Ralph and Russo Internship

I read that Ralph and Russo are offering internships with a view to get hired afterwards. Only problem is I think it's aimed to people already graduated so I would have to take quite a lot of time off uni. I'm not really sure I will have time to fit it in. They are so elite you have to have a 'couture number' just to get into their site. They've made some really nice stuff though and the internship is all about pattern cutting and construction so would be ideal for me.

The 5 Year Plan

I have been trying to figure out my five year plan for the last 2 months. Possibly longer than that. But after numerous options including 'full time blogger - literally kill me' I think I have finally figured out what I want to do with my life. 

Firstly I have accepted if I want to do what I love I will have to move to London. So that is the plan once I finish uni.

In 6 months finish uni.

Be living in London within 1 year - this gives me 6 months to save and continue getting some experience in Swindon. I really don't want to run out of money because I can't get a job and have to move back home.

Lack of experience means I may have to get an internship and work in a bar or something as well. Aim to get a job with the work experience - probably the easiest way in. Do work experience for 3 months max.

Try and get a semi decent job like previous work experience at Fashion Enter. Work there for 1-2 years.

After you have got some good experience start applying for couturier jobs - Ralph and Russo are currently looking for interns so may be more likely to take me on with slightly less experience. Work there for 3 years.

In 5-6 years move to Paris to work in a French Fashion House on their couture range. No RTW for me.

Exhibitions

I've been having a look into exhibitions to visit. I've never really taken an interest in exhibitions before but there are some on at the moment that look really good, I just need to figure out when I can fit them in.
The first one I want to go see is:

GSK Contemporary – Aware: Art Fashion Identity

2 December 2010 – 30 January 2011

The exhibition examines how artists and designers use clothing as a mechanism to communicate and reveal elements of our identity. The exhibition includes work by 30 leading international practitioners and is divided into four sections:

Storytelling	Building
Belonging and confronting	Performance

On the same day as I visit this I am going to travel over to Somerset House to see Matthew Williamson.



Apparently it includes his working sketches and moodboards as well as his work and I find that very appealing.






Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion
15 October 2010 - 6 February 2011
Barbican Art Gallery


I think that like Japanese fashion this exhibition will be a bit weird and wonderful. But who can pass up an opportunity to see Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto and Junya Watanabe when they are all so conveniently placed under one roof.

My plan on being successful..

According the the dictionary success is 'The achievement of something desired, planned, or attempted.'

So to first become successful I need to figure out what I desire. What do I desire? I want the world to become environmentally friendly. For this I can do my part and promote for others to do theirs. Really what I desire is an ethical bridal shop.

So, to achieve my bridal shop I will definitely need motivation and drive. Something I like to think I have in abundance. I will also need commitment and determination. Of which I again have in abundance. So really what I need is the know how. Which I will gain by continuing to work hard and learn, including making mistakes, which I'm pretty good at.

So to conclude, to be successful, I need to continue to learn (I'm not young enough to know everything anymore), and keep my ambition, which teamed with the know how, my motivation, and hard work, will drive me to reach my desires.

Successful People

Safia Minney launched People Tree in the UK in 2001. It appeals to me because it is a Fair Trade company. She is seen to be one of the worlds leading analysts of Fair Trade for the fashion industry. She also prompted the need for a World Fair Trade Day. Her company strives to create opportunities for economically disadvantaged producers, payment of a fair price, gender equity, improved working conditions and the environment.

'Fairtrade, what People Tree is all about, goes a step farther, using fashion as a tool for social development and to provide an income for marginalised communities.'

If you want to know more about Safia Minney and what she is up to then you can check out her blog.

Oscar Wilde is successful because he was one of the greatest writers of certainly his time. In my opinion one of the greatest writers of all time. He wrote many short stories, plays and poems that continue to inspire millions around the world. He experienced a lot of harrow in his life and a lot of bad reviews for his work. This never deterred him and he continued to write ahead of his time. His only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, perhaps seen as one of his greatest works, would later be his undoing. When he was arrested for gross indecency and sentenced to two years hard labour, it was this novel that appeared before the courts as it has gross indecency within it. Gross indecency was a way to lock up men thought to be homosexual where sodomy couldn’t be proven. He stayed true to himself throughout his life and that is one of many reasons why I admire him.

‘An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.’

Michael Jordan is looked upon by many as being one of the most successful sportsman in the world. There is no denying he is successful but it is how we began that I find most inspiring. He was cut from his high school basketball team. A man who is known as the best basketball player of all time, wasn’t good enough to play for his high school team. This is encouraging to me because it shows that if you are really passionate and have drive for something, if you show determination, you can, and will succeed.

