An Encouraging Email

This week I received an email from the Merchandising team I worked with at New Look during the summer asking if I would like to do some paid interning for them. Unfortunately, I had to turn down the work meaning a missed opportunity as it was such a shame that it collided with University commitments. However, I was so thrilled that they had contacted me to do some work for them, it was a huge confidence boost that my skills are reaching a level that is considered to be of standard to work in industry and that I gave a lasting impression on the team.

I will be taking this experience and the confidence it gave me forward in all aspects of my university work and career seeking. Right now, there is nothing more that I could ask for than the approval of my skills from one of the top high street retail companies in the UK.

Image: Pinterest

Christmas Wishlist

As it is coming to that time where you can't avoid the Christmas adverts any longer, I decided to have a browse of what i will be asking for this Christmas just to add a little personal touch to this blog and express some of my interests and personality through my choice of products. 

1. Topshop Neoprene and Patent Luggage

2. Next Polar Bear Slipper Socks

3. Chanel Chance

4. Friends Poster

5. Waffle Iron

Recent Purchases

Todays' post is slight more personal to me. Being a young woman looking to find a career within the fashion industry, it would be crazy for me to say I wasn't interested in what was going on on the high street and how I keep up with the trends myself. So, with the cold finally closing in, I thought it was time to invest in some new winter purchases to keep me warm in the coming weeks. Some new winter boots and cosy jumper are ideal but I wanted to add a little sparkle by extending my glittery socks collection. Also, topping up my pastel nail colours by buying my second Milkshake nail varnish from Topshop, a must have for the upcoming season. I have been so impressed with the nail varnish range Topshop offer since opening the range. It really compliments their fashion forward aesthetic by providing top season colours to complete your outfit. Is there really anything Topshop can't do?

From top left:

ASOS Author Leather Chelsea Ankle Boots

Topshop Gunmetal Fine Glitter Socks

Topshop Knitted Mix Stitch Jumper

Topshop Nails in Milkshake

Images taken from retailers website

A Mulberry Birthday

This weekend I was lucky enough to add to my mulberry collection by purchasing my first bag. Looking up to the brand and their image for has made me long to own one of their gorgeous bags. Mulberry have grown from strength to strength over the past few years as they have become a worldwide known icon for their incredible construction and beautiful leather that they use to create long lasting pieces that become such a statement within anyones wardrobe.

Image: Authors Own

The Autumn/Winter 2013 Campaign for Mulberry again reinstates there photography style which we have seen repeatedly throughout their campaigns, but always refreshed for the next season. The Owl was the key animal featured throughout Mulberry's images this time, possibly referring to the wise, traditional and history of the brand, along with creating enchanted imagery with abnormal situations of the outside coming indoors. My favourite image is the second one with Cara styled in all white. It reflects my personal taste of the kinds of imagery i like, very simple and sleek but with a slight twist to capture the eye.

Image: Mulberry  

Image: Mulberry

Image: Mulberry

Image: Mulberry

By Invitation Only

Over the past couple months I have been reading a book written by the two founders of Gilt Groupe, an online sample sale website which was created in 2007. The group was dreamt up by two women, Alexis Maybank and Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, who changed that dream into reality and in 2013 the group was valued at more than $1 billion, a huge success story for a website which has changed the way many shop.
The book is great for a young women like me, looking up to two inspirations who believed in their concept and pushed it right into the forefront of womens' minds in America. They blended their personal strengths, weaknesses and skills together to create an expert team in the fashion and online world, and carried the group through the dark days of the recession to become even stronger.
It showed me how in the very beginnings of business, dark and damp offices crammed with a few people emailing potential customers all day long is now much a reality of start up businesses but working hard and striving for better will always push the company out the other side onto bigger and better things. The importance of networking was key for Gilt Groupe with Alexis Maybank using her contacts to entice designers to sell their products on the website to a mass appeal of customers.

Having to come up with a business concept in the coming months for my final project this book was a fantastic and inspirational read of two women who have started from humble beginnings and conquered the fashion and business world through excellent working relationships and drive to succeed, and of course a great idea in the first place. This book has taught me many things that I will be taking on into my future work and career as well as exposing me to more key women in the industry who are a new inspiration for me.

Image: Authors Own

Afternoon Tea at The Berkeley

As a late birthday present, yesterday I took a trip down to London to visit my sister and spend the afternoon at Berkeley Tea Rooms. Not just your average afternoon tea, Berkeley in Knightsbridge pride themselves on offering something slightly different. They base their afternoon tea on the lastest fashion collections, so during the time we visited all the treats were inspired by the Spring/Summer 2013 season, helping to relive summer just that little bit longer.

Starting with a glass of champagne and a few sandwiches to ease you in, my sister and I were looking forward to seeing what our tower of treats would hold. Our waiter brought out a gorgeous china 3 plate tower laden with cakes and treats. Biscuits based on Manolo Blahniks, a cake sandwich in the shape of Jason Wu's leopard print bag and honeycomb cream and marsipan taking inspiration from Alexander McQueen were among many others.

The effort and construction taken to create and execute each piece to perfection was stunning, you felt so much enthusiasm had gone into each little treat that was gone in seconds. Gorgeous colours popped from the plates complementing our beautiful china tea set made the day so special and quirky. Better still, they replace the plates as you finish with another set of treats and let you take home anything you haven’t finished, now you can't complain about that.

The thought of taking such a traditional past time and recreating it for the modern day and to appeal to the expanding numbers of fashionista's there are in the world today is a great concept. I would recommend this experience to anyone who may be after something a little bit special and memorable to enjoy during an afternoon in London. 

Images: Authors Own