Summing up my time at Zoë Jordan in any brief way would be nigh on impossible. For me the past five months have been an overwhelming combination of excitement, fear, stress, exhaustion and joy which can only be accredited to pursuing a career in fashion.
My journey with this brand started in May and its safe to say I was in over my head. Never having studied business, I was on a steep learning curve as to the inner workings of a luxury design house far away from the creative world I knew. Days included phone calls, packing lists and learning to be ‘sharky’ something which definitely didn’t come naturally to me. As my time progressed I was given slightly more creative tasks, tracing off patterns on occasion, managing the social media and photo editing although one of my favourite projects came in the form of writing the garment descriptions for the Autumn Winter 2013 stock and are now shown on the newly re-vamped website. A big ongoing project of mine was to re-work the existing brand profile and brand book which I am pleased to say arrived safely at completion just before the show although I truly feel for the next intern whose task it is to update!
I’m not going to sugar-coat it, the job was hard; maybe because it was in an area of the industry that I don’t know much about and maybe because it was far removed from the creative tasks I prefer. Personally, the lack of knowing protocol proved the most challenging aspect for me and bothering people with the same ‘where can I find blah blah blah’ questions made me feel like a bit of an incompetent idiot! For the most part I did feel like the staff team wanted me to learn and the highlights far outweighed the negatives. Fit modelling for the toiles and samples was the clear winner of best task; wearing a dress from toile to show sample was incredible and really illustrated the journey these garments travel from the design team’s sketches to the precise pattern cutting and the excited buzz when samples return from the Polish factory. The hugely inspirational team were great to observe and work alongside.
I’m not going to sugar-coat it, the job was hard; maybe because it was in an area of the industry that I don’t know much about and maybe because it was far removed from the creative tasks I prefer. Personally, the lack of knowing protocol proved the most challenging aspect for me and bothering people with the same ‘where can I find blah blah blah’ questions made me feel like a bit of an incompetent idiot! For the most part I did feel like the staff team wanted me to learn and the highlights far outweighed the negatives. Fit modelling for the toiles and samples was the clear winner of best task; wearing a dress from toile to show sample was incredible and really illustrated the journey these garments travel from the design team’s sketches to the precise pattern cutting and the excited buzz when samples return from the Polish factory. The hugely inspirational team were great to observe and work alongside.
Working with the wonder-women in the office upstairs (upstairs business, downstairs creative) was truly inspiring and the transferable skills I learnt were a.) the secret to keeping your shit together is knowing how to prioritise and b.) the importance of self-confidence. I learnt to throw myself in 100% even when feeling nervous and think that this attitude is key for success in the fashion industry.
Show Day
Leaping out of bed at 4.15 on show day (following 4 hours sleep) was un-nervingly easy, I think excitement took over and in my ultra preparedness I managed to arrive (along with my uni friend, who was working as a dresser on the show and one of the other interns) 20 minutes early. Following a quick set up and double check of my list, i snapped away backstage as hair and make up began and prepared to dress my lovely model. Before I knew it the show music was blaring and the bevy of beauties were roaming the runway to a catchy mix which was firmly fixed in our brains as it had been the office soundtrack for the previous week. The show itself went smoothly receiving great reviews and the catwalk images look great.
A few days later, I returned to the studio and was greeted with cake and a show goodie bag as well as a lovely card. Saying goodbye to everyone was sad but I plan on visiting in the future and staying in touch. I’m truly grateful for this fantastic opportunity and feel lucky to have been part of such an inspirational brand.
Leaping out of bed at 4.15 on show day (following 4 hours sleep) was un-nervingly easy, I think excitement took over and in my ultra preparedness I managed to arrive (along with my uni friend, who was working as a dresser on the show and one of the other interns) 20 minutes early. Following a quick set up and double check of my list, i snapped away backstage as hair and make up began and prepared to dress my lovely model. Before I knew it the show music was blaring and the bevy of beauties were roaming the runway to a catchy mix which was firmly fixed in our brains as it had been the office soundtrack for the previous week. The show itself went smoothly receiving great reviews and the catwalk images look great.
A few days later, I returned to the studio and was greeted with cake and a show goodie bag as well as a lovely card. Saying goodbye to everyone was sad but I plan on visiting in the future and staying in touch. I’m truly grateful for this fantastic opportunity and feel lucky to have been part of such an inspirational brand.
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