"I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

Al Gore interests me mainly because he is an environmental activist. He ran for president in 2000 but lost out to George Bush. I often wonder how the world would be different if Al Gore had of won the election. He has founded many businesses including the Alliance for Climate Protection. He is also a member of the board of directors of Apple Inc., and is a senior advisor to Google. Receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and writing his book An Inconvient Truth that is all about climate change he was named runner-up for Time’s 2007 Person of the Year. He is trying to make a difference in the world for the better, successful for many other reasons, this is the reason I think he is successful.

‘As I have said for many years throughout this land, we're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization. Every bit of that has to change.’

Zara meets Liberty

Zara is collaborating with Liberty to create a kidswear collection. They are making 100 different items in 9 Liberty prints. I love Liberty prints. I would love to do a floral theme for my collection, but although classic, I feel it's over done. Plus I've already half decided on my chiffon jacket and black lace.

Photo Shoot

Just had a look on Tim Durkin's photography website. He is the photographer I got to do the photo shoot for my drape project. He had a soft box and expensive lights and all sorts. Anyway, he's put the pics of my dress up. Very cool to sort of have my dress featured on a website.

 

A Learning Experience Gone Wrong

I did my photo shoot for my draping project and was supposed to go to the beach. As my dress has a natural look to it I wanted no shoes in an innate atmosphere. But unfortunately it was raining and the photographer couldn't risk getting his very expensive camera wet. So I had to think very quickly of a new place to do the shoot that was inside. I really needed to do it on that day as I had organised the photographer and model. So I after racking my brain and trying to search for somewhere I decided to do it in my conservatory. It had some mould on the walls and I pulled the carpet back to reveal a rustic, decomposed concrete floor. 


I liked the effect of my shoot in the end. So although it didn't go according to plan I think it still worked well.

Placement at Burberry you say?

I was chatting to Pat before we broke up and she was saying about a workshop on Sloane Street. It's a high end couture workshop with four seamstresses. Apparently they are looking for English speaking seamstresses. It would be great to get a placement here. I have also lined up a placement with Burberry. Which is really exciting although I think I would prefer the Sloane Street one.

The only thing is there isn't any allocated time to do placements in the second year, so I'll have to either do my studies at the same time or do it over the summer after I finish. But I'm already worried about living in London with no money, and there's no way I'll be able to work for free and afford to pay my rent. I think about my future career a lot. London is the biggest predicament I have. I didn't want to live there, but now I think I do, or at least I have accepted I'm going to have to. I can't commute from home it will be too expensive and time consuming when I won't be getting paid much.

I think the Burberry sounds better to the general public,  but I think the couture one will definitely be better! But I want to do both because those two, plus the one I did earlier this year is a good assortment of seamstress working areas.

A Revolutionary Brainstorm

Hardly. But I was at work the other day procrastinating by doing some work. Who would of thought I would procrastinate towards my work for a change. But I came up with some ideas that need a better home than scrap pieces of paper.

I've just thought maybe not focus on a revolution that has been, create a revolution of my own. Probably to do with the ethics behind clothes? And its dark, tying in the chiffon and lace, and I can use the clearness of the fabric as a metaphor for exposing the truth behind manufacturing. Love this idea right now, and I can write my own manifesto.

Stolen For Fashion

This is a Peta advert with Pink and Ricky Gervais. I'm getting really into all of the ethics of fashion. Anya gave us a talk on the ethics behind Frank & Faith and I find it really interesting. Makes me want to become a vegetarian but I haven't got the will power for that. I think focussing on the ethics of fashion is a good way to go because it's bigger than it has been a few years a go. And with the recession and manufacturing in third world countries becoming more expensive I think manufacturing will come back to the UK. I hope so anyway because it will certainly benefit me in my career as a sample seamstress.

Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement

- Vladimir Ilyich Lenin


So today we were given our brief. The word revolutionary, to take into a concept, develop into numerous sketchbooks and then transforming into a final collection of four outfits. Sewing the final outfits will definitely be my favourite part. I have enjoyed not doing sketchbooks so far this year. I might continue the idea of the ring bound book and maybe have one made by blurb. I'd have a sketchbook as well. I wouldn't mind having a look at the third years books from last year to gage an idea of how much I will need to do. 

Drape Hand In

I was sort of ok with the hand in today. My time plan helped a lot but I when I did a test print the night before the page layouts were wrong. I worked really hard on my bibliography but haven't numbered the pictures I used, they are all referenced but it means you can't see which picture came from where. Apart from that, and not being able to print front and back, my book was exactly what I wanted it to be. I had a lot of pages, 60 was a bit excessive when 22 was the minimum. On retrospect I wish I took some of the Peclers pages out. But because of the angle I went down with my 'how to' book the things I have included are needed I think. and about 20 of those pages were a comprehensive of how to make my dress which I definitely needed. I liked the concept of my 'how to'. Apparently no one has ever done it like that before. And I tried to include things that other people wouldn't think of like the patterns from

So I've done things no one else has thought of, in a way no one has ever done it before. I think thats pretty much the definition of what we are trying to achieve on a fashion course.

