WHAT IT IS REALLY LIKE WORKING IN FASHION

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

A few months ago, I shared my perspective on getting a job in fashion. I had lots of great responses to that blog post but since then Fashed and I have been thinking that I should really let you know what it's actually like once the longed for job is landed.

Virtually everyone I encounter who is unfamiliar with the fashion world assume it is true to its glamorous myth- that everyone spends their days wafting through impeccable fashion cupboards, wearing designer dresses and impossibly high heels, pointing at clothes. Categorically not true.

This is an amazing world to be starting out in - I still have to pinch myself when to think I attended almost 40 shows during London Fashion Week. There are plenty of things I have learnt since last August which have surprised me.

Did you know that it is not a foregone conclusion that because somebody works in fashion they will be obsessed with being uber-thin? Revelation, right? In fact, one of the things that everyone attending London Fashion Week seems to look forward to most is the food served prior to the shows at the Topshop venue. Most of the senior fashion editors I came across made an extra special effort to arrive early so they could chow down.

Anna dello Russo in head to toe Gucci (image from vogue.fr)

I also love the fact that very, very few people who work in fashion feel the need to wear head-to-toe designer looks each and every day. That's why Anna dello Russo is such a photographer's favourite; she is almost unique in her dedication to wearing looks in almost exactly the same way they were shown on the catwalk. More often than not, you will see fashion editors with a fabulous designer handbag or coat, but there are high street and vintage pieces pulling their look together. Some - shock, horror - don't care at all and slop around in jeans and boots.

Mrs Burstein of Browns (image from vogue.co.uk)

When I was a wannabe fashion journalist, many of the most revered members of the industry seemed gilded and untouchable. Some still are, but in the short space of time that I've worked with the Fashed I've met some people I never dreamt I'd have the pleasure of encountering. One highlight has to be Joan Burstein who founded Browns on South Molton Street. She is credited with introducing some of the greatest designers of our time to London- John Galliano, Jil Sander and Donna Karan amongst them. At the store's press day back in November, she was happily chatting away and greeting everyone as they arrived. To my mind, that is amazing because with a reputation like hers, she could easily eschew anything like that.

Kristen McMenamy in the heart stopping finale of McQ's
 first LFW show (image from mydaily.co.uk)

The Fashion Show holds a kind of legendary status in the public eye. Back when I was merely a super fan, I would watch Youtube videos of some of the shows I'd read about as being particularly amazing. So when I found myself last Monday, walking across a crunching bed of autumn leaves to my seat at the McQ Alexander McQueen show it felt a little like I'd been transported into one of those videos. There was Anna Wintour chatting to Samantha Cameron and, oh look, Salma Hayek just walked in too. Later, as Kristen McMenamy in her white, full skirted creation, froze on the catwalk and was showered with leaves before collapsing to the ground, I got to experience first hand the feeling which had been described by fashion editors when asked, 'What's your greatest fashion moment?'. Their answers invariably referred to the spectacles put on by Lee McQueen and now Sarah Burton had given that chance to a new generation. It was unforgettable.

I'm amazed to think how quickly you can be assimilated into the fashion world. Of course, I'm still right at the start of my working life, but this weekend I delivered two talks- one about SS12 trends, the other about how fashion designers use wool in their work- to audiences who actually listened and valued my views. That's astonishing to me but it's also showed me that once you do get a job in fashion, your learning curve is absolutely massive. Fashion is always changing so every day there's a new development, a new way of thinking about things or a new trend that's starting to emerge. That pace really keeps you on your toes. For me, that's infinitely more exciting than the prospect of a free outfit.

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HOW TO GET A JOB IN FASHION

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

I've now been Fashion Junior for almost five months. When I was chatting with the FashEd the other day, it struck us both just how far I'd come. Six months ago, I was finishing my English degree and wondering what I would do with my life. Fashion Journalism had been my first choice of career ever since I saw a documentary about Anna Wintour, on a plane when I was 12- what a cliché.

I did my best to exploit my very few contacts in journalism as soon as I could and so got a couple of internships under my belt when I was still quite young. However, the gloomy picture which my university (a well-respected red brick) painted for me made me dedicate most of my third year to Plan B- The Graduate Scheme. That meant taking part in endless psychometric tests, assessment exercises which ranged from building a bridge made out of Lego with 10 other people to spending three hours dealing with a fictional earthquake. I got further than many with lots of the schemes which I applied for but fell at the final hurdle each time. So, I can well understand the frustration of young people looking for work who have slogged their way through a degree (a decent one does require considerable dedication, contrary to popular belief) as well as doing voluntary work, internships and taking up positions on committees of university societies but finding they STILL don't fit the bill.

Fashion Junior graduating!

