SOPHIEWRIGHTFASH20031PORTFOLIO

COMMUNICATION&MESSAGEN0388957

COMMUNICATION&MESSAGE

COVER PAGE

PROJECTONESELF PROMOTION & DATA VISUALISATIONWhat Am I Like?Individual Self PromotionOnline PortfolioStreet Style PostPersonal ManifestoTurning Numbers Into Fashion

PROJECTTWOALL WALKSTeam Photoshoot PhotographsDiversity Now Competition

CONTENTS

SELFPROMOTIONSelf Promotion and data visualisation has helped us to think about ourselves as a Fashion Communicator and Promoter within the broader fashion landscape and as ourselves as a brand. This also enabled us to develop our own self-promotion and employability skills. Creating the moodboard ‘What am I like?’ helped us to visually represent ourselves to others. Choosing 10 items from certain categories and photographing them to create a finished piece. Designing a logo, business card and visual CV also helped with promoting ourselves and with our data visualisation.

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WHAT AM I LIKE? POSESSION

PAST TIME

AVERSION

COMFORT

PLACE

CLOTHES

MUSICSHOES

TRAVEL

Senttimental Jewellary, Iphone, Laptop.

Topshop heels, Dr Marten boots, Sandals, Black and Brown Colours.

Festivals, House and Techno, Indie, Gigs.

Home, Holidays, Cities, Countryside.

Hot chocolate, Fast Rides, Rain and Snow.

Car, Bicycle, Site Seeing, Travelling To New Places.

Christopher Robin Poems (childhood bed time stories), Reading, Films, Blogs, Articles.

American Apparel (disco pants) Vintage Clothes, Charity Shop Bargains.

Fruit, Roast Dinners, Healthy Foods, Homemade Meals.

Bed, Home, Family, Friends.

FOOD

SELF PROMOTION

WHATAMILIKE?

SELF PROMOTION

VISUALCV

SELF PROMOTION

I am interested in a career in Fashion buying and trend predicting. Ideally in the future I will be experienced in both areas. However to build a degree of credibility in theindustry, working for a company to begin my career journey is necessary. For my visual CV I have decided to use my logo - the triangular clothes hanger as my visual selection for the rest of my portfolio consists of circles. My CV and cover letter are focused on a career working within the fashion buying industry. I have developed my own business card, which I feel represents me also considering the logo and how it could be used in different contexts.

COVERINGLETTERThis covering letter is addressed to the head office of Topshop. The letter is intended for the postition of a Fashion buyer for brand.

Home address:The Gables,Audley End,

Sible Hedingham,Halstead,

Essex, CO9 3AU

Term time address:No.1 Rhymesville,Newdigate Villas,

Nottingham,NG74FB

Telephone: 07791038469Email: sophiewright9@msn.com

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: The Fashion Buying vacancy.

Let me introduce myself. I’m Sophie Wright a fashion blogger and trend follower who doubles as a shopaholic - just to get inspiration of course!

As a girl from Essex I was never meant to have a sense of style, and as some say, intelligence either. Graduating with a first class honours degree in fashion com-munication and promotion I feel has expelled this myth! I have always been astute, as well as being creative and artistic, whether that is in the form of designing, writing or sketching. I would love to become part of the buying industry and one day see my predicted trends turn to reality and believe I could achieve this by becomimg part of your respected buying team.

As a graduate of Fashion, Communication and Promotion I also have an array of work experience, ranging from shadowing a fashion buyer for the high-end brand Calvin Klein, as well as at a successful local boutique. One of my notable achievements was working with the British Heart Foundation charity store, to re work and visually merchandise a number of garments to appeal to a younger market. I achieved maximum publicity for this charity by contacting the local press, who featured an article on my work.

I am edging ever closer to making my dreams reality. I have excellent negotiation skills, and I am fashion forward. I know my experience, skills, and achievements make me the right person for this position.

