Cv development

Curriculum Vitae: The course of life

This weeks lecture was all about  personally developing our CV's. This was something I did find quite difficult, due to the fact that I find it hard writing about myself as well as not realizing that I had done any work experience.

The lecture starting out with identifying what key aspects are needed on a CV which were.

*Work experience 

*Skills

*Qualifications

*Personal Profile

*Achievements

*References

*Personal Information

After looking at examples of different CV's we had to write our own personal profile to get us started on writing a professional CV. After some difficulty and help I manage to write what I think is a good personal profile.

Personal profile

I am a fashion designer currently at The University of Derby to gain the skills and life experiences I need to get into the industry. Fashion sustains my creativity, which makes me a confident and hard working individual. Personally, I set high standards for myself and thrive on achieving them. Researching new trends and designers is something I am passionate and excited by. I am also highly adaptable and am able to learn new skills quickly and proficiently.

To Knit or not to Knit

Recently i have started a knit rotation, where I have 3 weeks every Monday of knitting.The breif of this module was the create 4 Knit samples, which have to professionally presented.

 I was quite excited at first, to start this rotation, as I enjoy knit. However this excitement changed quite quickly when i realized I was going to be using the Knitting machines. They looked quite scary and daunting to someone (like me) who hasn't used one before. My tutor for Knit, Kay, was very helpful and instructive, especially with the beginners. Kay made sure everyone was at the same place to start off with, so nobody was lost, which made it easier to follow.

My first day of knitting, was just really to learn how to use the machine and a few different techniques such as lace holes, changing the tension, changing the colour wool etc.  

My first few samples, where I playing around with techniques and colour, really didn't go very well, most of them fell off the machine and had unwanted holes in them. 

however after the first lesson was over i did start to get the hang of using the machine, I quite enjoyed it as well as to  me its quite therapeutic well at least when things are going well. 

One of my samples, nearly finished. this was when i really
started to get the hang of the knitting machine.

Showing my sample on the machine. I am happy with what
I have produced.

Powerful and inspiration

" Inside my heart is breaking, my make-up maybe flaking but my smile still stays on "

Possible the most inspiration quotes I have herd, It is so beautiful and powerful! The quote is taken from the song The Show Must Go On, which to me is very emotional, as it one of the last singles to be released 6 weeks before he past.

The Lyric " my make up maybe be flaking but my smile still stays on" is so inspiration because even thought Freddie Mercury knew he was dying, he never grumbled to anyone or looked for sympathy he just wore a brave face with the odds against him. The initial meaning of the song is that even-though there are hard times in life, we should still carry on, aim high and be optimistic. This is something I am defiantly going to try carry in everyday life and will always refer back to this inspiration song for guidance when i feel like all is not going well. 

Lost in the 60's

The 1960's is an era that i am passionate about. Everything about the era, the music ,the hair, the short length dresses, the free spirits etc...truly inspires me. I carry this into my everyday life, with the clothes that I wear and the hairstyle I have, even the music I listen to, all informed but the 60's in one way or another.

1960's music was just brilliant, it was when the rock and roll scene was really coming into light. People were appreciating music more, breaking out of their shell and comfort zones. it was the era when (the teenager) really came into play, they were breaking out from wearing the same as their parents and stop listening to what their parents listened to. Artist such as The Beatles, The Kinks, Buddy Holly, The Who, The Rolling Stones were height of there career's at this time.

The 60's was also the era for the mini skirt which was popularized by Mary Qaunt  and other designers such as Andre Courreges and Pierre Cardin. The mini skirt became a statement in everyone wardrobe and has been carried on into today's fashion.

 Fashion nower days has taken inspiration from the 1960's as well, designers such as Orla keily take this inspiration into their collections. She uses her signature 60's shiluettes and peter pan collars teamed with modern prints, which always makes for a great collection.

Above are picture from Orla keilys most recent collection AW11 

Information Xchange

The information Xchange is an annual event where 3rd year fashion studies students present the work that they have carried out on their year out in industry. This evening gave us the chance to see what we could acheive if we wanted to working in industry for the year. It was a very interesting evening, finding out people's experiences, where they worked, if they enjoy what they did. I was very inspired and interested in 3 people in-particular:-

Elizabeth Rong

Victoria Lamburn

Holly Jones

Elizibeth Rong was the person i was drawn to first as i was excited and

intrigued to know how her inter with Alexander McQueen went.

flyer that she handed out, showing where she
worked and what her jobs consisted of.

