Friday 29 April 2011

Ramble

As I'm about to enter a Bank Holiday weekend of hell revolving around a 2,000 word essay that I had the whole of Easter to do but have two days to do, this is a very brief update. There are some things that I want to reflect on, and this will hopefully aid me in releasing my writer's block.

Yesterday I wrapped up my four week placement in Digital Ad Operations at Hachette Filippachi, and I was very upset to leave but also pleased with my experience there. I've come away with good knowledge of digital advertising and how it works, and this isn't something I'll ever be taught in university, so I'm glad to be a step ahead. Having a taste of digital publishing has also inspired me to pursue it further; it's an evolving industry in stark contrast to print, which is over-saturated and hideously competitive. As a very technical and digital-orientated person, I enjoyed the insight into how user activity is measured in advertising and learnt techniques on how to push campaigns to users. The team I worked in was golden and I couldn't have asked for a more supporting and inspiring boss - definitely a good starting point for my interning career. I can't wait to finish off university for the summer and do more internships - I'll be applying as of next week, once I get this nightmare assignment out of way.

My shooting time has been quiet recently, though I'm still burdened with returns which I've been too lazy to send back and consequently have an available balance of £0.38 in one of my accounts. My next shoot is coming up in three weeks' time, and has been developing for months, so I'm very eager to get cracking on the wardrobe. It will be my first ever commissioned shoot for a magazine, so I'm determined to outdo all of my previous ones: though that's an objective I carry forward for every shoot. Having seen previews of the images from the shoot in St Paul's with Faye Sampson, I am so pleased with the result and can't wait till it's all ready to be released so I can create my website and online portfolio.

Until next week it is; I'm going to have an an awful but self-induced nightmare this weekend, but will hopefully get through it and be able to function like a regular human being again next week!

Sunday 24 April 2011

Birthday dress

Topshop, £45

After ordering LBD after LBD on ASOS and continuously feeling disappointed with each one, I finally found my perfect birthday dress - on the day of my birthday and literally hours before my celebratory dinner. I'm never usually a last minute person in terms of dresses; I can always be seen rushing around to buy earrings/tights/shoes on the day of the dinner, but the dress is always decided weeks if not months in advance. I think my recent shoots had a huge influence on my relaxed attitude this time - 80% of the wardrobe is generally purchased one or two days before the shoot, and I tend to find what I need when under pressure. Plus, knowing that I had four not-ideal-but-functional dresses waiting at home in the worst case scenario was a slight comfort! Having said that, I did try to squeeze into one of the dresses featured in my last post, but thus realised that 1) I am not a 5ft9+ agency model, and 2) I will end up poking somebody's eye out, if not my own.

I snapped up this gorgeous white dress from Topshop after spotting it on the website, and am so in love with it. The back is V-shaped with a big black zip running halfway down - at first I was apprehensive, but it definitely gave the dress a nice edge, and also made it a partial LBD! I wore it with a huge gold necklace, dark red lipstick and got my hair done in a half updo at the Hersheson's Blow-Dry Bar in Topshop - the experience was questionable, as it involved no washing or actual blow-drying, but I was happy with the result, even though I most likely won't return. £24 for a hairstyle that I could've created myself (albeit in two hours as opposed to ten minutes)? Thanks Topshop, but no thanks!

My birthday night out was lovely, I had a lovely evening at Gilgamesh in Camden (huge and amazing, the pictures on the website do not do it justice), followed by shisha in a very questionable spot in Stables Market (the shisha was rubbish but my friends made it fun!).

Now I'm unfortunately back to reality; I'm going back to university in a week and two days, I have a 2,000 word report to tackle but always seem to be interning when my university library is open, and the plethora of Bank Holidays means that all of my usual study spaces are closed - lovely. It's going to be a stressful week, but I will try to find time to update, especially after I finish my internship this Thursday - it will be quite sad for me but I'm looking forward to reflecting on my experience.

Monday 18 April 2011

Dresses that could poke your eyes out

Behind the scenes in St Paul's

Saturday was the day of my best shoot to date, with the wonderful Faye Sampson of course. The theme began as 'girls in suits', but the cliche eventually translated into something along the lines of 'powerful women'. That's the idea I kept in my head as I discarded the awful trouser + top all-in-ones that I bought  (Faye and her assistant were disdainful to say the least). Instead I began collecting sharp, structured dresses along with leather and sheer fabrics, all accessorised with men's jewellery and killer, killer heels. I was primarily very happy with the wardrobe, as I like to keep everything organised and write down outfit plans as well as deciding in advance which outfits will be shot together. But that satisfaction was nothing compared to what I felt during the shoot: the two models worked brilliantly together and worked the outfits amazingly well - it felt like everything had magically fallen into place. The chemistry between the models was so natural that we ended up shooting them together for every look, and we managed to get eight looks in total, of which I couldn't possibly choose a favourite. I am definitely looking forward to seeing the final results of these.