Now you know a bit about me and my desire and passion to become a respected and successful fashion buyer. Topshop is a leading fashion forward retailer at the forefront of new trends. A company I would be proud to work for. I feel I have the creativity, personality and confidence to be successful within your company.

Please find attached my CV and I shall be happy to supply any further information you may require.

Yours Sincerely,

Sophie Wright

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WRIGHTNo.1, Newdigate Villas, Nottingham, NG7 4FBTel: 01787 460705 Mob: 07791038469

Email: sophiewright9@msn.com

EDUCATION&QUALIFICATIONSNottingham Trent University (2011-2014)BA (Hons) Fashion Communication And Promotion, 2:2 degree expected

Sible Hedingham Secondary School, Essex (2008-2009)A levels: English Literature (D), Geography (E), Design And Technology (C)GCSEs: 8 subjects grades A-C, including English, Maths and Science

SKILLS&ABILITIESCommunication·Experienced in communicating effectively, which I have proven through working in retail outlets and more recently fronting a small boutique restaurant/hotel, liasing with both staff and customers.·Developed report writing skills both at college and latterly university whilst studying Fashion Communication and Promotion. This sometimes involves interviewing on the street to keep up with and identify fashion trends.·Gave presentations to university and college lecturers showing my analytical skills.Leadership·Ability to motivate and manage a successful team as proven in my roll of restaurant/hotel supervisor.·Confident at leading a team project and motivating and encouraging less confident team members.·Showing a businesslike approach, leading a group to develop creative skills to design a new logo for a mainstream company.Teamwork·Enthusiastic in my dance troop where we won numerate county medals, this was achieved through our ability to work well as a team.·Gained insight into how teams can develop strategies to solve problems through participating as a team member in project assignments as part of my course.Organisation and time management·Prioritised my university to work to ensure I met my deadlines.·Ability to make decisions under pressure as needed both in my study and part time job.·Commercially aware as proved in my final college project where I worked with a charity organisation and negotiated with a local newspaper to get my work published.·Making myself flexible to taking on more hours at my job.

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WORKEXPERIENCESales assistant, Warner Textile Archive, Braintree (Summer 2006 and 2007) -Serving customers at the till, sorting out the stock and answering customer queries on the phone and filing paper work in the office. -Sorting wallpaper samples, paper designs, documents and other industry records that represent two centuries of creativity and commerce.-Photographing prints and designs to send to different designers that may be interested in working with the fabrics.

Bar supervisor, Dickens Restaurant, Halsteaed, (Nov 2007-July 2008)-Worked weekends as a bartender and progressed on to supervising the bar, training new staff and handling customer complaints. This really developed my time management skills, as I had to balance this job with my academic study. Local Boutique, Long Melford, Suffolk (July 2012)- Shadowed the buyer for this small boutique, meeting designers and helping to predict trends.- Working out of hours and travelling to and from cities.

ADDITIONALSKILLS-Computing: fully conversant with Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and Internet explorer-Driving licence: full clean UK licence.

INTERESTS&ACHEIVEMENTSSport: I am a dancer and have represented my town. I am currently captain of my dance team and we have represented our town in many different competitions achieving gold in a number of them. I visit the gym and swim regularly.

Media: I have contributed to the student union magazine in my second year of university, writing about my spring/summer street style trend. I have also worked with The British Heart Foundation Charity, re working the clothes they sell giving them an up to date look ready for them to re sell. I then wrote an article about this to go inside the local newspaper. School: I was given the duty of being a monitor at my school and gained experience of organising events and representing fellow pupils.

REFEEREEAcademic RefereeMichelle Hughes Nottingham Trent UniversityEmail: michelle.hughs@ntu.ac.uk

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INITIALLOGODESIGNS.Here I have started with my initials ‘SW.’ I originally adjusted the colour of the two letters and eventually decided on this pale grey.

Here I have used all the same colour and font as my first design but added the letter ‘L’ for my middle name.

My next design consists of my first, middle and last name. Using the same three colours of grey, orange and black.

