A Year In Pictures

Hello! If it's still acceptable to say it then, Happy New Year! I hope you all had some lovely time off and didn't have too many work burdens like me to deal with over the festive period, hence my absence in posting, it seems only right to make 'time manage better' my no.1 resolution.
At the start of this year I took some time to reflect on 2014 by putting together a year in pictures, something I recommend everyone should do. I went from initiating with 6 pictures which soon grew to 12, and I could have had so much more! Looking through all my captures of the past year made me realise I'd had a way more productive year than I thought, which put me in a perfect mind set for 2015, something that we could all benefit from don't you think?  If you're thinking 2014 was not your year, well this could also work in your favour being be a useful tool to help bring out all the highlights. On the other hand if you are simply in need of a fresh start, do what I did last January and get a new haircut, take a trip, pick up a hobby. Or, do something I did this January and give your blog a new do, and if you don't have one why not start one?! As you can see it is a fab way to document things like this.

From right to left; My first internship of the year at a fashion suppliers, my new year do when my hair got the chop, a lovely trip to Amsterdam with my boyfriend, moving to London and starting my internship at womenswear designer studios, According to Ellie's first giveaway, learning Italian and discovering new restaurants in London, mine and my boyfriends birthday spent at the Waldorf Hotel, just in time for the races I taught myself how to make fascinators, working at London fashion week with designer Zoe Jordan, fashion illustrations of the collection I helped work on during my internship, my favourite OOTD taken in the beautiful Florence, and a Christmas jumper i made for the designers I interned at that was auctioned of for charity.


What are your 2014 highlights and new years resolutions?
I would love to see your photo montages, post your links below!

Ciao for now!

Ell

   

LFW: Zoe Jordan SS15

Another September passed and another fashion week been and gone, and in my case, also the end of a 5 month internship at womenswear brand Zoe Jordan. My time with the London based brand was a valuable experience, to any fashion students reading I was really interested in hearing about other peoples experiences in the industry before starting mine, so to those interested here's a little inside info on mine! After a bit of a steady start working within the business, branding and admin side, I was soon in my element working closely with the design team getting some real hands on experience including designing, pattern cutting and my biggest achievement during my time there, sewing actual show garments! When looking for placements, although a well known brand would stand out on my cv, from the start I wanted to go to a small studio with the hope I would get given more responsibilities, and I am pleased to say that the further I got into the duration of my internship, the more I was trusted with. This enabled me to gain some great skills for the reminder of my degree! 

As part of my Zoe Jordan experience I had to opportunity to accompany the lovely team to London fashion week to showcase the collection, the atmosphere at Sommerset House was incredible, with fellow bloggers and designers surrounding the area it was a very fashionable affair. But as you can imagine, in the build up to fashion week things are slightly less glamour behind the scenes with last minute changes, alterations, and finishing touches. However the thing I love most about studying fashion is that all the hard graft is worth it in the end to see the finishing result. With some gorgeous prints, tailoring, quality fabrics, and colour palettes, Zoe Jordans spring summer 15 collection 'Tour' is completely wearable and luxurious. Here are a few of my snaps from the designer show room at London fashion week. 

LFW Sommerset house

 LFW Sommerset house

 Zoe Jordan SS15 'Tour'

 Zoe Jordan SS15 'Tour'

 Zoe Jordan SS15 'Tour'

 Zoe Jordan SS15 'Tour'

 Zoe Jordan SS15 'Tour'

 Zoe Jordan SS15 'Tour'

 Zoe Jordan SS15 'Tour'

 Zoe Jordan SS15 'Tour'

 Designer showrooms after party

Did any of you get a chance to go to London Fashion week?

What were your favourite collections?

If any prospective fashion interns would like to know more on my internship or advice on how to get one, please don't hesitate to contact me!

E.D

Interning at Zoe Jordan: Blogger fashion shoot

For the past week I have been immersed in the behind the scenes action at the gorgeous Zoe Jordan studio. As part of my first week interning with this unique womenswear brand I was able to be a part of a street style photo shoot, which took place just round the corner from the studio in the picturesque borough of Chelsea. My role involved helping to style both the shots and the charming models, head to toe in pieces from both the Spring/Summer and Pre Spring/Summer 14 collections. What I love about these collections are the timeless, elegant shapes of the garments, be it tailored jackets and trousers or structured dresses and coats. Contrasting to this are the neon accents, modern textured fabrics and quirky graffiti prints which really make the collections what they are, and represent that 'Pretty Vandal' look perfectly.
As for Zoe Jordans upcoming collection, I am very excited to be a part of the process in the build up for London Fashion Week and cannot wait to share with you my whole experience in September.
Stay tuned!

The gorgeous Anna from Saltystorm.com

The lovely WenWen from stok3s.com

Pre SS14

SS14

What do you think of these looks?

Have you seen the latest Zoe Jordan collection 'Chicane'?
Visit zoe-jordan.com to see collection archives, to shop and explore the brand further.

