Last thoughts

I have learnt a great deal from my time at Snow, I have learnt alot from working closely with the PR Assistant and found that PR might be something I consider to pursue in the future. I feel I have settled in well within the team and will be sad to leave, I hope to stay in contact with Snow and also hope to return in September ahead of London Fashion Week and also on a part-time basis alongside uni.

SNOW

Snow is a small PR agency that is expanding rapidly, since being there the company has taken on many new clients. Snow is located in central London and comprises of a small team of pr agents and interns. When I first started the client list comprised of both High-fashion names and high street brands, from Pam Hogg to Oli.co.uk and freemans.co.uk. When I started they were working on the launch of online designer boutique Glassworks, Glassworks is an American online fashion boutique featuring American designers for the UK market. Also within a week of being there PPQ joined the company adding another name to the high end fashion clientele. Snow also work with smaller brands, helping them get their products out in to the fashion media, Pearl & Ivy are a accessory design duo who work with feathers to make vintage inspired headbands, they already have an online store and also spend thier weekends on their market stalls in both Spitalfields and Portobello market, recently Urban Outfitters have approache dthem to stock their headbands in store. Horace, Sevda and Yours are the new names that have joined Snow. Horace is another high end fashion label, Sevda is a luxury handbag designer who is currently up for an award for her designs, and Yours, Yours is an online store specialising in fashionable plus size clothing.

Research

During the placement there were a number of times where I had to do various different types of research. The most important type of research for a fashion pr agency would be the media, as that's how a pr agency makes money and how brands get recognised. Every day the daily papers need to be read highlighting any fashion news and stories are being featured and to see if there any similar stories being run. I also had to research readerships and demographics of some newspaper supplements, to do this I had to phone, email and do some online research to get their press packs. I was given an ongoing task of working with one of the sales agents of finding suitable stockists for PPQ, looking for high fashion retailers or boutiques that stock similar designers to PPQ around the globe. For this I had to find the stockists of such labels as Helmut Lang and Proenza Schouler and from there find their websites or any contact information so that I could contact them to find out their contact information of their Buyer and also to ask a little bit about the store e.g. the concept of the store, how long it has been open for and any press coverage the store has got in the past. From these tasks I have learnt alot more about the fashion media industry and from also doing send-outs I have a greater understanding of product placement and what each fashion publication features, like what to send and what not to send and what would get most coverage.

CV

Below is an example of the cv that i sent to the many companies I had applied to, including a cover letter.


Danielle Whiteman
31 Charford Raod,
Canning Town,
London
E16 1QQ
Mobile
Email:

EDUCATION

2007-Present BA Hons Fashion Futures, Trend Prediction & Forecasting, University of East London

Modules include: Wearable Futures, Predictive Scenarios, Researching Trends and How They Happen

Responsibilties: Elected course representative for my year. I sit on the committee of student representatives and staff members that aim to discuss and resolve student issues and requests

Skills Developed: Ability to create a basic website using Dream Weaver, also developed skills using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Group work has enhanced my team working skills and tthe anility to communicate my ideas and findings clearly through powerpoint presentations

2006-2007 Swansea Institute. Foundation in Art

2004-2006 Neath College

A Levels: Textiles (C), Geography (C), Religious Studies (C)

1999-2004 Cwmtawe Comprehensive School

GCSEs: 11 including English Literature , English Language, and Maths

WORK EXPERIENCE

Nov 2004-Sep 2007 Coast, Swansea
Sales Assistant p/t

Responsililties included:
• Assisting customers in-store and on the telephone
• Till work, including refunds, exchange as well as cashing up
• Meeting daily targets

Jun 2009- Sep 2009 DVLA Swansea
Data Input, Summer Temp

Responsibilities included:
• Handling the changes in the publics vehicle regristration
RELEVANT SKILLS

Communication:
• Strong written and verbal communication through university assessments in a variety of formats such as reports, essays and presentations
Organisational skills:
• I have demonstrated my organisational abilities by multi-tasking at university in order to complete assestments on time
• I am also used to handling pressure by working to tight deadlines
IT Skills:
• The use of Microsoft is included with every university assestment, I work confidently on Word, Excel and Powerpoint to produce presentations
• Adobe programmes I am currently developing my skills on are Photoshop, Illustrater and have alos learnt to produce a website using Dream weaver


ADDITIONAL INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES

• Duke of Edinburgh Bronze and Silver award have strengthened my team working skills in addition to perseverance and determination
• I have a key interest in Photography having studied it for my Foundation Art subject



REFEREES

Jessica Stevens
Store Manager
Coast
Debenhams
22 The Quadrant
Swansea
SA1 3QX
Tel: 01792 464191



Joe Hunter
Fashion Futures Lecturer
Fashion Department
University of East London
London
E16 2RD

Press Day

Press Day has arrived, in preparing for press day the whole office hasd to be turned into one big showroom, which meant hell of alot of heavy lifting. The preperations started way before the actual day, whether its the invites, to the cake POPs. The day run from 10-7pm and ran pretty smoothly. Once all the rails were up the designers arrived with their collections. Glassworks, the online american store brought some samples to entice the london fashion crowd with It labels like J Brand and Sass and Bide, PPQ had their very sophisticated Autumn Winter 2010 collection of black and gold, including floor-length jumpsuits to thick winter coats with feather hoods. Pam Hogg eccentric collection had tongues talking with her signature but sometimes revealing jumpsuits and her renowned red kittensuit as seen on Lady Gaga. Olivia Rubin also brought her collection along for the stylists and fashion journalists to have a gander at. The press day ran smoothly with the main job of greating stylists, fashion bloggers and journalists, making sure guests had drinks and once it was busy, talking the guests through the collections and where they had been featured. Once the Press Day was over, the next day was all about turning the showroom back into an office.

Exciting news...

PPQ are now clients

I cannot wait to see the collection

Intern Time!!

Over easter I started my placement at a fashion Pr agency and I wanted to give you an insight into what I do on a day to day basis. as the first week is all about getting to know the company and what they do, i figured that I wouldn't have much to tell you guys, so rather than bore you senseless I decided to base this post on what I did in my first fortnight. Altough there have been the mundane tasks of tidying the showroom for potential clients, shopping for supplies and getting press books bound, but that's what comes with being an intern.
During my first week I worked with one of the pr assistants to learn how to do send outs, where we would be emailed by journalists and stylists from Grazia, Indie, This Morning, etc. They give a certain brief of what they are looking for and then choosing from our stock what to send to them, with the hope that what we send would be featured. In the second week, i was given this task to do on my own and have been ever since. I also have to book in returns, send out gifts to journalists and celebrities do some of the paper work such as monthly media reports, weekly reports and press releases. As its my first fortnight at Snow its been pretty quiet, next week however is a different matter altogether.

Stay tuned...

Big News this week!!
Pam Hoggs Autumn/Winter collection ahs finally arrived!!
(I did my first Pam Hogg send out)