BBC Radio one’s Academy

This evening I went along to one of BBC radio 1’s Academy events, ‘Fashion Show with Bold Souls – Jobs in the Fashion Industry’. The idea behind ‘the academy’ is to invite young people to events and Q&A’s in order to  provide them with inspiration for their careers, encouraging them to follow in the footsteps of those they admire. The events bost an a-list selection of guests ranging from Hudson Mohawk and CHVRCHES  to Kevin Bridges and Sir Richard Branson. The bold souls event which I went along to aimed to give an insight to what it takes to break into the fashion industry. To start the show off there was a procession of models with gorgeous long locks dressed in the collections of Chouchou, Danni McWilliams, and Rebecca Torres, respectively. All three brands are Glasgow based and bring something a little different to the table. Chouchou are known for their ‘Hollyhood’ which is a cross between a hood and a scarf but what they showcased today was selection of form fitted outfits made from really interesting fabrics. Danni McWilliams collection took inspiration from the 1990’s with bucket hats, backpacks, crop tops and dungarees. Rebecca Torres uses fabrics traditionally associated with sportswear, teaming them up with her in-house digital prints to make statement dresses which have been hugely successful in online sales.

After the fashion show a panel of five fashion industry insiders took to the stage to tell us more about what they do. There to answer our question were; Dr. Tessa Hartman, founder of the Scottish fashion awards and editor of Caledonista, a new digital emporium for fashion beauty and luxury lifestyle, Dumi Oburota, recently featured in GQ’s list of 50 best dressed, manager to chart topper Tinie Tempah and creator of street style brand Disturbing London, Rebecca Torres, creator of the aforementioned fashion brand which shares her name, Freelance photographer Stewart Bryden and Model Chris Millington (who has a huge twitter following).

A piece of advice which popped up a few times was staying true to your brand, whether you are a photographer, a designer or a model, your brand is how you show people what you are about and what people buy in to. The theme of luck was discussed as well, Chris Millington was scouted by a modelling agency while he was in London branch of costa. This idea of being in the right place at the right time is something that has popped up again and again at lectures and talks I’ve been to about the creative industry. At this evenings event it was suggested that this is only half of the equation, yes it sometimes is a case of being in the right moment, but that means nothing if you don’t put in the hard work to back it up. The fashion industry is a really hard one to crack and it is vital to put your all into it if you want to make it.

At the end the microphone was offered over to the audience for any questions they may have. The necessity for a new brand to be based in London in order to become successful was one which returned answers from every panel member. We were advised that it is possible to become successful without moving to the countries capital, yes London is Britain’s fashion hub, but you don’t have to be there to be represented there. It was suggested that being outside of London also had it’s advantages, not being surrounded by the same trends as everyone else can mean that your brand is more individual.

It was really interesting to hear from people who do different things within the same industry, their work is quite varied but what they were advising was largely the same. I will be going to a few more events throughout the week which I hope will be as good as this one.

Hallmark

Our final project of the year was for hallmark. They wanted us to design a line of stationery, giftwrap or cards for men, including lettering. I started doing research into hand lettering, which I have am particularly interested in since going to see ‘Sign painters‘ – a documentary about hand painted signs by Faythe Levine. We had all been given free tickets by the university and had been invited to go to a talk with Faythe after the screening. The film itself was fantastic, It gave such great insight to the art of hand painted signs and gave me a new appreciation for typography. It was also really good to hear from faythe about what inspired her to make the film as well as get to know about some of her other work.

The signs I was looking at to start off my research were almost all american, for motels, diners, casinos and so forth. I decided to hone in on diners, as I was looking for more signs I was coming across some unusual phrases, which turned out to be slang used by diner wait and kitchen staff in the 50’s. Calling ‘Adams ale hold the hale’ to the kitchen would get you a glass of water with no ice, ‘Adam and eve on a raft, and wreck em’ would produce scrambled eggs on toast.

I combined the diner slang with the shapes I had been producing in my sign drawing to produce patterns for tags and gift wrap;