Elizabeth worked for Alexander McQueen as a press intern, her daily tasks consisted of her reading newspapers and magazines,sending out samples to celebrities and publications, booking samples in that have been returned, organizing and tidying the press office as well as running errands for people. The intern was in London, and it wasn't paid for meaning that she was spending about £400 a week on accommodation in London, meaning that it was costing her loads. However she manage to stay at a friends which was a lot cheaper. In saying that her travel expenses and lunch were actually paid for on a weekly bases.  I was quite shocked to find out that she had a bit of an awful time at her intern, so much so she had to leave half way through, this was also due to sickness, but mostly due to the fact that she was changing as a person. She explained that she used to get shouted at most day, and come home crying it was that bad, in saying that though she came out a stronger person. One piece of advise she did give to me was always be prepared!. 

Elizabeth Rong did however have another intern at wedding belles in Blackburn, she said that she enjoy this one the most, she felt like it was more relaxed and could be herself a lot more. I guess just because it a designer company doesn't mean its going to be necessarily better. 

The second person who i saw was Victoria Lamburn, she had an intern at George @ asda designing which was in Lutterworth, so not very far meaning travel expenses are wouldn't have been to much. Originally victoria only worked a 2 week placement with George @ asda, however because she done a great job, left a good impression and said that she was free for the next year they offered her 8 month intern. I was so shocked to find out that they offered to pay her designer wages which was £18,000 a year.! Victoria wanted to design for women's wear at first, but they only had a children s wear available, because of the amazing opperturnity and they wage she took it straight away.                 

http://direct.asda.com/george/girls/tops/cat-print-top/GEM71382,default,pd.html

I was absolutely  blown away by what she had produced and achieved. For the last 6 month her designs (garments) have been in asda stores across the country, i think when she told me this i kept just saying wow! just because it was a brilliant thing to have achieved, having your own designs in store for everyone to see and buy. The pictures above are showing some of her finished garments and working drawings, which are up to such a high standard. They treated her with respect in asda, she got fully trained on Photoshop and illustrator, whcih i think is such a great thing that they did, helping her thrive and learn new skills in her future career. In doing this placement, it really opened her eyes and changed her mind on what she wanted to do career wise, children's wear designing was something that she really enjoyed. She also gave me the name of the man who organizes work placements (Paul Jenkins) and the place to go online for the email. After seeing Victoria's display and hearing what she had to say about the placement if felt very inspired and wanted to achieve what she had achieved. 

The last person I saw was Holly Jones who originally had a work placement at Topshop, because she had her heart set on women's wear designing, however her mind quickly changed when she started there, she found that she was more interested in styling. She started a work placement which Susie Coulhard who works world wide as a freelance fashion stylist.Working with Susie Coulhard really brought out her new found passion for fashion styling.

http://www.susiecoulthard.com/images.php

Her work placements were also in London, so she had to stay with friends as well as flat share, altogether i think she mentioned she stayed in 5 different places, so it was a lot of moving around, She said it was so worth though. As well as working with Susie Coulhard she worked with Jacqueline White & Bitching & junk food, so 3 brilliant fashion stylist/ clothing ranges that she has experience with. After she finished her placement, her passion her styling went further in that she wants to create her own freelance fashion styling company now. To start this off she need to make her own portfolio of work to show possible clients., which at the same time was helping the models out as well because they needed a portfolio. I was also very inspired by what Holly had achieve, because fashion styling is something that I am quite interested in.

Going to the information Xchange evening was for me quite inspiring, as i was really unsure if i wanted to do the 8 months of work placement, but seeing what everyone had achieved especially Victoria Lamburn made me realize that i had the potential to achieve that as well and has change my mind about about the work placement, i think i defiantly want to carry a year out industry now. Hopefully that will help me realize ,like it has done for the people I saw, where my true heart lies in the fashion world!

designer vs high street

Our task for this week has been a very interesting and informative one. It was to travel to a large city such as Manchester, Nottingham , London etc and visit 3 different shops. we had to go to a value (Primark, asda etc) middle market (topshop, river island etc) and a premium shop (debenhams, Vivienne westwood). For each shop we went to we had to choose 2 items, i.e shoes and a shirt and had to research them under the heading:

> Price

>Fabric composition

>finish

>customers in store

>Store layout

>Country of manufacture 

I chose to visit Manchester as my researching city, as Manchester is a city I have always wanted to visit but never had the chance to. I think I made the right choice going to Manchester as it is quite a beautiful city with its Victorian architecture mixed with an upcoming modern vibe, it was great.  

The first shop we research was the value shop Primark

photo of the Primark in Manchester, quite a grotty looking,
old building from the outside.

