The PPP 3 Presentation is a daunting task as it means condensing soooo much work into 10 minuets. I know that I won't even be able to blog about the amount of things I've done this year, so discussing them infront of a class seems like a daunting challenging.
Slides & Commentary Plan:
- Discussing who I am now as a practitioner - people know me as Jen Lea, which is why I am going by this name for face to face contact. Online, people know me as jennifersedona so I can use both for different occasions.
- Discuss how I have fallen into styling and that I'm growing and learning on every shoot, brand consultancy as I've realised when its someone else's work I'm much more precious with it, and many people have commented that I have good connections which I used to help better other people.
First styling shoot. Went unexpectedly well, I was so nervous I was preparing the outfits for 4 days and brought so many more clothes than I needed. I received a positive response when posting them on Instagram, with magazines and alumni such as Josiah Craven asking to work with me (which was flattering). I've never felt like I've found something I can focus on as well as I can with styling, so by having this opportunity with Harrison has turned my university experience onto a much more positive path.
Second shoot with Harrison for an editorial in FGUK Magazine 'Marshlands', shot on Saddleworth Moor. I wanted to incorporate subtle elements of questioning into the images through the colour ways, suggesting both life and death.
- This was also exciting as the first time working with an MUA and collaborating with multiple people at once
My role as Head Stylist for LRFS was an amazing journey, filled with many ups and downs (but mainly ups). I feel like I really came into my own, using the skills I have developed in part time work and my knowledge of graphic design, and love for fashion. This was the chance where I wanted to really prove myself and learn as much as I could. I ended up pretty much helping run the show, although at the end ideas changed as I was not present because I had taken too much on which was sad. I thought of the show bit like my baby so it made me realise not to be too involved in huge student ran group projects.
- I had the opportunity to manage people and use the LRFS title to contact designers to ask for their clothes and hair/make up artists for their services. For the majority of the process I also organised all photography/videography for the show, photoshoots and additional aspects of fundraising (we collaborated with Student High Street for a few events/pop up shops).
- Due to my involvement I had the opportunity to speak about LRFS at a Fashion in Leeds event, encouraging people to get involved. This also went positively and I made lots of connections, two whom I later met up with- Clyde Smyth invited me to an opening of his new collection which was an honour, and I had a coffee with a freelance Leeds based stylist Sarah __.
Brief outline of each scene and what they mean (how they were thought out). The whole Time.less concept is essentially the circle of life . First, you are born. Taking inspiration from Kanye West Yeezy season 2 and Nunnude, aspects of natural beauty are enhanced by minimal dewey makeup and skin-coloured clothing, celebrating all aspects of race and size. This scene is to provoke a sense of awakening and a progressively upbeat tone.
- After Birth we move onto War. This is the conflict, wether it be childhood conflicts with peers or parents, teen angst or deeper internal conflicts, this is another stage in life which is often around the corner. War is represented through aggressive materials and a strong model walk. I took inspiration from aspects of military wear mixed with emotive war, using a palette of blacks, greys, greens and blues towards the end of the scene, foreshadowing the calm which always comes.
- Peace is the calm after the storm. Floaty materials, soft tonalities and drawing influence from Ellie Saab I wanted to show a softer side, however in the actual show the walk was waaayy too slow, something I really regret not pulling up with the model managers sooner (in rehersals it didn't seem that slow, but on the night oh my god it was slow).
- Death then follows peace (because just as life gets good you die) representing the resolution, & the end of the show. A strict black colour pallet references the fashion heavyweights, Dior, Coco Chanel, Balenciaga, Givenchy and American Horror Story Season 5, Coven.
- Naturally, we didn't want to leave the show on a dull note so added Revival at the end. Revival was later shortened to Re. as when brainstorming, we all had different ways of referring to it, so came to the joint conclusion to give the audience the ability to 'paint their future' and call it either Revival/Recharge/Reborn etc. This is where all of the weird and wonderful designers live, using colour and vibrancy to show a playful side to fashion. On a personal note, this section is also a great section to support up and coming/grad and even final year designers.
The campaign for LRFS was intense - looking back 5 was too many but it was great fun and it really made me challenge myself along the way.
A Series of different images from promo (peace, war, death) and a few from the show. I also had a studio set up in one of the rooms I booked out from the Union, so when models were ready they were sent in for studio shots which I can now incorporate into my portfolio and extended practice.
Discuss features from LRFS
How I never want to be on my emails ever again - I would wake up, check emails and have so many things I needed to remember. I managed to create a great way to manage my time and got an ToDo List App which sets reminders and you can track how much you've done vs how much you need to do. It also led me to realise that I don't want to work in a 'creative' job which requires me to be sat on emails all day.
Shifting from Sales work to working at Azendi HQ for a few weeks (paid) helping out with photography, graphics, e-commerce and social media. Despite it only being a very small company, I had little to no creative control and my input was always overlooked and shrugged off. I was working closely with the CEO Ian, who was very self-right and could never be wrong, so progress on anything was really challenging.
I had used some of Azendi's products in photoshoots with Harrison, which Azendi noticed on my Instagram and asked to use. Naturally we said yes as it features their product, although looking back I wish I had asked for a bonus or something as now that image is everywhere. I created lots of images using Azendi products that they readapted as their own after I quit the graphics role. The only thing I managed to achieve was convincing Ian that the website was confusing and had too many unneeded categories, however some of the images (and typeface!) he will not change.
