VDM: The Magazine

As you may or may not remember, I mentioned in an earlier post that I had been producing my own fashion magazine for my editorial journalism module at uni. At the time I could only show you the article and a mock front cover for the publication, but alas, everything is finished and I can now show you the full thing! Hooray! 

When I was given my brief (it was all about diversity, identity and ideals) for the module, I immediately knew that I wanted the magazine to reflect Vita di Moda. From the content, to the style in which articles were written and indeed, how the fonts and general aesthetics of the magazine looked. In the end, I came up with VDM for the title (pretty self explanatory, really) and tried to style the magazine around my personality and identity as much as possible. Having my own publication is something which I have thought about as a career option after university, so I hope it gets some positive feedback. 

All content - written and photography - is my own, so it's taken me a while to produce and I'm really pleased with the result. I hope you guys like it as well and don't forget to let me know in the comments section what you all think!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE MAGAZINE AT ISSUU

Tattoos | Diversity | Identity

Well hello stranger(s), remember me? If I thought I had a lot of work to do in first year of university, then second year just shot me down. I've to create a pop-up event for Cruise clothing, research and write an essay on live experiences and if that wasn't enough, create my own magazine (mock cover pictured below - can you guess what VDM stands for?); photo shoots and an article on diversity included. Ha, I know. So I've been a little busy if you couldn't already tell. Since I haven't been able to sit down and take a second to think of some blog posts, I thought I would share the first draft of my diversity article with you all. The article is based on tattoos within the fashion industry (shocker for me, eh?) and how it makes me a little pissed off that we still get judged and told to cover our ink up - as if covering them is going to make us any better at our jobs. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and I'll try and get some other posts with some of the work I've been doing lately up soon. Much love xoxo

The fashion industry is forever evolving at rapid speed; from Chanel and her palazzo pants, to Rihanna and her lack of pants. Styles change, people change, but one thing remains the same: the judgement in a stranger’s voice and facial expression, when they do not particularly agree with the ensemble you painstakingly styled that morning. Or on a more person level, the way in which you choose to represent your personality and identity to the big bad world.

One question which most tattooed people tend to get asked on a regular basis is, “How will you ever get your dream job now?”. Who is to say that an individual with ink on his or her arm, isn’t as passionate, dedicated and hard working as the clear-skinned, hopeful intern, sitting next to them in Anna Wintour’s reception? In the end, it all falls down to an expected set of ‘ideals’ that the fashion industry has set in stone for the world to follow as religiously as Vogue itself.

Having said this however, a selection of highly influential - and at times, controversial – designers have taken the first step towards change, by casting heavily tattooed models on their catwalk shows and advertorials. Names include the likes of Vivienne Westwood, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Valentino and Marc Jacobs and each have welcomed tattoos wholeheartedly. For example, the head design due for Valentino; Pierpaolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chuiri, have been at the reigns of the fashion house since 2007. Since then, they have revelled in injecting a sense of youth to the brand and have managed to do so in a variety of ways. One such way was through their Spring Summer 2013 accessories advertorials, where the heavily tattooed photographer Terry Richardson, replaced the regular presentation of florals and candy coloured lace with his sleeve. Maria Grazia Chuiri commented saying, “the sensual yet elegant nature of our accessories, described as objects of desire - and Terry’s tattooed arm is the perfect showcase.”

Other successful fashion names such as Louis Vuitton, have previously made a less permanent decision. In 2010, “Models at Louis Vuitton sported custom temporary tattoos by Brooklyn artist Scott Campbell.” Said tattoos were in no way, shape or form subtle or on the small side either; they were large, eye-catching pieces placed directly on the neck/chest, full arm and calves. If steps such as these are being made on the luxury, high fashion scene (where image and self representation really is everything), it begs an answer as to why individuals with tattoos are still being judged in not only the fashion retail industry, but the work place in general.

Kieran Rose is an up-and-coming ‘alternative’ model who, at the tender age of just nineteen, already has countless tattoos covering around 70% of his body. He regularly shoots for a variety of street-wear brands, has an impressive fan base and although undoubtedly talented in what he does, knows all too well the sharp sting of rejection from the public. “I’ve had some abuse for them [tattoos] in the past and still get s**** for them every now and then. People say its ‘disgusting’…those people are just judgemental”. Kieran then commented further saying, “I think as popular as they’re becoming, there’s still a lot of people who’re against them and always will be.”