My first initial thoughts as I was walking around were, that it was quite busy.hectic, a lot of customers eventhough it was a tuesday. I also felt quite lost because everything was quite packed and close together, there wasn't much shopping space. Also there quite a few employees walking around with no shop identity,no name tag which i thought was quite bad as you couldn't tell  that easily who worked in the store and who didn't. Another thing I though was bad and as a customer quite irritating was that the clothes are all on the wrong size hanger so it would be quite confusing for possible. However a good point I did notice about the shop was that there was quite a lot of lifts and escalators, also the shop was reasonable tidy.
 The two items of clothing I decided to compare were jeans and shoes, as they are very universal items in every shop you go to.

Primark jeans:
First inital thoughts of the jean section was that it was very crammed and not tidy, There was 5 ways of 6 rales of jeans alone, so a lot of choice which could seem as a bad thing.
The jeans were £11 which was very clearly labeled ;you could see it from far way. The jeans were skinny jeans by denim co. regular 32" standard pair. One bad thing that i did initial notice on first sight was that the jeans were on the wrong hanger.I did really like the fact that the clothes label was fully recyclable, with cardboard and string, this shows that Primark are wary and evolved in saving the environment.

However when I did get a closer look inside it wasn't a great sight,you could definatly tell that they had been rushed and badly made.
>No time taken over zips
>Messy stitches
>Flimsy cheap pockets
>Cheap gold buttons
>stitching coming undone and sticking out.

One Thing I did really start to notice was that a lot of sales assistants walked passed were I was taking notes and a few picture, but none of them notice of commented on what I was doing, or even asked for help, this conveys that they don't pay a lot of attention to customers.
Inside label:
> 75% cotton
   >25% polyester
>2% elastane.

> can't tumble dry

> wash at 40oC

>iron on a cool setting.

In the label i didn't actually say where the garment was produced, which in my mind raises a few questions about ethic issue, especially with all the things that have been in the media in recent years about Primark.

Primark shoes:

First thoughts of the shoe section of the shop was there was so much choice yet again which in my mind a bad thing, as that could lead to a lot a landfill waste. Also no seats to try shoes on and it was very hot, it seemed as if the AC was not on, this could make people quite agitated.

The shoes i chose were a standard  5inch black platform heels, which were on sale from £16 down to £8 which was very clearly shown with sale P.O.S.

There was 4 differant colours and styles in the particular shoe.

>The material is man made

> suade lookalike

>Inside the shoe is plastic

>plastic sole

>manufacture mark all over 

>glue coming out of the heel edge.

 I tryed the shoes on to get an idea of how they fit, how the size would come up and if they were comfortable at all. When first put them on, immediately the material felt stiff and uncomfortable, i could tell that they wouldn't break in easily. In a way i guess that meant the shoes would be hard wearing.

The shoes as same as the jeans, also didn't say the maufacture country, which again raises ethical issues. A great possitive thing i did notice whilst walking around the shoe department was that they have introduced a wide-fit range which is from size 4-9; this to me is good for people who find it hard to fit into standard shoes.

The Middle market shop I chose to research was River island.

My first inital thoughts even before I walked into the shop were that they have a few interesting and unquie window display, which really caught my eye.

The age range for the typical river island shopper would be around 15-30, fashionable and quite out there, as the river island garments and brand and quite rocky and unique. As you walk into the shop everything is quite open and spaced out, there is easy access to each part of the shop. The shop assistants seemed to be quite helpful as well, which is positive.

River island jeans:
Standard skinny jeans £40 which wasn't that clearly labeled. however they were security tagged. The jeans at first sight  looked as if they were a good quality pair, however when i had a closer look inside i noticed that, that wasn't true. The overclocking wasnt great and fraying slightly. The waist band looks as if it had been sewn on wonky and also cotton string was sticking out all over the jeans, so generally not finished very well.
On the inside label, showed that the jeans were made out of 98% cotton and 2% elastane, so better just by looking at that, they are already better quality than the ones in Primark. The country of manufacture is turkey.

picture showing the inside of river island jeans

River island shoes:

The shoe dipartment in river island was laid out very well in a neat order; the shoes that were available portray the customer very well.There was a sale out, however it was very messy and fully of obviously unwanted shoes.

http://www.riverisland.com/Online/women/shoes--boots/heels/black-strap-court-shoes-605453

The shoes I chose to research were a classic black strappy heel which were £65. The heels had quite a huge heel which measure at 5.1 inches, so might be hard to walk in. The stitching was very good quality, fine stitches as well making the finish very good. there was no manufacture faults or threads. The uppers of the shoes were leather suede meaning they are going to be decent quality.  I tried them on to get an idea of the feel. They came up really small at the front and gaping at the back. There was quite a lot of exaggeration on the front of the heels as well due to the height of the heel, also it was clearly labeled that the shoes were made in Brazil. 

