Catch-up

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Hi guys,
I know its been a while since I've blogged, and I am really sorry, but I have two words that act as an excuse: FINAL YEAR.
I'd heard all the horror stories, listened to all the ranting, and thought "That won't be me. I won't let myself get that stressed" well, here we are, 5 weeks into term, and I am well and truly stressed. (Also, sidenote, I would totally love you all forever and ever if you would fill in my survey for dissertation here. thankssss!)

The last time I blogged I had just spent a brill week in London on placement at Fabulous mag, and spending much needed catch up time with my big sis, and since then a few things have happened.

Firstly, A new haircut

Me and my gorge flatmate

Anyone who follows me on pinterest (if you don't, why not? find me here.) will probably have guessed that I was contemplating a full fringe for a while, as my entire hair inspiration board was filling up with pictures of gorgeous fringes. Once I got back from my girly holiday in Magaluf, I fancied a change and bit the bullet. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but it has taken me about a month to love it, as I was totally unsure at first!


Secondly, A new Job title.
My uni have are launching a new Fashion Website called Fashion North, and I have been named News Editor! I'm super excited to be part of the new site, and totally thankful to have yet another amazing opportunity to put on my slowly expanding CV. I hope to post loads about it closer to the launch, and will definitely try to post about the launch party, but for now follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

But that's pretty much it, apart from a trip home planned and a halloween night out, my next few weeks consists entirely of uni work and shifts in Sports Direct.
Who said Fashion Degrees were glamourous?

Fabulous magazine: work experience!

So last weekend I packed my case and got on a train to London to do a weeks work experience at Fabulous magazine! 

This wasn't my first placement, so I wasn't nervous, just very excited to get started. So after a bit of a mishap with google maps I got horrendously lost on Monday morning, but still managed to make it to the office on time. Phew! 

I spent the week working alongside features, and the web team as well, where I wrote up some things for the site, and did some transcribing of interviews. I also I'd some building of the website, which was interesting to learn as a process.

Now onto the most important part, what did I wear? 

On Monday I chose my floral print trousers from oasis, teamed with my Topshop jumper and my favourite Miss Selfridge pumps. I also used my Primark clutch to dress it up a bit (and got compliments on it from some of the girls in the office, who all thought it was Zara!)

On day 2 I went for my zara spotty shirt, and my h&m leather skirt. My trusty topshop chain and oasis slippers completed the outfit. 

Wednesday it was time for my Awear Aztec print dress, and my new favourite necklace from Accessorize. 

On Thursday I had to dress it up slightly because after work my sister, her boyfriend and I headed straight to Leicester square to see Charlie and the Chocolate factory the musical. (Which was fantastic! Everyone should go see it.) I saw it as a perfect day to debut my new topshop tulle skirt dress. I feel like such a princess in this dress (although I'm not going to lie it was pretty cold!) 

For my last day (sob sob!) I chose my oasis embellished too, with my h&m trousers and my black slipper flats, also from oasis. When I was leaving the office the girls presented me with a beauty bag full of amazing freebies as a thank-you present. it contained some amazing things, so expect some reviews coming up soon!

I had such an amazing week and My sister and I polished off our fab week with some cute afternoon tea in House of Fraser's tea terrace. So now I'm back at uni about to start my third and final year, scary scary times. Hopefully this year brings as many opportunities as the last. 

Changes in life, changes in style.

For those of you who may not know, I am about a month away from starting my final year of university (Too scary, have a mild panic everytime I think about it!) and so far my university experience has been AMAZING. I really feel like uni has changed my life in so many ways, and the major change I've noticed has been in my own self-confidence.

Three years ago I moved from a small Northern Irish town, to a slightly bigger English city. I left behind my friends, my family and everything that was familiar, to be a small fish in a much bigger pond than I was used to. I remember being nervous about moving, but also really excited. Without dwelling on it too much, I didn't have too fab a time at school, and was really excited to be somewhere that I could have a new start. Going over (with a shocking amount of stuff) I had been chatting to a few people on my course on Facebook, but had absolutely no idea what to expect from them in real life. 

Long story short, some of those people are now my best friends, (Miss you all, as at this point I haven't seen you all since May!) and I feel like a completely different person than that nervous fresher who got off the boat three years ago. I can see these changes in so many ways, but the biggest has to be in my wardrobe and pictures of me. Fresher me didn't know the benefits of a good eyebrow threading and tinting, and even though I study Fashion, I look back and cringe at what I was wearing. But now I am so much more adventurous with clothes and makeup, as well as being so much more comfortable with myself. 

Being really self-conscious meant that a lot of my now everyday wardrobe staples, would have totally terrified me. Leather trousers would've made me run a mile, but now they're the favourite piece I own. Even with regards to my blog, I used to be scared to post the link anywhere and kept it to myself for a while, but know I tell any social media platform that'll listen, and I would never have dreamed of taking pictures of myself and posting them online for fear of people calling me vain. Now, I don't care. Before uni I used to worry about what people thought far too much. I hated my legs so I never went on nights out without tights on, now I wear whatever I want as long as I like it.

Before discovering what an eyebrow pencil was, and well before I realised that a side fringe was SO not a good look for me. But good to see I still have one standard pose. Hands on hips everyone!

Basically the whole point of this post is just to tell anyone debating about their future or whether they should take a massive step in life, to just do it! If it doesn't work out, that's fine, at least you tried, and you never know what amazing things will happen to you along the way.