I then started to adjust the positioning of each letter, moving the letter ‘W’ on to a slant and for the last logo duplicating the letter ‘S.’

The logos were lacking colour and not striking enough so I incorporated black and orange into the designs, again moving the positions of each letter.

SELF PROMOTION

I then looked at how the three names could slot into one another. As you can see I have used the same ‘O’ for Louise and Sophie.

INITI

ALLO

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SIGN

S.Here I have taken a slightly different approach to my logo and looked at different fashion items, this one being a clothes hanger.

For the second design I have still used the clothes hanger but added a splash of orange to the inside of the hanger.

I then started to think about how I could incorporate my name or initials into this logo design. Placing it in the inner colour block of the hanger.

For the last two designs I used the hanger to try and create my initial ‘W.’ I don’t think this is very affective, as it doesn’t work with having the lines on the side of the hanger.

SELF PROMOTION

Taking the clothes hanger and repositioning it to create different shapes. The hangers do not seem to create successful shapes when placed together.

I feel my logo has benefited by changing the hanger with in my design. I then removed the colour and just simply added my first name inside.

FINALLOGOThe final logo design is simple yet effective and is the design I shall use throughout all my branding and self promotion. The logo is simple and geometric, easily adaptable and recognisable. By adjusting the size of the letters in my name, it follows the shape of the hanger. Not including my surname with in the logo makes it less formal and more personal, this can easily be changed as demonstrated on my business cards, and can be added when and where necessary.

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BUSINESSCARDS.

After creating three main business cards and placing the text and logo in different places I eventually designed one that worked best. The fi nal business card design integrates the fi nal logo on the front and again on the back. The hanger is enlarged and my name has been placed inside. Placing the professional information and contact details to the right side of the card. The aesthetics can be altered in colour, size and orientation and still remain identifi able. The elements can change in relation to location and context as well as just offer variety.

The business card is made from heavy mount card and is generic business card size measurements. In ideal terms the card would have an embossed logo as well as my visual CV, however costing is a big factor and for that reason the cards will not have these qualities.

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ONLINEPORTFOLIOI have created my online portfolio on a website called portfoliobox. My online portfolio visually represents my journey. This will be something I will show to future employers to showcase myself as a brand and show my creative pathway. I have ensured my portfolio is digitally and physically understandable when viewing. My portfolio can easily be altered depending on the skills required for a certain job.

SELF PROMOTION

SELF PROMOTION

MYONLINEPORTFOLIO

WWW.SOPHIEWRIGHT.PORTFOLIOBOX.NET

My portfolio consists of very neutral colours throughout so it can easily be altered and would fit with different brands tone of voice when applying for jobs. My logo is also included within my online portfolio and the hanger is the link that takes the viewer back to the home page. The portfolio shows the journey of me throughout the course, show casting some of my best work. It also contains a page about me and a page that gives my blog address, Pinterest, and twitter account.

FRONTPAGE

PROJECTS

SUMMERWORKThroughout the summer I wrote an article about my preferred style and included a summary about myself. The article is for the Nottingham Street Style magazine. It includes what I love about fashion, the different high street brands I normally buy from and the style I normally go for. There is also a list of what I am wearing in the picture I have included and the cost of each item.

SELF PROMOTION

FASHIONARTICLE.Fashion has played a huge part in my life for as long as I can remember. From the Birmingham clothes show at the NEC to the streets around Brick Lane East London and now Nottingham, I discovered that fashion was my passion. Fashion for me is a way of communicating and expressing my individuality. I love watching how other people interpret fashion. What they wear, how they wear it, whether they break every rule in the book or they are conventional this is what I find so exhilarating. I love to shop in charity stores and vintage shops, as finding a bargain there is never a fail. Piecing cheap bargain clothing items together with a more expensive item creates the perfect outfit for me. Allowing myself to enter the more high-end expensive stores such as American apparel or urban outfitters is a treat… especially after I get paid my student finance! Nottingham is a brilliant shopping city and I definitely have my favorite stores, these are Cow and the Vintage Warehouse in Hockley although Market Square offers a variety of shops and is a great location to experience the busy city life. I like dressing up and making myself look presentable, it generally takes me half an hour to get ready in the morning. I hear at university some people go to lectures in their pyjamas. I always wonder how they can make the ‘just-rolled-out-of-bed look’ acceptable?

