Best achievement Ever!

I have been chosen for Graduate Fashion Week!

The saying hard work pays off really is true in this aspect. Still in shock this is the biggest achievement I have had so far, naturally I am so pleased, I really hope everyone who comes will enjoy what I've produced :-) roll on beginning of June!

Hope everyone will enjoy the UCA stand this year and come down to see some wonderful work.

Project Ending

As my project has now come to its ending I've been looking through all my research which seems like I started so long ago now from the first post where I was looking at Nikki Farquharson's mixed media girls prints to where I got now. In relation I did end up presenting an illustrator to feature in Focus Magazine so I can see how every step has counted. It felt like such a relief finishing my exhibit space but also still a little scarey. It has been really enjoyable yet strenuous and has been very different working independantly compared to previous group projects.

This last year I feel has really help define an area which I would like to pursue and develop into my first steps into a career. The whole focus I have had on online retailing has been really interesting and is an area I hope to develop further. I believe I have acquired new skills concerning consumer groups and diffrentiating brands to their consumer as I wasnt aware of the extend how differently you approach the consumer online to how you do physically in a store. I have really foreseen ways in how retailers approach their customers and most importantly what effect this has. I have come across brands who have done it wrong, some who are very good and some I can predict to a certain extent which will last and ones that wont. Consumer insight is such an important aspect and has really supported and pushed areas of my final project. With all the consumer insight and consumer trends I have been investigating, it has really made me realise which brands are listening to what they want and the ones that are not so much.

Sketchbook hand in is Monday, all that will be left is my portfolio refinement. I'm actually looking forward in presenting this final work in my portfolio and hope others will enjoy what I have created.

Browns New Site Re-Furb!!!

No Way!! Browns Fashion.com has launched a new re-furbed online site!! where was the build up!?! I even had to double check Facebook to check if there was any hints or clues to the new site re-launch but none whatsoever! just this Facebook post today. Its a shame I wasnt aware of this as it would of been a really nice compliment to Focus Magazine, a double re-launch! At least I can assure myself that I was indeed thinking in the right direction as Browns was :-) they just kept it a surprise. Maybe they will be surprised with mine?

I have to admit, the new launch is amazing! much MUCH better than the old one. They've even read my mind with the new Browns Focus category refinement! perfect for the Focus consumer,

Kate and Wills

 

Being the royal wedding tomorrow I thought this is a perfect time to get festive and to release my excitement for the event looked at the moodboards magazines are hopping on board with. I mocked together a Kate & Wills memorabilia board of quirky, fun and maybe a little cheesy gifts fans can buy for the occassion.

Look At Me

I follow Business of Fashion blog and have come across a particular post about a website built by a couple from Moscow called 'Look at Me' which has grown to be a very popular site that is relatively unheard of here.

 

“My girlfriend was bored. I tried to figure out how to entertain her, found an issue of Arena magazine and thought: why don’t we go out, take pictures of stylish people in the street and publish them on the Internet?” Vasily Esmanov

Recalling the moment in 2005 that would lead him, one year later, to found Lookatme.ru, a Russian website that’s probably the most powerful fashion site you’ve never heard of.

Officially founded in 2006, at a time when fashion blogs hadn’t yet caught on in Russia, Lookatme.ru took a typical street-style approach. Esmanov met and photographed much of Moscow’s creative crowd — young designers who now sell their collections in Europe and photographers who now have exhibitions in prominent Moscow galleries — asking them not only what they were wearing, but also what they were reading and listening to.Look At Me soon expanded beyond a style blog and into the realm of social networking. In 2007, the site launched an events service that functioned a lot like today’s Facebook events feature, letting users see what parties or concerts friends were attending. “Look At Me was a successful street-style and party reports blog at the time and Vasily thought he could develop a social media site based on that,” said Alexey Amyotov, Esmanov’s partner and now Look At Me’s CEO. “He knew almost every creative person in Moscow and he wanted them to contribute to the site and have their own social network.”

“We understood that to deliver we needed to hire designers and developers, but we had no money,” said Amyotov. “We approached a small, very cool and creative web-studio called Nimbler and offered them a share in the future project in return for their skills,” he continued.

Today, Lookatme.ru has grown into an influential media site focused on fashion, film, music and design, attracting 100,000 visits a day and 1.5 million unique visitors a month. There are Look At Me events and gallery shows, and registered users can contribute content and connect and communicate with other likeminded people.

Net-A-Porter Online Exclusive

Reading my weekly post of Drapers there was a small article of Net-A-Porter launching a footwear brand through themselves only. The incentive of this is 20% of every sale will be donated to a HIV supporters charity.

It brings to mind how important exclusive launches are, Net-A-Porter will proberly continue in the future releasing new unknown brand names into the light of online shopping.

The Online platform can offer exclusive content only for the eyes of online consumers.

Liberty Promotion Backlash

I came across a Drapers article on how Liberty had offered a 20% discount promotion for every Grazia reader however this clearly did not seem to have proven beneficial for the retail store.

Luxury designers have blasted Liberty, who generally do not discount outside of sale periods.

 "This kind of promotion could damage sales for indies that will be selling the same stock at full price. “It’s very disturbing. This is the second time Liberty has offered 20% off in the last month. I’m sure it will have affected everyone’s sales,” Barrie Rapaport, owner of womenswear brand.

The uproar has come from the independant designers who say it stops customers paying full price when they would opt to head to Liberty's to pay discounted prices out of a season sale period. Understandably Liberty has offered it to gain the custom rather than going to other stores to buy designer clothing however it seems to be the designers that have hit back! To be honest i didnt realise that designer retailers were aloud to do so without the consent of the actual designers. Also its proved a point how promotional campaigns perhaps are not all that necessary to lure the custom.

Rad the full article on the link below.

http://www.drapersonline.com/independents/news/-liberty-blasted-for-grazia-promotion/5024113.article