  Ellie 

London Fashion Week: Zoe Jordan A/W 14

It's that time of year again that we've all been waiting for, London Fashion Week A/W 2014! This year I have been biting at my fingers nails waiting to see what Zoe Jordan had to show especially as I have been so lucky to be able to secure an internship there starting in 2 months, you can imagine how excited I had been getting at twenty to two yesterday afternoon waiting to see this first photos! To enlighten those of you who may not know much about Zoe Jordan, she is an architect turned designer who seems to be in her element designer androgynous womenswear, an inspiration to me as this is my favourite style to design. Another little fact about the very talented Zoe J is that her dad, as a former motorsport team boss, brought Zoe up in the world of motoracing, which I was thrilled to see, appears to be her main inspiration for her A/W collection. Her designs are so true to traditional motor racing kit yet her interpritation of it makes it look so fashionable. I love the iconic racing badges but also like that she has put her stamp on it too with her own logo. However the collection is not all badged biker jackets and jumpsuits, she also has some stunningly cut dresses, trousers and coats in the most luxurious looking fabrics, which overall creates a lovely range! Need I say I cannot wait to be a part of the Zoe Jordan team to get cracking on her next collection.
These are a few of my favourites from the show:



Source: www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

What do you think of the collection?
What has caught your eye at London Fashion Week this year?

   Ellie

Being A Fashion Intern: Week 1

After a consecutive number of early starts (which I am still yet to acclimatise to) my first week on placement is already over. I am still getting used to the fact that I am a working girl now and not attending university for a whole year, professional Ellie, your time is now. I have two placements lined up, one locally and one in London over summer; for now, the company that I am pleased to currently call my place of work is a brand called Louietex, a design house and supplier of mens, womens and childrens wear based in Newcastle.

So what have I been up to?

It has been an exciting week and I already feel like I have covered so much, from fabric sourcing to trend forecasting for Spring/Summer 2015, it is safe to say I have been keeping busy. Rumour has it I'm meant to be going shopping some time soon to find inspiration for next seasons range, shopping on the job, could it get better?! However most excitingly, my biggest task so far has been developing pairs of boys and mens jeans and chinos, one of which has just been sent off for manufacture! I cannot wait to see the finished sample come back.

A Sneak Preview Of My Menswear Trend Forecasting Boards

Who am I working with?

My mentor at Louietex is called Gemma Williamson who's role at the company is head Designer. She is lovely and great to work with, therefore I think she will help me learn a lot over the duration of my placement. We also have in common that she went to the same uni that I currently go to where she specialised in womenswear, furthermore attending Graduate Fashion Week in London  2010 to showcase her incredible final collection; she is a great inspiration.

Some of Gemma's collection featuring an amazing stain glass inspired digital print

So life as a fashion intern has been so far so good, fingers crossed I soon become accustomed to the early mornings and I look forward to the weeks ahead! 

Have you ever been on a internship?

Are any of you fashion students?

   Ellie

What I've Been Up to: Dr. Martens Collaboration

Hello again! So I think it's about time I wipe the dust of my blog and return to posting, I was very sad to see I hadn't posted since November it really didnt seem like that long as the last couple weeks have flowwwn by! Not only has my blog been neglected by my body as well for the amount of stress I have put it under in the weeks leading up to various uni deadlines, haha! However it has all been worth it to finally see the finished result. To those of you who read my blog regularly, will know that I posted around a month ago about a project I was doing at university that is associated with Dr. Martens. As budding fashion designers me and my fellow students were set a task by Dr. Martens to design a AW/14 capsule collection, incorporating local culture, which is targeted at the Dr.Martens customer. As customers just see the final garment, you would be surprised how much behind the scene work there is into doing so, altogether I had an 80 page sketch pad full of research, a 40 page sketchpad full of initial design ideas and a whole portfolio full of design development!  But that's what I love about my course really, exploring all aspects of design and watching it grow into a collection. 

As well as designing a collection of 6 outfits we also had to manufacture one garment from that collection. As I specialise in womenswear I  created an androgynous style look with a mods influence that also follows current trends with gorgeous tartans and winter wools. After a long hard graft, I along with others on my course presented my garment to VIP's from Dr. Martens this week in a mini catwalk show. I have to say I felt pretty proud  of what I have achieved this semester and it was so nice seeing my final garment being worn down the catwalk. And I cant ramble on about this without showing you any photos of course! I hope you enjoy looking at my work as I did doing it.

And just a little clip for you..

What do you think of my project?
Have you done any exciting project with uni or work recently?

                                                                                        Ellie

Isabel Marant for H&M: My Outfit Picks

The day has finally arrived for the release of the Isabel Marant collection for H&M! It was like waiting to buy tickets for a concert the webpage was so busy this morning at 9am with queuing pages that made the wait even more tense. But I eventually got there to see what was pieces were on offer, as Isabel Marant is very well known for her knit wear I had my hopes up for a gorgeous chunky jumper to get my hands on time, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. There was a lot more clothing than I expected with a great range of garments and accessories, with almost every item having some exciting print, knit, or embellishment that would make it a statement in any outfit. After passing on the details to my mum of what jumper I wanted on my Christmas list I decided to put together some outfit combinations with some of the garments available in the collection, all a tad over my budget, but a girl can dream!