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.

OOTD: Nude Stripes

Top-Internacionale//Skirt-H&M//Bag-Primark//Shoes-Topshop

I wore this out on Monday night for a friends Birthday. I saw the skirt in H&M and I had to have it, and it was a bargain so I could just about afford to! The top is last season, and I got it for my birthday, but they just matched so well, that I didn't know what else to match the skirt with.

At the moment, life is just one long assignment. its the only thing I seem to do these days. I am counting down the days until Christmas as well, by the time it comes round I won't have been home in four months, and I've never been away from home that length yet. I'm very excited!

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.

Weekly Wishlist #5

This weeks wishlist is Christmas themed! Everyone loves a good Christmas jumper, so there's one out there for you no matter what your style is.

1. Fair Isle Jumper £30 ASOS
I like the colour palette in this jumper, and I love the fit of it as well.

2. Cable Knit Jumper £12.99 H&M
I already own this in the Coral shade, but it is so comfortable that I'm considering it in a different colour. My favourite is the Mint one.

3. Reindeer Jumper £20 Boohoo
This is the start of the novelty jumpers coming through, and I like the simplicity of this one. There's nothing worse than a red and green colour scheme on a Christmas Jumper!

4.Holly Jumper £50 Topshop
This is my absolute favourite on the list, but I really hate the price! Damn Topshop and their overly expensive pricing!

5. Fair Isle £36 H! by Henry Holland
Another Fair Isle one, but I really love that pattern, and this one is in a warmer colour scheme!

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

Instagram Pictures #4

Last night of Summer with my bestie/ Leaving Home again/ My view from the boat/ First night of freshers/ Decorating the walls of my new room/ Finally getting a full GFC box/ Diet coke and Lime so good!/ Cutest earphones ever/ Cute collage my sister made me/ extreme multitasking/ Wise words/ My flatmates awesome pumpkin/ My halloween costume/ A cat and a dead doll/ Fashion Shoot for uni.

Wow, its been a while since I last did one of these, mainly due to the fact that I killed my iPhone over summer and therefore had no Instagram use. Sad times. Hope you all had a fun Halloween. I have to admit, it isn't my favourite holiday, in fact I pretty much hate it, but its an excuse to go out! Going to London tomorrow for uni and then spending the weekend with my sister. Its been a while since I've seen her, so it should be fun.

Graduation Fashion!

Black dress: bought at a local boutique

My Dress: Oasis
My shoes: Topshop
Aveen's Shoes: Dune
Cap and Gown Optional!

On Saturday, my big sister graduated from drama school, and became a qualified actress. I kept promising her I'll blog about her, so I decided the best present would be a feature on my blog!
Congratulations Aveen, and to all my readers, you should prepare to see her on a screen or stage near you soon! take a note of that face and remember where you saw her first! we had such an amazing day and weekend, and spent most of it in a daze of champagne and wine, and it was generally just a nice, relaxing weekend. Now I just need to work hard and get my own degree.

Newcastle Fashion Week.

As you may or may not know, this week is Newcastle Fashion Week. There are many fashion themed events being held in the city, and tonight, was no exception.

I was invited to attend a talk from Elizabeth Walker at Northumbria University and I was massively looking forward to it. She talked to us about her life, her career and Fashion in general. she had such an amazing and inspiring life, and told us all about the places all over the world that she has travelled to, making me envious of the places she's been!

Liz Walker

During the talk she outlined how she started out at ballet school, before deciding that a career in ballet wasn't what she wanted, as it was "too much hard work and not enough time for boys!" She then applied to art school, and for those of you also in this position do not give up hope, it took her two attempts at applying, so just keep at it!

The first magazine she worked at was 'Harper's Bazaar' which was then called 'Harper's Queen', and from here she told us about all the people she knows in the industry, people whose work I greatly admire such as Mario Testino, David Bailey and Anna Wintour, and how life on fashion magazines isn't always as glamorous as it seems! (She told us that we shouldn't even think about having friends or a social life during fashion weeks!)

She told us about how she didn't really want to take the job at Marie Claire, but that "Jobs are like boyfriends, the less you want them, the more they want you!" and so she took her career to Marie Claire, where she worked for eighteen years, before freelancing at the Telegraph and The Times.

Throughout the talk she was funny, and charmed us the entire audience, who hung on her every word. She graced us with many anecdotes about her career, including one where Manolo Blahnik wore a pair of stiletto's because: "If you girl's have to suffer for my art then I should too!"

She has released 'The Style Book' and is currently working on a second book 'The Pattern Book'. It is available to buy in several countries, including The UK, Spain, France, America and Japan.

This was such a fabulous talk from such an inspirational fashion legend. we also had the chance to feel like VIP's with our very own 'Reserved' Seats and free Jubilee style cupcakes, courtesy of The Great British Cupcakery! I could get used to these freebies!

Instagram Pictures #3

Amazingly nice bubblegum, what I'm reading at the moment, New phone cases, Watching the Muppet movie, Strawberry Woo Woo's, Flowery Nails, Fish Necklace, Matching my nails to my phone case, Combining A level English literature to fashion modules at uni, Day at the beach, Random texts from my sister, Night out with friends, Blogging in my Bridgewater, Night out in Huddersfield, Summery Days, Assignment Writing, Lusting after vintage Dior, New Dress for my sister's Graduation.