WEARING: H&M DRESS, £50.00 TOPSHOP LEATHER JACKET, £40.00ASOS MARKETPLACE HAT, £10.00DR MARTEN BOOTS, £50.00URBAN OUTFITTERS STUDDED BAG, £45.00MAC RED LIPSTICK £12.00 EBAY SILVER RINGS, £10.00 EACH

ABOUT ME:FIRSTNAME: SOPHIESURNAME: WRIGHTAGE: 20STUDY: FASHIONCOMMUNICATION&PROMOTIONLIVE: ARBORETUM AREA

SELF PROMOTION

PERSONALMANIFESTOFor this brief we took up to five of our favourite personal fashion artifacts and combined them with three words, which we felt best represented ourselves. We then used our artifacts to create a multi-layered visual. We then considered many different aspects when creating our images these included textures, colours, lighting and self made elements for example hand drawn illustrations.

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Here I have taken 5 of my personal favourite artifacts. These are my Converse Trainers, American Apparel disco pants, diary and writing journal, purse/phone holder, bum bag, necklace and my hanging crystal. I then created a multi layered visual to capture my essence as a fashion creative. My main inspiration came from the blog ‘The Burning House,’ which represents some of people’s main possessions that they would carry with them in a fire. We also considered some of the work from set designers and fashion prop makers to give us inspiration.

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TENACIOUS.FUN.HARDWORKING.

Here I have given the effect of what my moving image would contain. I have only included a couple of the images in production to give the effect of what the final moving visual would look like. The beginning of the short video would consist of the original photograph. Then gradually one by one, each object would be scribbled out by my hand and replaced by a hand drawn illustration. I feel this would make the visual image more personal to me. The first photograph shows a more serious manifesto and then eventually ending with the hand drawn personal objects showing a more personal persona.

MOVINGMANIFESTO

FINAL HAND DRAWN ILLUSTRATION

SELF PROMOTION

TURNINGFASHIONFor this brief we individually researched a numerical fact about fashion and used it for the basis for an idea, which could be used within a fashion shoot, for visual merchandising or within advertising. The idea would help to create a visual, which would promote re cycling or eco fashion. We considered the location, the image styling and what objects we would use to symbolise our numerical fact.

INTONUMBERS

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“Fashion Industry is the 2nd largest user of water in the world.”

FACT - WWW.BUSINESSVIBES.COM

The fact above is quite shocking to read as I think a lot of us as consumers of fashion do not realize how much water is actually used when making our clothes and that maybe we need to be reminded of this when purchasing our clothes. Instead of advertising on clothing labels or the garment I feel it would be more beneficial to advertise on the water bottle. I am sure a lot of us when out shopping either buy a bottle of water or carry one around with us. This could make people think about recycling their water bottles and also make them think about recycling their clothes as well. When buying a new item of clothing why not think about recycling an old piece.

On the outside label of the water bottle I would include the fact and something they could do to help improve this fact.“The fashion industry is the 2nd largest user of water in the world.” For every water you buy why not replace it by recycling a piece of un wanted clothing?

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PROJECTTWO.PHOTOSHOOT PHOTOGRAPHS.

DIVERSITY NOW COMPETITION.

ALL WALKS

PHOTOSHOOTThis photo shoot was based on the ALL WALKS project and the theme was based on ‘What is Beauty?’ Our aesthetics for the shoot were mainly influenced by the work of Pablo Picasso’s Girl Before A Mirror painting and focus on the distortion of beauty. Beauty Before A Mirror is intended to reflect the idea that individuals can be repressed when confronted with a reflection of themselves which does not resemble the ‘ideal’ aesthetic of beauty represented in mass popular culture today. In Beauty Before A Mirror, our model represents someone who is paranoid by physical imperfections, which do not exist, yet this paranoia makes her feel ugly and self-conscious. The reflection shown represents the negative self that she sees.