The premium shop I looked at was henry hollands H! collection in debenhams. henry holland is a fashion designer and creator of the imfamous slogan tees. He has been a designer in debenhams since march 2010 where he launched his H! collection which has been a massive success. As well as designing for debenhams, Henry Holland has his own label (House of Holland) http://www.houseofholland.co.uk/ which has everything about his designer and catwalk collection on it. The house of Holland Label is for the cool, confident and savvy girl, who wears labels with letting them wear her.
My first  inital thoughts of his collection was that everything was laid out very well in unique looking cages,as well as styled outfits placed around the concession, which gave you me as a customer ideas of what looks good together. Everything was also on its right sized hanger, which gave a professional look to his collection.

I chose a regular skinny jean to research, at first look they have a worn vintage looking print to them, which for a quite a standard jean was quite unique. Having a look a the swing tag in a way shocked me, not beacuse they are fully reyclable but beacuse of the amazing price £25 for designer jeans, i couldn't belive it, also i had a wonder around his other peices and saw that the price of everything was cheap for the sheer and the  designer name of the garments.

Having a closer look at the inside of the jeans to see quality control i wasn't surpirsed to see that the finishing and quilty was just as good as i expected it to be. The seams had all been double stitched with thick cotton, one interesting thing I did notice was that the top on the jeans was the same colour as the denim. the jeans al round are very good quality and for £25 its an absolute bargin. I really loved how the the name of his colletction (H!) was imprinted on the buttons and the studs as well showing more professionalism and quality.
The jeans are made out of 98% cotton and 2% elastane.

H! shoes :
There wasn't a huge collection of shoes, so i chose to research a Chelsea boot with a slight heel, it was the closest to the standard black heel there. I thought the beautiful chocolate brown colour and brogue detail looked great, teamed with the elasticated side made for a statement piece for anybodies wardrobe.
The Price was £65 which I personally thought was a bit steep for the quality of them, as they were quite scuffed. However in saying that the leather upper seemed very strong with a thick, sturdy sole and heel. I did try these ones on as well to get a feel of the fit, unfortunately the size did come up small, but they leather felt sturdy around my foot.

In conclusion to the shop comparison I have found out that even the most expensive pair of jean are not necessarily going to be the better quality. However in saying that, if you wanted clothes to last years buy the most expensive you can afford, because lets face it the clothes in Primark are cheap but they won't last more than 6 months meaning you will spend more in the long run!

High street stores; not all bad!

The seminar I had the other day was all about ethical issue within the world of fashion and textiles. Our task from the week before was to research an article on a chosen store about either consumerism (fast fashion) or labor (sweatshops, child labor). A lot of people chose to research about the stores Primark and Gap for what has been seen in the media in recent years. As this was the case we were split into 4 different groups and had to argue for or against the shop we had been given. 

The group I was in, was given the task to argue For the store Gap, finding out all the good point and what makes gap a good company. We had to debate and argue our side so that the other groups would chose our argument as the strongest, hopefully changing a few peoples minds about what they think about the store.

Picture of the gap logo.

When my group I was working in found out that we were arguing for Gap, we were all a bit taken a back by the idea because we had only herd quite awful things about Gap as a company, about that they use sweatshop and child labor to produce their garment ect... We were all a bit apprehensive about how we were going to argue our point. However when we got to research about the store in detail a lot of great and promising points and information came up, which we were all quite surprised at. We firstly found this great video from the Gap inc. website. which is the Vice president of social and environmental responsibly talking to us the viewer about there social and environmental report. 

Below is a link to the video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIyXRENRyfE   

In doing this research on Gap these are the point we found out.

Key facts.

> Gap was founded in 1969 in San Francisco 

> There is more  than 100,000 workers in gap

alone.

> 3100 company operated stores and 

200 franchise stores 

Social responsibly. 

>They monitor 99% of they factories 

>They are very proud of P.A.C.E which

stands for personal advancement career 

enhancement this is for women in developing

country's which allows them to advance

in the work place.

>80% of their employee are women

>In 2010 gap employees volenteered 428,000 

hours of their time helping people. The value

of their time, the money that they made

as well as the amount that gap the company

match raised 16 million dollars. 

> Gap want their workers to be trained

with respect and dignity

Environmental

>One of gaps main aims is to reduce their carbon 

emissions by 20% between the years of 

2008 to 2015 

> They have installed 16 thousand light bulbs

in the factories.

>Gap is one of the founding member's of sustainable

apparel coalition which they use to find more sustainable

materials as well as better quality in their factories  

> Gap's clothes are better quality than those in a store

like Primark, meaning more value for money 

and less landfill waste.

 Well just to round this post off i just want to say, finding out all this Positive information  really has changed my mind about Gap as a company, they do a lot of great things for the environment, women is developing counties as well as for charity. It was really great to hear about all the positive things they have done for the world, instead of hearing all the negative, subjective things that have been said within the media about them.