1. Loop knit jumper (as hopefully to be seen under my Christmas tree) £69.99, Waxed slim fit jeans £69.99.

2. Girls knit Jumper (biggest size fits size 8) £34.99, Peplum skirt (not Isabel Marant just regular H&M) £.19.99, Suede and leather fringed boots £149.99.

3. Wool coat £99.99, Mens patterned top £29.99, Embroidered slim fit jeans £59.99.
4. Embroidered jacket £199.99, Waxed slim fit jeans £69.99, Court shoes with metal bead £99.99.
Unfortunately but not unexpectedly, some of the stock has already sold out online so it's probably best visiting your nearest H&M asap to see whats in store.

Have you bought anything from the collection?
What do you think of it?

                                                                                        

My Collaboration With Dr.Martens

To those of you who don't know, I currently study Fashion Design at Northumbria University and as part of our current semester we have been undergoing a live project set to us by the fashion and famously shoe retailer Dr.Martens. Our task? To design a AW/14 capsule collection, incorporating local culture, which is targeted at the Dr.Martens customer, and to manufacture one garment from that collection. Therefore you can imagine that uni is very exciting (slash a tad stressful) for me at the moment. As I specialise in womenswear I will be creating an androgynous style look with a mods influence that will be filled with gorgeous tartan and winter wools. The garment that I chose to make will be presented to Dr.Martens in December via a mini catwalk show with the chance for it to be displayed in store! So keep your eyes peeled for my post in December when I will be uploading exciting pictures and possibly videos of the presentation.

Our project has also made the paper! Read the article on The Journal's website HERE.

Picture taken from The Journal Website.

Are you doing any exciting projects at the moment?

Ellie

                                                                                       

London Fashion Week: My Personal Favourites

Firstly, with moving into my new house at university and all the Great North Run hype I regret to say that my blog has been slightly neglected; I have been meaning to publish the post for a few days now but my laptop has been playing up therefore I have only just got round to it! However, on the bright side, the beauty of studying Fashion Design at uni is that whilst compiling researching for upcoming projects I can blog about it at the same time, hitting two birds with one stone! So my blog is my work to some extent, and I enjoy sharing it with you!As its recently been London Fashion week I have been all over the LFW website browsing at all the inspiring designs. It is safe to say that LFW has reached a new level this year with such a vast variety of new designers. As a design student I love looking at the fresh talent in some ways more so than looking at established designers as there is the potential that I could be in a similar position one day! I like to design clothing that is wearable wacky; from the consumers point of view I want to be able to buy something that will make a statement, but I know will get my wear out of. I believe that the following newly established designers target this exact market, and I think that awareness needs to be raised of there truly inspiring designs.

Antonio Berardi I can only applaud for this spring summer 2014 collection. My initial vibe of the collection was how fresh and feminine it felt with the pastel pink and white colour palette. However when looking closer I noticed that many of the garments have a masculine, oversized shape that are made to look so ladylike, something that is challenging to accomplish in design but he nailed it! I also love the burst of leopard print that appears on some of the garments, this adds excitement to the collection as its something I wasn't expecting.

Never have I heard of the pair Ostwald and Helgason yet this collection caught my eye straight away. What I love most is that it's everyday clothing however with edge and excitement; what I aim for when designing myself. The mix of boyish and feminine styles really appealed to me, and combined with all the prints and pleats there is no questioning that I admire every aspect of the garments. I would love to have each and every one of these looks in my wardrobe!

Where to start with Zoe Jordan, I cant fault this this collection! It contains that element of suprise with pops of bright contrasting colour, creative prints and dyes, and a great range of garments. I consider this collection to be very wearable and something that would appeal to many people as it covers a range of styles. I look forward to seeing what Zoe Jordan has to offer next.

Are there any designers from LFW that you want to talk about?
Ellie

Graduate Fashion Week

What better way to end my first year at uni than to accompany the 4th years to London to showcase their final collections at graduate fashion week.
Although it meant setting my alarm for 3.45AM, I repeat AM, to get on a 6 hour bus journey from Newcastle to London it was worth it to see such a huge amount of incredible and diverse talent from some of this years graduates, and up and coming designers that was displayed at Earls Court.
I reiterate in saying that the work from all universities was of an incredibly high standard and it is evident that many of the individuals have a big future ahead of them. However Northumbria was definitely a uni to stand out. It was a shame I wasn't able to see the actual show as I was dressing the models backstage, however I must admit that having a few topless male models hanging about backstage certainly wasn't a disadvantage.

Here are a select few images of the inspiring looks produced by Northumbria Fashion Design students...

Victoria Schofield 'A Festival of Colour'

Rosie Janes 'Tour De Knit'

Bryony Carrigan 'Triangulation'

Linsy Hansom 'A Glass Winged Carnival'

Melyssa Bates 'Fervent Rein'

It is very nerve wracking however extremely exciting to think that I have the same opportunity as these students and I will hang onto this thought to motivate me through my degree!

Images from: http://www.gfw.org.uk/blog/show-northumbria/