SELF PROMOTION

BEAUTYBEFOREAMIRRORAL

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DIVERSITYNOWI decided to write a piece of journalism for the‘ All Walks Diversity Now Competition. The writing will be a piece of energetic writing, charting a thoughtful and adventurous journey through or about image and include a brief analysis of the current culture of beauty and body ideals from my perspective.

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SELF ESTEEM

BODY YOUNG

BRAINWASHED

PRETTYCHILDHOOD

PERFECTAPPEARANCE

FILM

ADVERTISE

BEAUTY

What childhood princess have you always wanted to be? Was she image perfect?

The main question I am trying to answer is why we all have the same perception of what the meaning of ‘beauty’ is. Our meaning is very sculptured by the media, brand advertising and generally our society as a whole, but I want to try and dig deeper to discover when I as an individual sculptured a meaning of beauty.

After in depth research relating to child body image and low self esteem levels in children at a young age. I started to think back to when I was a young child and what I aspired to look like. There was no shadow of a doubt that throughout my childhood my appearance was influenced by my favourite Disney character Rapunzel. Rapunzel was tall, slim, and pretty with long luscious locks, a character that even at the age of five I wanted to obtain to be like. My childhood toys and films all consisted of something Disney. I had been brought up around and watched films such as Disney all my life whom until now I didn’t realise were influencing the way I looked at myself and others around me, they were shaping my notion of beauty.

Over the past couple of days I have been researching childhood toys and films taking into consideration the kind of language used within these films and more importantly the appearance and identity these characters perceive. I started to find an interesting pattern within my research. Most of these characters had the appearance of a slim, ‘beautiful’ person, and the ‘badies’ in these films had the appearance of an ‘ugly’ person.

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After a recent visit to London I was again reminded of my childhood idol, when I saw her in the window of Harrods in London, I immediately wanted to go inside and have a look at what Rapunzel was being used for to advertise, as whatever it was, I wanted it! Disney had collaborated with Designers to create this window display. It contained the animation ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all,’ and every Disney princess you can imagination. Is this right that our fantasy ideals are being used for visual merchandising and are they being used for the right context? I can’t help but feel that Brands are starting to realise the message that our Disney characters portray and are helping to create the wrong connotations. Our childhood idols are being used as a beauty tool to persuade us to purchase.

After looking at some case studies regarding this issue I was shocked. A German case study was completed in 2001, researchers took popular children’s characters and changed only one of the characters waist to hip ratio while the other characters had normal and slightly larger waist to hip ratios. Seventy percent of the children preferred the character with the changed waist to hip ratio, so the character that had been changed to look tall and slim. This is a child as young as five that is picking and noticing these changes in body image. Another study showed that after children are watching certain Disney films they are viewing unattractive individuals as immoral and are categorizing people with disfigurements as ugly. Creating the wrong meaning of beauty at a young age is why so many of us have grown up with this certain notion of beauty.

Moving on to look at the hyber reality of Disney and its postmodern context. The false reality of Disney creates an illusion and makes it more desirable for people to buy into this idealism, creating a stronger aspiration for consumers to want to be in this fantasy world and take on the identity of these ‘perfect’ characters. The “fake nature” of Disneyland satisfies our imagination and daydream fantasies in real life. Therefore, they seem more admirable and attractive.

The Princesses in Disney films are some of the most popular characters in the world. Little girls everywhere have at one time or another wanted to grow up to be one of the princesses. From singing songs with cute animals to some day marrying prince charming while wearing their amazing wedding gown. Snow White, Belle, Jasmine, Cinderella and the rest are considered role models, but has anyone taken the time to look behind the doe eyes and the catchy songs? Could it be that these adored characters are nothing more than anti-feminist propaganda?

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