It is a disturbing realisation that people are still being discriminated against in the 21^st century, despite how far the general consensus on body art has come in the past decade or so. “What were once the province of sailors or bikers, and then the pastime of rockers and punks, are now all over bank tellers and advertising executives and stay-at-home moms.” Those particular individuals with tattoos are still very capable of being successful at a high rank career; such as a magazine editor, photographer or top model. Tattoos are no longer the sole symbol of rebellion, aggression or anger. They simply extend a persons identity and personality and show that they believe in something: “There is something especially wonderful about seeing a tattoo on a model on a runway—I’m here, it says. I’m different. I have a grandmother, a favorite poem, an opinion.”

As it stands, there are many retailers - and other professions – which have policies in place which states that body art must be covered when in the work place at all times. This is generally due to the brand not wishing to have a specific look or stereotype associated with them. However, after looking at a recent survey on the general public, asking what their thoughts were on heavily tattooed individuals, it is a wonder that said policies are still being enforced. Over 60% of the public said that they would feel more than comfortable to receive their medical treatment, education and legal advice from someone with visible tattoos. A farther 94% said that they did not feel that someone should be made to cover their tattoos, purely to gain employment in their chosen field. Finally, 100% of people surveyed stated that they in no way found heavily tattooed people offensive.If brands are worried about their self-portrayal within a public setting and therefore have employees cover up their tattoos, perhaps this could change in the near future if they saw that the majority of the public did not actually react badly towards them.

What was interesting from the survey, were the comments that the public left on their opinion of heavy tattooing. One individual said that “tattoo’s don’t change the person, they are an expression of the person”, with another stating that “it is a personal choice and doesn’t reflect someone’s skill or intelligence”.

Statements such as these just shows how the public actually feels towards body art and it being presented in a work environment. Just as Kieran Rose noted previously, there are people who will forever have an issue with tattoos. However, in today’s society, more and more people (both from a younger and an older generation) are walking into tattoo parlours and requesting to be inked on a much grander scale. Time will present itself eventually, when those applying to be the next Editor-In-Chief of Vogue may well just have a full sleeve. Who knows, maybe even the President of the United States could have a chorus of song lyrics, or skull and roses tattooed to his (or her) bicep.

All That Glitters Isn't Gold

Northumbria University:

Fashion Film - All That Glitters Isn't Gold

Seeing as I've just finished my first year at Northumbria University studying Fashion Communication, I thought I would share a fashion film with you all that my friend Sophie and I worked on together. Oh, she has a blog as well, so you should go check her out if you fancy some new reading material - The Girl With The Blue Bow. 

We were given a pretty open brief, simply asking us to create a 2 minute long fashion film. When Soph and I put our heads together, we decided that we didn't want to create something that was so obviously fashion focused: i.e all about shoes, or clothes etc. In the end, we went with a theme/topic that isn't widely spoken about in today's culture, yet it happens more often than we would care to realise - abuse. The glitter was added simply as a means of bringing some sort of fashion aspect into the film and it also helped provide us with a title for our film.

Considering how often this happens to people on a daily basis, we didn't want to sensationalise the issue, or portray it in a distasteful way. What we came up with seemed to go over well with our class and lecturers, so I hope you will all enjoy it as much as they did. 

                                  

Music: Passenger - Let Her Go

FYI: Update!

FYI

Hello from Newcastle! That was a little corny, but whatever: I just wanted to give you all a little update on things that are currently happening in my life just now, and that in turn will give you the reason as to why there aren't many posts or updates happening at Vita di Moda over the last couple of days - it actually feels like months, but there you go. 

I moved to Newcastle on Saturday morning, so with unpacking and getting to know people in my university halls and course, I've been a little too preoccupied to blog and talk about LFW - trust me, this is hard for me too. I haven't even had a chance to look at any of the shows yet!! So yeah, university. I made sure to unpacked everything over the weekend because today, tomorrow and Thursday is being spent attending my course inductions. I'm actually just back from one and guess what? I'm going to NYC in February for a week! It took every ounce of effort not to jump out of my chair with utter glee when my lecturer Christopher Hodge told us that - hopefully it'll be around Fashion Week and I can maybe slip away from the uni group for a day or two to get a press pass for some shows to blog about. That could be an idea actually.
We were given some general information about the course, what we're going to be doing, who our lecturers are and some other bits n' pieces - my lecturers have a serious amount of industry experience, so it's going to be really exciting getting their feedback and help forming my career once I graduate in three years time.

So yeah, that's a little update for just now. I promise to get some LFW reports up soon, even if it's just a collaborative one rather than one for each of the best shows (in my opinion, obviously). 

Thanks for sticking with me xo

Fashion Communications Interview

BA(HONS) FASHION COMMUNICATION.

Ok, so this post is a little more personal in nature than my regular fashion reviews, however it's still linked to fashion in the academic sense!