Some examples of the work I was doing for Azendi - literally cutting out and positioning on photoshop. Disgusting. The lack of graphic integrity makes me question what I spent £27k learning and after 3 days of that I quit. I could see no progress at Azendi so I planned to set my sights on things more my taste.
I went on to assist Angie Smith, best known to be Holly Willhouby's personal stylist. Angie works with a number of TV/celeb clients, including Holly, Davina and Rochelle from the Saturdays but most importantly gets to attend London Fashion Week. Last year I set myself a goal that I would go to LFW this year, so hopefully by interning for someone I can go (and hopefully get paid for it!).
-The experience with Angie was great, it allowed me to see what my life could be like living and working in London, with nice clothes and good wine.
- It still wasn't quite right for me - despite having an open invitation to start whenever I don't know if celebrity styling is right for me as I am much more drawn to the world of editorials and print. However, after speaking to some people at Ladies Wine & Design, they said how a post on Instagram by someone such as Holly Willhouby tagging me as their stylist could boost me massively and help establish myself as my own human/brand.
Wonderland! Countless applications through Fashion Workie and emails to magazines later, I passed an interview and got an internship with Wonderland Magazine. This is much more up my street, although it has led me to really question their integrity and morals as a company. Up to now I have seen a relatively positive side to fashion, mainly where the people are friendly and interested/interesting. At Wonderland, I feel that that isn;'t there as much and the pretentious explotional fashion culture is present - rather than using a courier service like every other human on the planet, they would rather hire 20 interns to sit in an office on the off chance there might be a parcel to deliver. On day one, I was that courier service - which I don't mind as I could use the time to listen to TED Talks on the underground and doing the small tasks is what you need to do at the bottom.
My attitude to Wonderland is slowly changing - I got talking to another intern who told me that it is what you make it, and the best way to have a good experience is to make friends with one of the stylists. I unexpectedly was in the brew-room and offered a woman a coffee, little knowing it was the Editor in Chief. We started talking and later that day invited me to assist at their upcoming cover shoot for the summer issue, exciting!!! I'm postponing the move to London but commuting for Wonderland and starting properly 3-5 days a week in May/June.
Blue Rinse has been the opposite, being so warm and welcoming and paying me for a full day of styling their new Manchester store, and helping with/styling a promotional photoshoot around Manchester. Through LRFS I made friends with a photographer called Lucy Rose Jones (www.lucyrjones.com) who is also now working for them, so we planned to the locations to be recognisable hotspots to the target audience, as well as using a popular Manchester fashion bloggers as the models (@lennzepplin with pink hair has 20k and @stylebystarr has over 22k), meaning their posts are positive free marketing and promotion for Blue Rinse Manchester's upcoming opening.
- Working with Blue Rinse meant a lot of colour which was daunting to me, but still a really positive experience as it pushed me out of my comfort zone.
Second paid styling job which is also very exciting. My friend Lucy and I got approached by an agency in New York called Sideways who wanted to shoot a few advert images and 2 double page spreads for a magazine called 'Stay Boutique'. Ariela (the girl on the slide) is a joint co-founder of a boutique hotel agency, who defines and refines luxury. They host dinners and conferences for socialites and hotel enthusiasts, and distribute the Stay Boutique magazine in all of the properties they manage across the globe, as well as other channels.
Discuss old self branding - very colourful and unrepresentative of who I truly am as a person. I realise I value honesty, so the minimalism and simplicity of my business cards allows me to write hand written messages and customise each card with a message, meaning hopefully the recipient won't immediately put it in the bin.
Website equally as simplistic, allowing the images to speak for themselves and be clearly displayed concisely for the viewer to see. It does need updating but I will do that in one go when I have organised my content properly.
I have been using Linked In as a way of connecting with professionals after hearing Frankie from The Design Kids talk about it in a talk at the start of the year. Since then, every event I attend I try and talk to the speaker (or just interesting people) to build both face to face and then online connections.
- At the start of the year I had about 20 connections, now I have 293 (and growing), including Craig Oldham, David Carson and Kate Moross.
- I've realised that getting 'high profile' connections is easier when you have lots of multiple connections and attach a message. Many have also declined/ignored me but I've learnt you have to keep on trying!
A few connections/avenues I want to pursue after graduation.
Additional contacts and people who I want to meet in the upcoming year or two.
Reflecting on the presentation, there were so many things which I forgot to discuss, including the events which I have been to this year and my involvement with LRFS.
I also forgot to discuss my rationale in detail about my self branding and what aspect of the creative industries I want to target. I also forgot to mention my fails and the times things haven't gone right (dealing with tricky clients, John Lewis pulling out of LRFS 1 week before the show).
Learning from previous presentations where I have lost track of time, I set my stopwatch on my phone up infont of me as a guide for speaking about each slide. I know in the future not to use this tactic again, as simple as it seems, my phone locked, causing me to freak out as I couldn't unlock it to check the time. Other methods to try in the future are queue cards or even bullet points blu-taced to the desk infont of me.