Regarding my other shoots, I got published in Turn magazine at the beginning of April, have one commissioned shoot in June, and am possibly getting published in about three to four more magazines in the next two months. I don't want to say anything until it's all 100% confirmed, but there is a strong possibility that every shoot I've done this year will be published. All of the effort was already worth it for the portfolio alone, but this has topped everything!

I'm having a bit of a break from shoots for a few weeks, but am having a stylist-related breakdown at present due to the fact that I am turning 22 on Friday and have not yet found a birthday dress for myself! I'm very tempted to wear one of the numbers from my most recent shoot, but might look too 'outrageous'. I will be celebrating at a very gorgeous restaurant in Camden, so my desperation to blend with the location is causing me a lot of hassle. Hopefully I will have found something by the end of the week; I have three more days at my placement this week, and then the entire weekend off to celebrate and treat myself to some long and well-needed lie-ins. Until then, I will leave my lovely readers with some more behind the scenes pictures from that oh so exciting shoot.

Studio preparation #1

Studio preparation #2

Our base camp in the back streets of St Paul's

Off-duty model

Thursday 14 April 2011

Weekly ramble

It's one of those days where I've come home, sat down and opened up my laptop to update my blog while I'm still wearing my shoes and have just thrown my earrings on the bed to join the mess of packaging from parcels. It has been a while since I've updated, possibly because I've been shoot-free for two weeks, but that nagging guilt has finally caught a hold of me!

I've just finished my second week at my work placement. I am learning a lot about digital advertising, which is great because it's a lot more complex than the print advertising I've been learning about at university, and I feel like I'm getting a good head start in it. It has got me very interested in advertising sales, but at the same time, I've had insight into how difficult it can be to cater to people's needs and wants, especially when trying to balance different sets of brand values. As somebody who has no clue what she wants to do but wants to do everything at the same time, I'd definitely love to try my hand in everything. As I mentioned last week, I'm at a very good company, so my objective is to impress as many people as I can to create opportunities for more internships in future.

I have a shoot this Saturday with the lovely and clearly very patient Faye Sampson; we were supposed to shoot last week, but all of the models dropped out at the last minute. The bright side of that story is that I had the wardrobe ready a week in advance, so the manic last minute shopping trip that I normally have after work on Fridays will instead consist of a calm stroll around to buy some accessories for my kit, including nipple covers. I'm also going to start packing now to avoid that awful feeling the night beforehand; organised Aliya Stylist is much better than all over the place Aliya Stylist!

On the topic of shoots, I might be getting published a few more times this summer. I'm not going to reveal too much just yet in case I jinx myself, but all of the craziness I go through for each shoot will be entirely worth it to see myself in print! I also plan to set up a website, and will hopefully be putting my entire body of work under 'published work'. I love it when hard work pays off!

Monday 4 April 2011

Internship + getting published

What an amazing start to my week! Today was my first day at Hachette Filipacchi in the advertising operations, and I can already tell I'm going to gain enjoyable and valuable experience in my four weeks there. This isn't your standard tea-making, cupboard-cleaning or errand-running internship; I've been treated very well and am being trained up to look after campaigns and communicate with clients. It's nerve wracking for me but also very exciting, because the entire department is very lovely and relaxed, and I know I'm in good hands. I'm definitely looking to break out of my shell and step up to the job to make a good impression, because I'm very blessed to be at a company like this at my stage. I will be doing work for ELLE UK online, Red Online, Sugarscape and possibly Digitalspy. Already looking forward to my second day!

The second element to my brilliant day is being published with Sophie Ellen in Turn Magazine!  I have bought myself a printed copy which is arriving in a week or two from the U.S., but frantically obtained the digital copy upon purchase and squealed when I saw that it had really happened. I owe Sophie a lot for getting me published after my public wish to achieve that by the end of this year - it's only April, and I'm hoping this happens again throughout the course of the year.


The cover was styled by the very talented Marianna Mullings, and her fashion feature appeared right after mine in the magazine - it's a small world, but it's great to share success!




I have a big shoot coming up with the lovely Faye Sampson this Saturday, involving two gorgeous girls from Bookings Model Agency. Currently filling up my basket with structured pieces, leather, suede, and dreaming of a hair stylist who can create something spectacular for us. Frantic updates about my broken suitcase and lost ASOS orders will most likely pop up in the next few days, but I'm expecting this shoot to be another success!