As you'll know from some of my previous update blog entries, I had an interview at Northumbria University in Newcastle today to study a BA (HONS) Fashion Communications degree. Seeing as the interview was at 1pm, rather than getting the train down quite early in the morning, I decided earlier on in the week that I would head down on the train on Thursday afternoon and get a hotel for the night - that way I would be less flustered and be able to get my bearings a bit better.

Well. Less flustered, I was not. I was just as shaky, nervous and sick to my stomach when I woke up at 9am this morning, as I was going down to Newcastle on the Thursday afternoon (Not having my laptop, or internet for my tablet PC didn't help matters either - a quick look at the first collections to hit London Fashion Week today would have surely calmed my nerves) 

Seeing as the interview was at 1pm, I decided to head up to the City Campus East - School of Design building around noon, so that I had an hour to find out where to go etc. When I got into the building, I went straight to reception to tell them I was there for an interview and the guy behind the desk ticked my name off and handed me a plastic bag with various booklets about Newcastle - places to eat, drink and visit - a mini red sketchbook with the Northumbria University emblem on the bottom right hand corner, and finally, a questionnaire sheet which included questions along the lines of;

• Why have you applied for Northumbria in particular?
• What does Fashion Communication mean to you?
• Name a photographer, artist, musician and design company that inspires you and give a few words as to why that is.

After filling in the questions, the head of admissions for Fashion Communication came around asking people to go into one of the seminar rooms, as they were about to begin with the interviews. Once I sat down, a different lecturer (don't know her name, she spoke only briefly) came in and explained that everyone in the room was here for either Fashion Communication, Fashion Design or Fashion Marketing, and that if we were there for Fashion Communications, then we were to follow the head of admissions and go into a separate room - I think it was because we were the only course out of the three that didn't need to show a full on portfolio. Anyway, once we got into the other room (there were only 5 of us - thank god.) we each took a seat at the table and had our names ticked off the register. At this point, the head of admissions called our names, one by one to give our presentations. I was called third to give mines, but by this point my heart was in my ears, my leg wouldn't stop shaking, I was actually starting to feel my teeth chattering - it was truly horrendous. I've never been so nervous for an interview in my life so far - and it was all because after watching the first two girls present, all I could think about was, "Oh. My. God. My board is all wrong."

Each one of the girls had media related projects included on their boards or power point presentations that they had studied at school or college. Things like their social networking sites, photographs/shoots that they had personally taken or styled etc, and I was just sitting there listening to it all and thinking that I had forgotten to put in the things that should have been obvious to me - my blog and Twitter for example.

So when it was my turn, I put my board up on the table and felt the need to explain why mines was just so much more fashion/design related than everybody else's - which is fair enough, really. I mean, I've studied design since fourth year at high school. That's over five years now. Half way through my presentation though,  I felt like I should have pointed out that I had this blog and my Tumblr account, so I mentioned it. However, at the same time, all I could think about was that they must think I'm a liar, and that I only said it because the other four girls all mentioned theirs and I just didn't want to look outdone. This could be paranoia, but I don't really know.

Moving swiftly on. After the presentations were done, a third year student came in to take us up to the studios to show up where we would be working, and to show us some of the first year students work. We got there and there were a row of sketch books and briefs up one side of the table, and up the other side were magazines that the students had designed and actually produced for one of the modules (this was what got me really excited, as working for a magazine company is what I really want to do for a career.)

After having a quick look through the work - which was amazing, by the way - I started to ask the third year student some questions about how the industry has reacted to graduates from the course, what work placements people have been doing etc etc (I figured if I asked questions, then she would report back to the head of admissions and maybe say that I seemed keen and interested)

Once we had a look around, we were taken back downstairs to the design lobby where the head of admissions was waiting for us. At this point, I thought we were going to be taken in for a one to one and asked the questions that the university website said to prepare for, however we were just thanked for coming, asked to hand in the questionnaire's that we filled in earlier, told that our presentations were all great and that we should hear back soon with whether or not we've been given a place on the course.

This really had my jaw on the ground. I had prepared answers for these questions and was hoping that after my board being different from everybody else's in the presentations, that these questions would help me justify to them why I should actually be doing the course after all. So, naturally as you can image, I started to panic a little thinking that I had just blown my chances of getting in.

It wasn't until later on tonight that I remembered that the questions on the sheet we were given to fill out, were actually not that far off from the questions we were told to prepare for on the website. Having this realisation has calmed my nerves a little, but I don't think the sick feeling in my stomach will fully go away until I hear back from Northumbria.

You have no idea how badly I want onto this course. There's nothing else like it in Scotland, and the other courses that I have applied for just don't come anywhere near it. 

Everybody - keep your fingers crossed for me!