This is a copy of my book. It's not the completely finished article but it's close enough to do for now.

Draping for Dummies

View more presentations from gemma365.

MoDiP Teams

On the 25th everyone else did their group presentations. We wern't able to because we were missing a member. But I thought I'd do some reflection on my team while it's fresh in my mind. We are doing our presentation in the new year but I will update you on that when it happens.

•How well do you perform in a team now?

If you had of asked me before the team project I would of said I think I work quite well in a team. But after working with the girls for that period of time I think I have improved massively. It's difficult to take on board other peoples ideas if you think you have a great one. But now I think I'm much better at compromising and combining ideas so that everyone is happy.

•Score yourself 1 (rarely) - 4 (often) using the  following:

•I talk to much 3

•I turn up late 1

•I interrupt others 2

•I take up too much of the discussion space 1

•I let other people carry the team 1

•I always think I am in the right 2

•I act as if I were the team leader 2

•I like everything to stick exactly to the agenda 3

•I keep going off at tangents 1

•I get caught up in the details and lose the big picture 1

•I have lots of ideas ,but many are not relevant 1

•I get too emotional 1

•I don’t keep to the deadlines 1

Possible problems in a team and how to deal with them:

•The one that gets away… Constant contact via facebook or phone so they know when the meetings are happening and therefore have no excuse to miss any. Make it clear if they don't give any input then they won't be getting any credit for others work.

•The quiet one…. Try and include them by asking simple questions without putting them on the spot. Meet somewhere where there aren't loads of people around to overhear or hover.

•The bossy one… Stand up to them as a team. If they are pushing for an idea no one else likes then don't let them 'win' just because they are the loudest or most intimidating.

•The procrastinator….. Everyone needs to undertake the same amount of work to make it fair. The procrastinator should be given the same amount as everyone else and told if it isn't completed by the date set then they won't be carried by the team or get credit for others work.

•Something just not quite right…. This should be evaluated and possible solutions given. One should be decided on and needs to be guaranteed to still be done before the deadline.

Before you start ask the team:

•What are our objectives? 

Create a sketchbook and 3 boards on colour, market and brand, with a presentation.

•Why was it formed? 

To practice creating a brand and working in a group.

•What will it do? 

Give us important skills in working in a team.

•What are its success factors?

Learning how to allocate work between team members, having to compromise and combine ideas.

•What external information does it need? 

Mainly the information will be from MoDiP. But other library resources will be useful including the archive catalogues, Peclers and possibly some e-books.

•What is the best this team can achieve? 

For everyone to feel they have contributed and for everyone to agree. For the approval of peers in the presentation and for it to be interesting. To complete everything originally asked of us, and then some.

•What bad consequences are there if the team fails? 

In the unlikely event the team fails it will mainly be a disappointment. It takes every member in the team to allow it to fail. So I think failure in itself will be the worst consequence.

Halfway through team:

•How well is the team doing against its objectives?

So far I think the team is doing well. We have had a few meetings and have been able to quickly come up with ideas that seem to suit everyone.

•Why?

I think we are doing well because we have agreed to have regular meetings so people can't slack for a couple of weeks and rush their part the night before. 

•What does it need to improve?

Attendance

•Will it achieve its objective on time?

I'm hopeful, I don't think there will be any problems.

•Which objective is it most likely to fail?

Possibly the presentation as at the moment we are allocating work and doing it separately. But the presentation will require everyone to be there at the same time to work on it.

•Will it achieve more than it set out to do?

The group is full of strong minded individuals so I think it will. Everyone appears to be putting their all into it.

•Are any external factors affecting it?

A couple of the girls live in Ringwood and Poole so they understandably struggle to come to the 15 minute meetings. Especially as we aren't all in on the same days.

•Will we be able to overcome these challenges?

The girls who live closer will just have to come in especially for the meetings when the girls who live further away are in.

Pros and cons of teams

•Maybe it’s better to avoid teams? 

I don't think you can or should avoid teams. If it happens in industry then we should be doing it now. 

•Perhaps look at it as discovery;

•a) interesting differences 

•b) variety of contributions       

•c) how they fit together. = a team is more than the sum of its parts.

Identify your team personality

•How can you work individually and together to get the best results from all of you.

I think the main thing is to ensure everyone is on the same wave length at all times. It's easy to go off on a tangent if you haven't told the group what you are doing. The work needs to look good as a collective but still be individual.

