Elle...

i've currently been working on a brief for Elle magazine, the brief being to style a an outfit/look and photograph it, i have taken this brief one step further, with my final aim to create a layout for Elle using my styled photographs. i shot roughly 12 outfits using my friend as a model, much to her embarassment. i'm hoping they look good in my final layouts.

oxfam...

So recently i applied for a fashion merchandising placement with oxfam, if you have read my other pot's chances are you know i have a huge interest within in visual and fashion merchandising, so i thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me to further my skills and experience within this area as it is hopefully something i will be continuing when i finish university. i managed to bag myself a placement :-)!

My first day was on Friday 30th April 2010. starting at 10AM we culled the clothes from the shop floor removing anything that had been out over 2 weeks, as it was unlikely to sell in that store and needed to be moved to a different oxfam store, whilst i did this another girl which was doing the same placement as me was redoing the windows and sorting out some of the shop-floor layout, this left me slightly downhearted that i was doing basic shop-floor work while somebody else got to do the windows and displays.

I didn't let it get me down to much though, after all it was my first day i couldn't expect them to get me doing all that straight away!

After culling myself, Andrew (the store manager), Moira and Naz (the other two helping on the placement) went to a coffee place around the corner to discuss a plan for the store. the discussion went well and i felt like what i said was received well about the training of staff to make sure they are aware of trends so they can merchandise the stock properly when we aren't there and keep the shop looking its best.

After the meeting i thought it was best for me to tell andrew everything that has been going on with me being ill and make him aware of what has gone on, he was really nice about it and said it wouldn't be a problem and told me there was lots of things i could do from home as well! this sounded promising. He told me that i would be able to keep on top of the blog/website he had got up and running by posting trends and making sure that everything was running smoothly in store via the website. the website is also going to be used by other stores as there were so many people applying for the placement they have sent candidates to other stores in the are to do the same as us in the Withington store. he also said that once they are placed within different stores i would be able to check on them and make sure things were running well and the other stores looked their best too and that they were keeping on top of merchandising standards. this sounded really promising as these are tasks usually undertaken by a head visualfor a company or store. it would also give me different skills for the job in comparison merchandiser to my physical layout and merchandising experience at french connection; by the end of my shift i was much happier about my prospects within the placement.

All in all i think it was a great first shift, and the perfect start to my career as a visual merchandiser.

ill...

sorry everyone i have well and truly neglected my blog recently but i have been ill so i have an excuse!

unfortunately with being ill i am now more behind than ever, so it is time to spend my time of sick wisely and catch up with work... fingers crossed things go to plan!

my v.m. visuals...

ok so there's alot of them but i was proud of what i did, take a look at my first solo attempt at V.M...

visual merchandising experience...

So last week i managed to land myself the opportunity to get some work experience as a visual merchandiser. a shop in my hometown of bury had recently got fashion clothes in store and when i visited i could tell straight away that they didn't hire a v.m. to arrange the stands, so i took it upon myself to ask them if they would consider me to go and do some experience for them. i would sort out their stands to increase their sales while at the same time gaining the experience i needed to further my career, post-university as a visual merchandiser.

since there had never been clothes in store before since it was a shoe shop, i had complete creative freedom, which turned out to be the hardest part of the job. unlike when i do merchandising for french connection i had nowhere to start. no wet theme or color ways it was completely upto me and...

i loved every minute!

i only had 2 stand to merchandise but it took me around 5 hours to dress the front facing items out and create and order and place all the items. i even got to dress the window mannequin!! it was a great taster for what is to come in my life and i really felt i'd accomplished something when i had finished. fingers crossed he will ask me back to do more work for him as he gets newer and more stock in store.

sandology...

So today i am spending the day emersing myself in the British summer. I am currently working on a brief for Hamleys toystore, to design a window display for their summer window. After brainstorming i have figured the best theme to base my ideas around is the british summer. everyone as memories of the british seaside, building sandcastles and eating candy floss and rock on the pier. Using this idea will hopefully give my designs a sense of nostalgia as well as a fun and creative aspect to them.

The most interesting piece of research i have found is about sand sculptures and artists who create giant sculptures of objects made from sand. Mark Anderson is one of the artists i have come across who's impressive sculptures has earned him clients such as Orange, Selfridges and even commissions for St Paul's Cathedral. Just looking at his sculptures is really inspiring and makes me want to go out and try and create my own, unfortunately i can barely make a sand castle with a bucket and spade let alone carving sculptures out of sand. Below is some of the sculptures he has made over the years.

His work ranges from commissioned pieces for clients like the above for the national rail museum through to fun pieces like the sculpture copy of shrek.

looking at his work has given me some great ideas for sculptures that could go in the Hamleys window, they would be a tourist point as well as something fun and interesting to look at, the theme could also be carried throughout the store with sand sculptures inside and continuing the idea of the british seaside summer.

Whilst cruising through some random blogs the other day i noticed that alot of people blog about what they have recently bought, and since i definately plan on continuing this blog post university, i think i should share my recent purchase.

My second louis Vuitton bag...

bags are my idea of perfection.