Proffessional Studies

This is the unit of my Fashion Studies course that deals with developing my portfolio, improving my CV and cover letter skills, growing confident in interviews and preparing for work, as well as looking at possible work placement opportunities for easter.

I began this year with getting back on track with my blog. I had done only a few over Summer so I'm really glad I am back on track with them, I have much more information this semester to write though, which is why there's been so much more writing!

Before this module I didn't really have a proper portfolio. OK I had some of my work from college, but that was all A1 work which quite frankly looks very unprofessional compared to my university work. It was all A1 whereas all my work from university has been A3 at the biggest. I got hold of an A3 portfolio which looks so much more professional and neat, it is also so much more handy to carry around!
I have improved all my favourite uni work so much using Photoshop, I'm very proud of it. I also labeled all my pages, and added a business card to the front. Also adding a pretty label for the outside to make mine look a bit different to everyone else's is a nice touch!
I'm very proud to have a good portfolio now which I'm very confident about showing at my mock interview at the end of this module!

My CV has improved no end, along with the creative CV which I have never done before. I found that looking at past student's examples in lessons was really helpful along with the lectures about how to improve. I went home confident enough to create a good looking CV with all the right information needed.

Cover letters I've always been quite confident with but I'm still interested in getting my feedback to see where I can improve on that.

Overall this has been a great module with a lot I've learned which I know will help me no end with my work placement at the end of the year and work after university. I realise I need to perhaps make my portfolio and CV more swayed towards the job that I'm interested in for my work placement such as the Derby Theatre wardrobe assistant. As I don't know for certain where I'm going yet I think it'll be alright for now.

DPP Talk

DPP information on University Of Derby website.

Last night we had an evening of presentations by the third years who had a year out in industry. All 9 students gave a 10-15 minute presentation talking about their year out, their finances, where they lived, how they got on, jobs they were given and how they got on with the people they worked with.

Although I don't plan to have a year out for working in the industry myself, I found some of the information interesting and helpful. I think the information will help towards the 5 week work placement I have to do in April next year.

Some points I found that were repeated quite a lot were;

* You can apply for a half student loan as fees for this year out to the uni are £640.
* You have to do 38 weeks of work placement, and an average of 40 hours a week.
* Not all companies pay you, so remember living/travel/maintenance finances.
* Some students have been offered further employment after graduation.
* London College Of Fashion website is a good source for placements in London area.
* Don't be intimidated by workers, just be yourself and don't be afraid to voice your opinion. Don't be bullied.
* If you want to work with a foreign company, communicate visually as images can be recognized in any language.

Future Laboratory Guest Talk

We had a really interesting presentation from someone from the Future Laboratory last night that really opened my eyes to the marketing side of fashion and the future of advertising/marketing in general.

The Future Lab speaker Ravi Khanna was a past student of Nottingham Tent University who studied Fashion Marketing. He won an award during his time at university which landed him a job at the Future Laboratory. He worked and lived in New York and now travels almost everywhere. His job involves traveling, interviews and presentations of his findings, publications and client work.

The Future Lab began by distributing a magazine called Viewpoint which looked at issues that could effect the word. It then moved on to creating a website similar to that of WGSN which looked at current trends and movements effecting the globe. This updated daily so was used by many individuals and companies.
Here are some facts and notes I found really really interesting during the lecture -

- "the growing need for customers to collaborate with brands " "participating culture" - letting customers interact with the brand is becoming more and more popular.

- brands need Conversation, Collabortaion and Creation to be successful.

- Conversation - approachable, casual, open
Collaboartion - flexible and democratic
Creativity - imaginative, inspirational and daring.

- even though brands are becoming more involved with the customer, the public believe brands;
- lack honesty 32%
- lack fairness 12%
- lack inegrity 14%
- are deceptive 6%
- 46% want brands to be friendly
- 33% want brands to be personal
- 31% want brands to be local
- 30% want brands to be simple.

- Technology makes brands more accessible, it's all about customers changing the brand, for example Burberry had a live show online with a comment box, which made it as if the public were on front row seats and their views were important.

- brands have to be interesting and fun - 'Wish You Were Here' swap shop - swapping New York store with London for a fun new perspective in stores.

- We have to think of the brand as more of a personality rather than a public or private entity.

- Overall brands, to be successful have to think LATTE - LOCAL, AUTHENTIC, TRUSTABLE, TRACEABLE and ETHIC.

Portfolio Points

1. Never put in anything you don't like.

2. Strongest piece of work at front, and end of portfolio.

3. Try not to switch between portrait/landscape layouts.

4. Be very neat, mount work - no tears or wonky edges.

5. Use neat, clear portfolio sleeves.

6. Photograph garment to take to interview, or if you really want to show a garment take only one.

7. Show pattern construction/work, technical files mounted on A3 in project.

8. 3 or 4 projects should be kept inside portfolio.

9. Show a cross-section of your work, wide diversity of work you've done.

10. In an interview, always turn the work, and any negative points back to being positive.

11. Label portfolio - different projects, with an added index if possible.

12. Include a copy of your CV or business card in the portfolio so you can hand it out easily.



*** how I need to start improving my portfolio -
- sort through work - choose what I want to keep in portfolio
- need to buy some new plastic sleeves for my portfolio
- write list of the projects and order them
- write a list of changes/adaptations to projects I want to do to improve
appearance/effectiveness.

In Desperate Need of a CV Update!

I had a lecture today which involved looking at past student's CVs. Oh my, I really need to get mine up to scratch! OK, so most of mine is up to date but my personal profile definetly needs rethinking. Also looking at the creativity of most people's CVs made mine look really boring, I'm thinking of adding some of my illustrations to the CV, and possibly playing around with the layout and size/shape of the page. I also learned an important thing about cover letters - they need to give the reader a feel good factor about you from the first word to the end, mine in the past have been so plain and boring, no wonder I've not been very lucky in the past! Time to do some thinking...

Alexander McQueen S/S 2010

Here is a link to one of the greatest finds I've had for a long time. I watched this as it was streamed LIVE officially from Alexander McQueen's Spring/Summer 2010 catwalk. I don't think I've ever been so excited by a video! The prints reminded me of the natural bark prints seen a lot this spring/summer but were based on Atlantis, deep sea colours and fluid-looking fabrics. The heels were AMAZING, they were so high that the angle the feet were made to look reminded me of old Chinese shoes.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO


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Summer Sketchbook Update

Here are some images of my finished sketchbook which I'm handing in this week!

I worked really hard over summer to complete this, a moodboard, colourboard, 40 jacket designs and 40 dress designs. I'll add more photos of my work as soon as I can.