•How much should I behave ‘naturally’?

There is no reason to change who you are when working in a group. Maybe if you are particularly quiet, or loud then you may need to tone it down or pipe up. But I like to think I'm quite in the middle.

•Who am I most different from?

Probably Jen because she tends to get distracted by the conversation and talk about stuff that, albeit interesting, isn't relevant.

•How can I work effectively with him/her?

Maybe just try to keep her on track and get her to save her stories til the end of the meeting.

•Who am I most similar to? 

Steph or Chantelle

•How can I avoid the ‘clique’?

I'm not that way inclined, I don't like to exclude people.

•How would I like to develop personally through working in this team?

Produce work that everyone is happy with and fits well with everyone else's. 

End of group

•Reflection –on balance do you enjoy working in a team?

I found it a very different experience to what I expected. But it was good.

•What do you like/ dislike?

I liked having lots of input in ideas and not having to do all the work myself.

•What would you change?

I'm not sure I would change anything. It's hard to say until we have done our presentation.

•When did you feel annoyed /upset?

It's rare that I get annoyed or upset and it didn't happen during this process.

•When did you feel most pleased/happy?

When I came up with my main designs. They were all really quirky and exactly what we had in mind as a group. They had information about the product that I thought was written well.

•Did you feel valued as a team member, why?

Yes I think everyone was quite equal. I was asked to do some stuff, I suggested other stuff that other people should do. It was all very evan.

Are there things that caused you stress, what?

I think the presentation might make me stress a bit but won't know until we get to do it.

Wanderlust Hotel in Singapore

I found these pictures and just loved them. Wanderlust is an experimental boutique hotel in Little India, Singapore. It has 29 rooms and was designed by some of Singapore's award winning design agencies given complete creative control over four floors. It used to be a school in the 1920's.

Twitter

So today I joined Twitter, I read it is meant to be good for networking in the art world. The idea of Twitter is to tweet what are you doing at that moment in time. But my phone only cost me £5 and obviously doesn't have the internet. But it's a really good tool for keeping up to date with some fashion issues. It's not going to be like reading Drapers, but I have my homepage set to the Drapers website so every time I go on the internet I read through the headlines, anything I fancy reading more of I just google. Because you have to subscribe to be able to read the articles on Drapers.

Anyway, Twitter.. So I follow trendland, drapers and drapers jobs, Elle, stylespotter, Times Fashion etc. You get the jist, I also follow Jimmy Carr, far from fashion but he is funny.

My tweetless Twitter is GemmaDugan if you want to follow me. I'm going to use it to promote Ethereal Fashion, my fashion brand I created over the summer.

Claridges

gallian for dior designed under the sea theme xmas tree

Peclers

We had a visit from Peclers at uni today. They are always really interesting! The main thing I'm taking away for 2012 is fastenings. The fastenings need to be attention grabbing. Tobacco was a strong colour throughout, combined with various coffees, pumpkins and sands. Along with oxblood, teal and browns, earthy greens and polar whites. They cover so much in the seminars it's difficult to take it all in. But I've discovered that the Peclers books behind the library counter, have CDs in which is essentially a PowerPoint of the entire book. So even though the books themselves can't be removed from the library, you can copy the PowerPoint onto a USB and voile, Peclers browsing whenever you feel like it.

Branding and Marketing

I've been having a little think about branding and marketing. It's probably more to do with the promoters but will still be a good thing to understand and know a bit about. Especially in preparation for opening my bridal shop. I was watching a music channel the other day and Lady Gaga's Telephone song came on.




Talk about product placement! This video shows 10 separate brands, including Virgin Mobile, Diet Coke, Polaroid and Wonder Bread...

I found this amazing free e-book called T-shirts and Suits by David Parrish well worth a look if you want to know a bit more businesses. In this book the key points for marketing are:

1. Marketing is not just a posh word for selling. It’s much more radical than that. 
2. Sort out your strategic marketing (part of your business formula) before planning your operational marketing. 
3. Target specific market segments or specific customers. Draw up a target list of clients to win. 
4. Marketing is a dialogue, not a monologue. It includes listening to customers as well as talking to them. 
5. Not all customers are good customers. Decide which are good and bad for your enterprise. 
6. Are you truly customer­focused or still product­focused? 
7. Build your business around customers’ changing needs. Be prepared to change as customers’ needs do.
8. How much do you know about your current customers, lost customers and target customers? What would you like to know? Devise a way of finding out what you need to know, through various means including direct and indirect market research. 
9. Help and encourage existing customers to recommend you to new customers – so long as they are the right kind. 
10. Define the ideal customer then find one. Then another one, and so on.