London Fashion Week: Day 10

Relative PR
James Long
I was intrigued as to how different today was going to be as it was Mens day at London Fashion Week and I was at Somerset House again. The jobs were the usual but the atmosphere was so different, alot more relaxed! The male models were not as I expected them to be but had a real English look to them. Seating guests such as Jason Gardner was exciting and then the anticipation built up to the show. I was impressed with the collection and found it very wearable, perfect for buyers and retailers.

London Fashion Week: Day 9

Relative PR
Mary Katrantzou

After Giles yesterday I didnt think any show would be able to top it. Mary Katrantzou location was beautiful but not comparable to Giles. I was not the biggest Mary Katrantzou fan but the AW11 collection was vry well put together, with the enchanting patterns which can sometimes look too much all together but structured very well. My role again was to lay out goodie bags and seat people which I am now a pro at! On the other hand I was really shocked at the weight of some of the models, which in my opinion were too thin.

Emilio De La Morena

This was the first show at Somerset House which I worked on which was really exciting for me. When I arrived I made the most of the free time and took a range of photographs outside from outfits to the architecture. Once inside we had the chance to watch the run through which was amazing to see the models go down the catwalk in their own clothes. I noticed that the majority wear simple clothing, jeans and a plain top but with big knits. After the rehearsal we did a quick meeting going through the seating and then it was show time. People filed in and were greeted and seated by me, including Olivia Palermo (pictured right with Emilio).




Amanda Wakeley
Amanda Wakeley is one of my favourite designers so I was really looking forward to working on this show. The collection was beyond my expectation, I could have taken any one of those items and been able to wear it with anything. Watching the run through before hand was amazing as opposite the catwalk was Amanda Wakeley. Even though this wasnt as breathtaking as Giles, Amanda Wakeley was certainly competition.

London Fashion Week: Day 8

Relative PR
Giles Show

I arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice for Giles catwalk. The location was breathtaking, I walked in and the high ceilings and beautiful colours made the location beautiful. Not a typical catwalk location it had scaffolding for lighting which was a shame as it took something away from the architecture. Heading backstage was unlike any backstage I had ever seen before, within this beautiful building there were countless number of mirrors and clothes rails! Before the show we has to place all the goodie bags and learn the seating plan, memorising blocks and rows. As I had now done this afew times I was getting used to the roles I played. I always enjoy seating guests with their extravagant style! The show began and everything came together..the music, the lighting, the models and the collection. I found the show so unique in its beauty and the collection has definatly been my favourite so far but it was such a contrast to his previous collection SS11 with neon and clashing prints. The finale dresses included huge ballgowns with black embellishment.

London Fashion Week: Day 7

Relative PR
Matthew Williamson Show
After yesterdays show was breathtaking I was really looking forward to the Matthew Williamson show as he got alot of media coverage recently as his collection is meant to be amazing. This show didnt have any goodie bags or things to lay out, so my only job of the day was to seat guests. Guests in attendance included Yasmin Le Bon, Twiggy, Olivia Palermo and Jacquetta Wheeler. The collection has an ethnic inspired feel and uses boho aesthetic and statement colour.

London Fashion Week: Day 6

Relative PR
Charles Anastase Show 

Today was my first day working for Relative PR. Relative PR has a huge list of high end designers so I was really excited to see what kind of things I would be doing. When I turned up at the location of the Charles Anastase show it loked like a huge black box building site from the outside but when I walked it, the atmosphere changed. Through the backstage door was a world of chaos from stylists to models, and photographers to make up artists, everyone was there. The buzz I got from being in this environment was exciting, I was then introduced to the PR team who I would be working with for the next five days. An hour before the show and the run through begins, my jobs included filling goodie bags and preparing the seats.

IT WAS SHOW TIME! A quick meeting to discuss the seating plan was really interesting, going through the different blocks included 'the glossys' which are all the magazines, 'the friends and family' of the designer and the newspapers. As press and guests started to file through I was meeting and greeting them and escorting them to their allocated seat. I felt like I had been thrown in the deep end but it meant that I learnt quick and had an amazing opportunity to talk to guests.




This was my first fashion show and I loved it. It was the atmosphere and the setting which made it so exciting but when the lights when down, the music and spotlight came on, it as all about the collection.

London Fashion Week: Day 5

Showroom

Today was my last day in the office and my final day of having an entire collection as my wardrobe! This was my favourite outfit of the week. Along with the other jobs I have been doing for the past few days I was given a bigger responsibility today, I had to search for possible clients in France. The Sales and Marketing team at Orla Kiely are traveling to Paris next week and therefore will be available to see new clients. I focused my search on high end boutiques as I knew they have already approached the big department stores. I was successful but the end of the day and had contact details for a number of boutiques which the team will later send press releases and invitations to.

Presentation 

After work we went to the Orla Kiely presentation for London Fashion Week at Somerset House. The set up was so unique, from the old sheds to trees and benches. At the presentation I had the chance to chat to Orla Kiely some more but was also introduced to stylist to the stars and editor-in-chief of Lula, Leith Clark.

