanted and then we’d go and pick the fabric and make the clothes together. I was sewing since I was allowed a needle and thread.” But the designing of clothes wasn’t the career that spoke to her the most: “I was given my first copy of vogue when I was 10 and although I had no idea then what a stylist was or that I could be a fashion writer, I knew I wanted to be that person that came up with the ideas for the photoshoots.” and so Sugahfix was born. 

While Katrina is confident, she is definitely not a typical representation of a woman working in fashion. She set up FABB, a network for Northern Ireland based fashion bloggers, so that they could help each other out and attend events together, but mainly so that she could make friends with people who were doing the same thing as she was: “I was thrilled to find other fashion and beauty bloggers in Northern Ireland as it can be quite a lonely business, especially working from home. I think it started out with 10 or 12 at the time and thought there might be 20 altogether, but now there are 32 members, it’s amazing!”  

This desire to make connections and friends within the industry makes her stand out from the usual industry professionals. She has become a well-respected figure in the local fashion industry and gets invited to all the major events. But she constantly tries to help new faces in fashion.  

So although she has already worked up to big things, Katrina has recently started to expand her website, and she recently started hiring new members of staff, so it seems the future can only get better for her.

Katrina’s Top tips for aspiring fashionistas. 

• I get contacted by girls who say they love fashion and would like to shadow me to see if they’d like to be a stylist, but No-one can teach you to be a stylist – it is everything you’ve absorbed over the years that informs how you put an outfit together or how you come up with a theme or concept for a photo shoot.  
• Everyone loves fashion – but enjoying going shopping or wearing fabulous clothes is not the same as really knowing fashion. 
• For fashion writers, the history of fashion is so important, as you need to be able to spot historical references in the current designer collections so you can write about them in an informed way.  
• To be able to describe a garment you need to understand the technical elements from the cut to the fabric. So make things – the reason I know what a raglan sleeve is or the difference between a gored skirt and a flared skirt is because I’ve made them! 
• You never stop learning in Fashion, every season there are new collections and new designers and you need to study the international catwalks so you can understand how things filter down to the high street.

London Fashion Journalism Masterclass

I have just returned from an amazing weekend in London, as I went down with uni to attend a fashion journalism masterclass. The talk took place in the University of Sunderland's London Campus at Canary Wharf, and we all set off from Sunderland VERY early on the train on Friday morning.

The masterclass featured talks from four top journalists:
Rachel Richardson, editor of fabulous magazine,
Hattie Crisell, a freelance Journalist,
Hannah Almassi, Deputy Fashion News and Features Editor at Grazia,
Louise Gannon, a showbiz Journalist.

These four Journalists are all very hard, working, ambitious women, and they gave us a fantastic view into what our futures as fashion Journalists will hopefully look like! They shared with us their tips on getting a foot in the door, and on working in the industry in general, and so I thought I'd share the best bits of advice I gained from the day.

Get Experience.
At this, and indeed other talks I've attended, the emphasis was on getting as much experience as possible, but we were also told to get as much out of the experience as possible while there, so basically be polite to everyone, and go above and beyond what you are supposed to do, because if an opportunity comes up they might remember you and working really hard for free will be worth it in the end!

Prepare yourself for rejection.
We all know that its the sad case at the moment that we will face rejection no matter what line of work we choose to follow, but in journalism, rejection will come even after you've got a job. You may not be chosen to do a really good interview, or a piece you have written may be cut, but the advice we were given on Friday was not to "be precious about it." This will be no indication of your ability or your work, and there may be several different reasons behind the decisions.

Look the part.
Do not turn up looking scruffy. As Rachel told us, "you are a representation of the brand" and if the brand is Fashion then you will have to look like you have made an effort. 

Learn your trade.
All four of the girls agreed that it is important to know which writers you admire and know their work well. Read around your subject, but also don't focus solely on it, but be aware of current affairs, finance and other areas, that could be the angle or idea for a feature or story.

Inspiration comes from everywhere.
As previously mentioned, reading around the subject can inspire you, but this can come from anywhere, Magazines, Blogs, books or Newspapers, and inspiration can also be something as simple as things you and your friends are discussing amongst yourselves, or that you all feel is a pressing issue. I f you do come up with a good feature or story pitch it now, even if you are still a student, if it is a good idea and it is well written it may just get published.

And a few final tips:
Everyone you know is a contact, use them well.
Be yourself.
Don't feel you need to know everything all the time.
Keep your social footprint clean. Be careful what you post on Facebook and Twitter.


Thanks to the four speakers and to the University for arranging the masterclass it was inspiring and so helpful, and it meant I got to spend an amazing weekend in London with my sister, (more on that later) so now I just need to get my degree and get a job. All these essays will be worth it in the end