31 December 2015

2015: My Fashionable Year in Review!


Recently I was asked back to my high school to give a talk on my experiences since I left high school. 
In my usual over-the-top fashion, I went back and looked back in depth at my year in review, and wrote up a speech. (Which was in turn scrapped last minute after my friends reassured me it was totally unnecessary and 'uncool').

When I got up there, I told them what I'm about to show you. The crazy and incredible things I got up to this year! 

Unlike my peers: I decided to take a gap year between high school and university to figure out what the heck I wanted to do in life. 2015 was my gap year.

Safe to say, I figured it out. (coin drop moment: hence my blogs title Rogue gone Vogue)

But not without one rollercoaster ride of a year to figure it out!
So without further ado: here is my fashionable year in review!
(Note: Technically my year started in October 2014 and ended in October 2015, so humor me as I hope it's not too confusing!)



October-December 2014: Condé Nast College of Fashion and Design.


(Graduated!! With an award in excellence too! Fashion Nerd!!)


Four Highlights:

1. Meeting incredible industry people who would come lecture us at college!

The designer Mary Katrantzou! (See my Blog Post)


Karl Willet, Paloma Faiths Stylist! 
(Who I have bumped into more than once in my following internships!)

2. Visiting Vogue House!

See my hand drawn sketches and tale of the Vogue Floor in this Blog Post!


GQ headquarters! 

 3. The just-as-crazy,  fun, and most certainly fashionable friends I made!!












 3. Attending the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show!


Would it be sad to say this was probably the best day of my life? oh well. it was.

(See my multiple full blog posts on the event here!)


These "exceedingly good quality photos" were taken by me.



Karlie Kloss and Taylor Swift being cute <3 <3

Queen Candice !!! <3




 January 2014: St. Lucia. 

Hear me out: this trip was a considerable step in my fashion journey!
While on this holiday, I witnessed a (super exciting!!) fashion shoot with Bregje Heinen (who I saw a month previous in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show), styled by Alessandra Steinherr (Glamours beauty director). 
Long story short: it sparked my interest into fashion publications specifically, and my research into how shoots are done, set the stage and came in handy when it came to my internship...




















Here is the shoot taking place! (above) and here is the result below! 






See my full post on my trip to St. Lucia here!

February 2014: My internship at Ralph Lauren!


Read about the, rather silly, mistakes I made on my first internship (so embarrassing) 
or the amazing  celebrity involving tasks I handled, all in this blog post!!


Working with pieces such as this totally impractical 
but to die for parachute dress were what made my day.


Marie Claire interns and PR team get an A* in my good books.


My mahogany office <3







Above: my resume/Portfolio after Ralph Lauren.... Left Vogue, right glamour... not too shabby!

March 2015: Las Vegas, New Mexico and Aspen!


Another sturdy step into my fashion future I can assure you. I picked up a LIFE changing skirt in New Mexico, I did some heavy research in the Las Vegas shopping malls and I developed an ingenious winter skii-bunny style development which is my thesis point in this blog post here!







They named a hotel after the salad???!






Glam glam glam. Not going to lie, this trip was pretty fab!


April 2015: The Vogue Festival and Kate Upton!


She was super sweet and complimented my skirt! She complimented my skirt !
(the aforementioned one that changed my life???? Yeah. Now you see why it's life changing)



Met some very fashionable girls along the way!





Alexa Chung and Olivier Rousteing


Jean Paul Gaultier!

However the John Galliano talk where no photo's were allowed was by far the best!

Needless to say why this was Fashionably Beneficial. Education is the key to success!!


May 2015: Backstage at London Bridal Fashion Week!




Our awesome girls ready to rumble!  Lunch break in the exhibition hall.




                With my wonderful dresser girlies!!
Cuddles with the designer!


Just-as-crazy as me and wonderful model Marieke! <3
Learned a lot through this experience: crisis management, working under pressure 
and also keeping cool (very underestimated in the stressful fashion world).

If you want to read more about this event check out my post

June 2015: The Communications Store!
The Communications Store is a PR agency unlike when I worked at Ralph Lauren which is canned working 'in-house'. 
I'm not sure which I prefer yet (in PR you are kind of one or the other). But working with a huge variation of brands like at TCS definitely was one of the perks! 

My Favourites included: House of Holland - Versace -Salvatore Ferragamo - Derek Rose - Belstaff







             

Miss Josephine busy at work!!




I helped out send the Mens Fashion Week invitations!! 
A lovely challenging task: but nothing stops me ;)





Our incredibly beautiful headquarters!

Such an incredible opportunity, and so glad I got to work at such a tight knit company. 
Juliette Dexter (co-founder) greeted me on my first day by name! 
If that isn't a welcome then I don't know what is!

July-August 2015: Japan!

No, I didn't go for two months!! But one might have thought considering the amount of clothes I brought back (guilty). 
A key step in my fashion journey this year: a totally different style over there on the other side of the world..


I learned about so many seedlings of trends, that I can already see popping up over here on the western world, a few months later! Harajuku girls are either ahead of the trend by months, or void of trend at all! (a rare feat).










See and read more in my Harajuku Girls Post!

Or see my post about all the second hand 
GOLD I got for nothing of nothing in the thrift stores of Japan!!



















September-October 2015: Louis Vuitton Condé Nast Alumni Party! (and Starting University!)


This was such a fun event, it was so great to see all my Condé Nast Family again!


In the taxi with my girls.


This was such a glamorous event at the Series 3 Louis Vuitton Exhibition !










My get up for the event!



 It was such a great networking event and really set the tone for the month!
(which also happened to be my first month at university!! Exciting!)

November 2015: The British Fashion Awards!
Definitely the cherry on top of a crazy year!! This event was glamorous, crazy, and whats more, one of the biggest learning lessons of my life! 
I got to meet so many awesome people and celebrities, you won't believe!!




This was my outfit for the event: I'm wearing a swimsuit!






The wifi at this event was insane! 



The Lovely Dressed People at the event!



On the red carpet!



The celebrity filled tables!!





Karl and Anna Wintour!!


Naomi Campbell!



Who as you all know, I met!! What a timely closure to this year!


Gwendoline Christie (otherwise known as Brienne of Tarth)!

The after party was such an amazing experience 
I am going to make it into a whole post: coming soon!!!

December 2015: First Term over at Uni!
And two A's!! 

Therefore, it's safe to say I made the right choice!
A happy ending after all! All thanks to my incredible gap year!


Me and my group after our awesome presentation! (and custom made shirts)


SO THAT'S ALL FOLKS!
2015: a fashionable year in review!
And what a year it was!

I hope some of this was informative, fun, and insightful 
into the seemingly-exclusive world of fashion!

And to the students I spoke to at school: if you are worried about taking 
the scary leap into a gap year, trust me: it's the best year I've ever had..

Comments!