London Fashion Week: Day 4

Showroom
I arrive early and keen to work! I go down to the Ready to wear clothing line and have to select my outfit for the day from the AW11 collection...every girls dream! After alot of trying on I decided to go with the shift dress and cardigan as it is one of my favourites from the new collection.
Today I have done the same jobs as yesterday, looking after clients and running errands.

London Fashion Week: Day 3

After enjoying my afternoon with the sales girls yesterday I was really looking forward to going back to the show room for the day. First job of the day was to pop to the shops and buy some milk for the clients, later I was arranging goodie bags for clients, including the latest Orla Kiely range of candles, perfume, shopper bags, chocolate and the SS11 Look Book. After I ventured out to Goodge Street on a mission to buy a new bulb for one of the studio lights. After lunch I was working in the showroom office, talking to clients on the phone and researching into possible clients in France.

London Fashion Week: Day 2

Office and Showroom

I arrived at the office at 9 this morning looking forward to the day ahead of me. My first job of the day was counting buttons! Thousands!
Next some sample scarfs were being sent to the showroom so I had to sew on labels. For the rest of the morning I was free to read the millions of magazines floating round the office. I thought my university had a good collection but the Orla Kiely collection definitely tops it!
After lunch Orla came into the studio and suggested I spend the afternoon at the showroom to see the sales side of the business.
Travelling round again is great, I am loving it and have really missed the chaos of the city.
I arrive at the showroom and they were with a client. I was rushed downstairs and shown around. The showroom space is really smart and perfect for what is needed. The team of girls at the showroom are so friendly and really nice to work with. I feel more at home at the showroom than the office.
The showroom usually has around 5 clients a day and can last over 2 hours. I noticed it is a very relaxed meeting, more of a discussion between the client and sales are trying to push a newer acorn print to develop from the original stem print.


After the client left the showroom was a mess! My first job was to return everything to the original display using merchandising pictures of the rails. The second job of the day was making tea and whilst this sounds simple, at 18 years old I had never made a tea! Afew AW11 samples had make up on them and so I dropped them to the dry cleaners, whilst out I also collected afew things from the covent garden shop. Orla and Dermott visited the showroom and made afew comments and changes. My last job of the day was to merchandise the purse cabinet which I really enjoyed.

London Fashion Week: Day 1

Orla Kiely Office

Upcoming events for Orla Kiely:

• London Fashion Week Presentation Friday 18th Feb
• Next week show in New York
• Designing prints for Spring Summer 12
• Launching new bed linen

What I got up to...

I arrived at 9am at the Clapham offices, Orla Kiely Headquarters! After meeting the design team and the other student who was working there for the week I had my first job of the day, the closet!
After re arranging the closet and making everything tidy we prepared a folder of the new Ready to Wear AW 11 Collection to be sent to the manufacturers in Hong Kong.
After Lunch Orla personally asked if i would care to join her on a trip to the printers. The private driver pulled up outside and we jumped in the car off to the printers in Ealing. The larger than life prints were for London Fashion Week (LFW) on Friday and needed to be checked before 24 girls were printed full scale and prints for flooring. Orla said that whilst she could have sent someone, she wanted the final say as colour and quality is so important. At the printers lots had to be changed!

Day 87: Fashion Week Research cont.

As I do not know every designers past collections, in my LFW book I have individual selected two pictures from the past two seasons for each designer. Whilst it started off as a great idea, after 236 individually selected photos I was thinking differently. This book has allowed me to have an overview over the whole of London Fashion Week and means that I will have abit of research into clients before meeting them.

Day 86: Fashion Week Research

I have spent the day researching into LFW which I am very excited for. After studying the LFW website I decided to make a research book for LFW as there was so much information to learn. After making a profile for each one of the 59 designers I decided to include, I also printed of schedules for the 5 running days of LFW.
I am really happy with the outcome of the book, it is also a perfect size to be able to carry around with me when traveling in London.

Day 84: London Fashion Week

With London Fashion Week (LFW) commencing on the 18th February until the 23rd, I thought this would be a great opportunity to see the other side of high fashion through events, marketing, sales and PR.
I have contacted Orla Kiely to try and arrange a period in which I can intern for them in the upcoming weeks explaining I would prefer to be with marketing. Orla Kiely not only invited me to intern during LFW and the Orla Kiely Presentation at LFW but also suggested I contacted the PR company, Relative PR, they use to see if I could also work with the for afew days.
I have emailed Relative PR asking to see if it is possible for me to intern after the Orla Kiely Presentation, so from the 19th onwards. The next stage is to research into who is showing at LFW and into Relative.

Day 83: Look Book

I finally decided today would be the day to do abit of craft! After collecting loads of cut outs, photos and adverts I thought it was time to add to my look book. I use my look book as a resource for inspiration and ideas. Using the look book as a visual aid I can explain ideas and cross reference to my inspiration. I try to include a wide range of photos from wildlife to catwalk. Reflecting on today I have realised that my eye is immediately attracted to advertisments and the medias influence on everyday life.

Day 81: Studio and Initial Ideas

Today I spent the day exploring my ideas for the new project and started to sketch developed ideas. I plan to continue the condensation idea but on a small scale so I can photograph them on a low budget and quickly. The scarf over someones head I also want to develop because I think the pictures could be beautiful but at the moment I want to do something abit more comical and controversial.