All this meant that by the time I was tweaking the final essay of my academic career (further study was something I couldn't face) I was still not sure where my next pennies were coming from. I had joined Twitter as an observer, following people who tweeted about things which interested me. It became better procrastination than Facebook. So as I wrote about post-colonial interpretations of Shakespeare, My Fairy Twitter Mother, Melanie Rickey, tweeted that she needed an intern for a few weeks. I tweeted back and there began my astoundingly swift journey from unemployed graduate statistic to Fashion Junior at Large, a job which not only involves posting on this blog but also helping out the FashEd with all her other projects.

 Around 100 people applied for the job I have and I still have to pinch myself that I am the one who got it. I see internships and jobs advertised every day via Twitter. In fact, you should follow @katie_jane_rose because she is always retweeting opportunities.  You'd be stupid not to be on Twitter if you want a career in any industry which has embraced it. It is a unique chance to connect with the key people. I was very lucky to get a paid job straight away, I don't contest that and don't want to sound like a brat. I was gearing myself up for unpaid internships like many of my friends. I'm lucky that my parents live near enough to London  that I could have done that. It's a travesty that that fact is a prerequisite for gaining experience in capital-centric industries. Even doing paid work at weekends would do nothing to cover rent in London.

I wanted to write about this because I feel despair about the situation which so many people my age find themselves in. On Friday, Dazed ran the first of a series of interviews with young people about the unemployment they face entitled 'Wasted Youth'.Newspapers are full of gloomy stories about the situation with plenty of jobseekers willing to tell their stories; what's shocking and should send shivers done the spine of every person in this country is that these people range from 17 year olds who want to become plumbers and electricians to 24 year-olds with Masters degrees. No path or background is a guarantee any more.

But I do think we can be more positive and more savvy. I loved Celine Cavaillero's website which even made it onto Vogue.co.uk after she recreated their site as her CV. At the time, everyone was talking about her and being entertained by her way of making herself stand out. I gather that since then she has landed a job with Yahoo in France.

But it's not all about gimmicks; I know I wouldn't have been offered my job with the FashEd had I not displayed considerable fashion geekiness. I gave an impassioned monologue about my love of Jonathan Saunders' AW11 collection. I was also able to explain who Ines de la Fressange and Diana Vreeland were. These people are not completely obscure but you do need to have been immersing yourself in fashion news and history to be able to answer.

So, if you are looking for a job in fashion I suggest you do hours of research, looking through the latest collections, reading about designers, see what Fashion Editors are talking about. Learn to make a fabulous cup of tea and think one step ahead of your potential employer (not always easy!). Be endlessly proactive. 'The harder you work, the luckier you get' a very wise editor I admire recently wrote and that could not be truer.

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MY NEW FASHION WEEK UNIFORM (AND YOURS TOO!)

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

New York fashion week kicks off tomorrow, and London Fashion Week starts next friday... so it's time to work out the fashion uniform of the season. Knowledge is power! Having a uniform makes life so much easier too.

My favourite SS10 look from LA Label  L'Agence, available at Selfridges

They say that fashion changes and style stays the same. Well, that's not true. Fashion can change every week (I know this from working on Grazia, and this is what makes fashion fun).  What constitutes the very core of a stylish wardrobe changes too, just not as often.

For spring there has been a big style basics change. I am seeing it everywhere. Yes of course on fashion conscious women, but also on young girls shopping the high street and on the LA girls who love their casual elegance.

What has happened is, in one set of fashion collections, the former “essentials” of every girl’s wardrobe; namely the blazer, slim jean, basic legging, printed blouse, and statement dress have been replaced by a new set of loose, luxe easy to wear clothes that define a new body proportion. I can say this with authority because my fashion buyer friends agree with me – this is what they are buying for their shops!

"A couple of years back to satisfy demand I would have to buy at least five types of blazer, and at least ten styles of straight-leg dark denim jean," says a very influential buyer friend of mine. "Now it's a biker jacket hybrid, a draped loose jersey T-shirt, a luxury legging or legging jean, a short tunic dress and carrot leg trousers that I need to buy into in different ways," she said over lunch recently. You will already be vaguely familiar with the new style basics, now you just have to buy one or two to see what I mean. They will change the way you feel about the rest of your wardrobe, and give your fashion mojo a boost.

THE FASHION EDITOR AT LARGE TOP FIVE CORE STYLE ESSENTIALS FOR SS10

1. A drapey yet snug-fit washed leather jacket with biker details (see this one by one of my favourite labels right now Helmut Lang, from Matches) I tried this on last week, and knew in an instant that it would go with everything from a sexy dress to joggers to jeans, traveller pants (see tomorrows for these babies!!), leggings, and shorts. It's elegant, smart, louche but most of all uber chic, flattering and will serve as a staple for the next couple of years at least. 

