My-Wardrobe.com

During my two month placement at My-Wardrobe.com, I learnt a great deal about in-house PR as well as online E-tailers. Situated on Great Portland Street, My-Wardrobe is situated in a five story townhouse consisting of two showrooms (men and women), the Buying Department and Marketing and Press Offices. The building is a beautiful Georgian house complete with chandeliers, carved fireplaces and scented candles. 

Throughout the course of eight weeks I gained experience in both mens and womenswear sectors of the company which I enjoyed immensely. 

Womenswear Showroom

For the first six weeks I worked on womenswear with Frankie Hales, Press Assistant, therefore I familiarized myself with the collection and designers including Vivienne Westwood, Paul & Joe, Paul Smith and PPQ. 

Day-to-Day Responsibilities included...

Looking through newspapers, supplements, weekly magazines and glossies for My-Wardrobe coverage

Scanning in months worth of coverage for the Coverage Report which is taken to meetings

Doing call-ins for publications, and celebrity photoshoots which allowed me to be really creative considering the publication and the individual.

Going through various style websites to try find celebrities wearing garments My-Wardrobe stock

Completing stock-take on Sample Sales and sell-outs of showroom stock according to the website quantities

Running errands for the Marketing Director and Sarah Curran, CEO such as setting up breakfast meetings and getting lunch supplies 

Sitting in on lunch meetings with journalists

Sample Returns

In addition to this I was lucky enough to be present at the seasonal Look Book photoshoot near London Bridge. Although the shoot lasted a week, I was there for an afternoon and was shocked by how much work and thought goes into each look. Almost 55 boxes of Autumn/Winter collection pieces were lent from the designers for the shoot which were then transported to Portland Street for the Press Day.

Look Book Photoshoot

Press Day...

I was fortunate enough to be at My-Wardrobe for their Press Day which was an incredibly exciting time. I was given the responsibility of sourcing products for the Goody Bags which was a huge privilege and slightly nerve-wracking! In the lead-up to the Press Day I had to chase up RSVP's and invite any other members of the press which i thought were suitable and someone the company would be associated with. 

On the Press Day itself I was responsible for the Guest List which was an important task as Sarah Curran needs to know the exact number and who came at the end of the day. I was able to do this with ease and was even praised in the Director's speech in the evening which was a really important moment for me. I was able to meet 160 members of the Press which made all the hard work worthwhile and allowed me to see how the process works from inside the industry. Im so glad everything went without a hitch and the team were happy with the outcome.

Press Day Aftermath!

There is simply too much to explain what other responsibilities I had at My-Wardrobe but I enjoyed every minute of the placement and worked harder than ever before because I generally cared about the company and its company aims. I even went as far as offering to help lighten the load of Frankie by asking for extra work to do when I left the office.

This included thinking "outside the box" of new ways to promote Festival Fashion within the company. After coming up with a few ideas I decided to explore the concept of dressing according to what band the festival-goer is going to see using My-Wardrobe's products, obviously.

This is one of the Indie Moodboards I created for Festival Fashion which was later sent out to all My-Wardrobe Press Contacts which was a huge honour.

LOOK Magazine

During my four week placement at Look magazine, I was lucky enough to see how a successful, weekly magazine operates. The offices of IPC Media were chic and modern and included a total of four fashion cupboards that were the interns responsibility to be kept in order. I was situated in a small office with three other interns who I got on really well with. Although our first job was to get in the office as the door was forced shut with mountains of returns, over the course of the month, I was happy to take on more responsibilities.

Day-to-Day Responsibilities included...

Returning all sample returns to designers and press offices

 File all latest publication editions

 Write the credits for 'looks' in the magazine eg. Celebrity Must-Haves

Give feedback on Look's website and possible improvements.

Send items over to the shoot location

Help the editor in any way such as re-locating her belongings to different offices in the building.

Re-arranging the Look Book cupboards

Photocopying specific pages for the Freelance Fashion Assistants

Adding to the company's portfolio to take to business meetings.