2. Baggy trousers with slim-fit ankle, these ones cost £95 and are by Whistles. The tapered rolled-up ankle creates the illusion of a spindly ankle, and therefore of a slim body. Like!

This is my actual top, £25 from Cos, this is a khaki one and they come up over the wrist and you tuck your thumb in the cuff- also bought in black, white, grey

This black mesh tank £25 from COS pulls down to upper thigh and is an amazing layering piece (Also comes in pale nude) 

3. Good T-shirting.  For British readers may I reccomend COS. In the last week have bought ten t-shirts and five vests which am shaering with my other half. They are so useful, and worth every penny. My other preferred T-Shirt labels are Splendid, American Vintage and TopShop.

4. Luxury leggings. See the above from Les Chiffoniers at Matches. Don't need to explain the usefulness of these. These will not date like the printed ones that are around at the moment.

5. A peep toe ankle "boot". These ones are by ACNE, from Net-a-Porter. If you have an eye for fashion, you will NOT get through spring without getting a pair of something a bit like this on your tootsies. Trust!

and finally...a bit of mood

Unique by TopShop backstage shot from SS10

Think of this post as a cocktail, with five parts staples and one part frou-frou cocktail umbrella's, glace cherries and sparklers. To look Fashion Now get all of the above and mix it liberally with all the elements of the above photo!

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CANT WAIT TO WEAR...CAN'T WAIT NOT TO WEAR....

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

CAN'T WAIT NOT TO WEAR: in my Woolrich parka, GAP khaki's and motorbike ankle boots

CAN'T WAIT TO WEAR: my new pair of what I am calling my rose-tinted spectacles from the 70's. 

A quick post on the END OF THE WINTER SEASON. When you are a fashion journalist on daily or weekly print meda, January is a long month.  This is because in fashion-land, winter ends with the cessation of winter sales and the arrival of new season spring stock into stores. Today was that day, and the longest month of the fashion year is now over. I will celebrate with one YAY! 

This is good news for me as a fashion journalist on the simple level that I can now write stories that have follow through (imaginary or otherwise) at retail level for readers. All the information gleaned and absorbed at the SS10 shows in London/Milan and Paris now has relevance to the fashion-loving public and the fashion journalist can unleash all those thoughts, ideas and fashion facts. After all, there is not much use writing about the trend for wearing pink with khaki if there are rails of sale coats in the shops.

For me personally, the first day of fashion spring is a one for me to hit the shops to see how retailers have bought into the collections. What is in a shop - high end fashion, or high street - is almost NEVER exactly the same as what was in the lookbook you saw, or the catwalk show you viewed for that season. Strange, but true and the reason why a shopping recce is essential.  

ANYWAY. I shopped in a carefully planned and perfectly executed manoeuvre on the Marylebone High Street today, and the experience served to remind me 1. that there is a whole new fashion uniform to get to grips with this season and 2. that my wardrobe is in desperate need of an overhaul. There are things that I love, such as my Woolrich parka - the fashion parka of the winter hands-down - and my Gap khakis (three seasons old) and the motrocycle boots by Gap (even older) that I have come to rely on heavily in this lull of darkest winter. Wearing these items yesterday on a jaunt to Brick Lane Market, (which I see through new eyes since being shown around by my old friend Tamsin O Hanlon just before Christmas) I realised they needed retiring.

This brings me neatly onto the phenomenon I have only just cottoned onto in my own life which I am calling the "I can't wait to wear" frisson. The items listed above (and what I'm wearing in the picture at the top) are things I now CANNOT WAIT NOT TO WEAR, because I want winter to end, and to start wearing my new clothes. (More about them later this week - for I bought two items of CELINE!!!! And a pair of Phillip Lim 3.1 carrot leg khaki's.)  

ALSO, I found the rose-tinted spectacles I'm wearing in the picture at Brick Lane yesterday for £25. These glasses are my new Spring facewear, items I CANNOT WAIT TO WEAR a whole lot more!

Now, I'd better go. A glass of Cotes-du-Rhone calls....

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THANKYOU BRIXIE!

A huge big thanks to my dear friend Brix Smith Start who accomodated my last minute trip to Paris. I stayed at her families' fabulous Paris apartment, in the "Brix" room, which is dominated by the sweet painting of her.

While I'm at it, me and Brix dug these up the other night.

Brix with her ex-husband Mark E. Smith in her The Fall days.

Brix performing with The Fall in mid-eighties

We laughed hard when we saw this one.

My favoutite - she looks so beautiful here.

Check back soon to read a life-story epic interview with the woman herself.

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