In addition to this, i was fortunate enough to assistant Fiona Downie on her weekly High Street Hottest photoshoot. I had to be at the studio's on Old Street for 8am where I was greeted with a large and incredibly light space on the top floor. Breakfast had been prepared and we waited for Polena, the model and Maria Gomez, the photographer. There were a few problems on the shoot such as the silver backdrop was really creased which was evident in the test shots. To try and amend this, I steamed out the majority of the creases on the huge piece of material. However, the end result was that Maria wanted to use paper as the backdrop instead. I steamed all the 'looks' Fiona had prepared and helped Polina get dressed. 

Polina getting her hair and make-up done and Look 1

Look 2, Maria Gomez and her Assistant

Look 3 did not fit properly therefore had to be tweaked by Fiona and shot from certain angles

Look 4 and 5

After lunch, Polina was starting to feel light-headed and faint. As she was 3 months pregnant, I took her outside to get some air so that the shoot could commence. We also had problems with one of the 'looks' which resulted in the hair stylist not being able to include the main piece: a scarf in the image.

Fellow intern Sarah (pictured) and I trying to arrange the mountains of returns into designer/press office order which took the entire month to complete as the amount was added to daily.

Jaeger LFW 2009

The Jaeger show was one of the most chaotic I had seen all week. The collection was elegant and beautiful complete with cream, black and taupe tones in shiny and luxurious materials. The models sported barely-there make up and shiny hair to give an understated, natural finish. However, I had a particularly fiddly outfit that consisted of a coat fixed together by a waist belt that had to be threaded through the compartment and fastened at the back underneath the layers of fabric. This resulted in dressing the model in the line-up and letting the adrenaline kick in!

Peter Pilotto LFW 2009

The Peter Pilotto show was incredibly quick and organized aside from the 20min delay in the shows procedure. This was due to the new model on the block Queenie who had been delayed from her previous show therefore had to have her hair and make-up done in the line-up. The designs were beautiful, consisting of intricate beadwork and applique combined with a marble-effect fabric. The model I dressed was Anouck, the high profile girlfriend of Dazed Editor, Jefferson Hack. Although the outfits had to be handled with care and were incredibly heavy, she was graceful and professional throughout.

House Of Holland LFW 2009

The House of Holland show is one of the most anticipated events of the entire week therefore it was really exciting to be there amongst the proceedings. Having had to wait backstage for 45mins, we were also able to watch the new talent of Fashion East. We were introduced to the staging area which was a minute room upstairs yet were told after the first outfit change we were to run through the corridors downstairs where we must greet the models to change them into their second outfit which was alot more hectic than it sounds!

However, with a goody bag under our arm, an impromptu Kanye West performance and spontaneous dancing with 'Agy' backstage, it was a fun and atmospheric show.

Basso and Brooke LFW 09

The second show of the season that I dressed for was the colorful and innovative Basso and Brooke. The designs were quirky and elegant with geometric shapes, colorful hues and flattering silhouettes. My model was particularly pleasant as this was one of her first ever shows. Having been from Croatia she was lonely and homesick therefore was grateful for the company in between the run-throughs. After spotting a Croatian film crew she insisted on me being interviewed with her! The highlight of the show was meeting Chris and Stephen Jones and having them run through the outfits with us all. 

The shoes caused many problems as it was like walking on the head of a pin. Many of the shoes had to be cut apart to let the models put them on

Stephen Jones talking with Basso and Brooke

London Fashion Week A/W 2009

As part of Fashion Week this year, I was asked to dress the models for the catwalk shows throughout the week. It was an incredibly fun, hectic and beneficial experience as it allowed me to see the preparation that goes behind every collection. The first show was Paul Costelloe. As the opener for the week, there was an atmosphere of anticipation, nerves and excitement. Costelloe himself was warm, and friendly offering champagne to all that were game at 10am!

Although there were some minor issues with a PVC catsuit, the show went beautifully well!