Company Fashion Forum

I know I'm about a week late but I've finally got round to writing up my experience from the Company Fashion Forum.

All in all it was a good evening, I wrote 6 pages of careers advice that all the members shared with us, which was really helpful. Unfortunately I arrived late as I was faffing around getting ready and then I got lost, oops! So I missed the champagne and photos and things, but at least I made it to the talk! 

The Speakers were: 

Kathryn Kenny – New Look – Senior Digital Content Manager

Victoria White - Company Magazine's Editor

Oonagh Brennan - Company's Associate Editor Fashion

Karen Jones Russell – Stylist

Jen Holmes – Blogger at A Little Bird Told Me and Freelance Writer

I read Jen's blog and she always make me laugh, and it was so weird seeing her in real life, and she made everyone laugh during the talk as well. 
The girl's all had different stories to tell and different pearls of wisdom to impart on us, and I'm sure I'll use a lot of it in my future career!

Some of the best notes I took from the night were: 

1. Never say no to an internship, never turn down an opportunity because at least you're out there, learning new skills and finding out what you like and don't like. Basically, always say 'yes' and be open-minded. 

2. If you live and breath fashion, it will come naturally to you. All the hard work and long hours will be worth it, and at the end of the day its either going to make you or break you. 

3. A degree is not important, what matters is work experience. (This one did not sit so well with me, I hope I haven't just wasted three years of my life!)

4. Never change who you are because of the job you're doing or who you're working for. 

5. Always have a positive attitude (no diva's!).

6. Always have confidence in yourself. There's always going to be people more talented, with more experience or a better degree than you, just believe you can do it. 

7. Learn admin skills in any experience you get, they are so important and you will carry them with you for life. 

8. People in the industry talk to each other, so being with a company for just one day can really boost your chances, if you make a good impression.

9. Be different/innovative. This is a creative industry, if you want a job, show how creative you can be. Some examples are making them laugh just by what's in the 'subject box' of an email, or sending them funny post such as a fashion survival kit. 

10. Learn to manage your time- the hours are long and the pay isn't great at first, but its fun and you're doing something different everyday. 

11. And finally, sorry to end on a random number, but I'm sure this one applies to a lot of you. Bloggers are now like partnerships to fashion companies, if your's looks good, if you have a big fan base and good content, that will get you noticed.

For the evening I wore my cropped Topshop monochrome jumper and leather skirt. I was surprised to see 2 extremes of pure caj and major stylin' ladies at the event but each to their own I guess. 

Above are the nails I did for the event, although I doubt anyone noticed!

I was not only too chicken to go up and speak to the ladies afterwards but there was crowds of fashionistas around them trying to shove business cards in their faces, so I didn't bother. They also basically said in the talk that its near impossible to get a job with them so I didn't take the chance.

To top the night off we were all given a fab goody bag with lots of fab goodies! 

My favourites which I cant wait to try are the nail wraps and nails tattoos, of course. 

I'm also loving the right guard (smells lush!) and the blue hair spray which gets everywhere but its so fun to play with. 

I would definitely of recommended going if you were on the fence, but if you're cash-strapped like me, and made the same mistake of not making the most of the opportunities there, it probably wasn't worth the money. 

Caribbean Paradise

At Easter I went to the Caribbean and it was amazing. So I thought I'd post some of my favourite photos to make you all jealous. 

I would happily live there, its so relaxed, impossible to be stressed, and the local tourist attraction involves holding baby turtles!

Crisp blue seas, white beaches, it was so surreal. 

Enjoy the pictures and I've included how to recreate one of my holiday outfits below!

The difference in weather definitely dampened my holiday blues even more.

generic 'loving life' holiday photo.

Babyyy. 

Maxi skirts are everywhere at the moment, even in this honking UK climate, its nice to know we're optimistic. So here are some similar outfits, both of the items I am wearing however are from Topshop. 

maxi skirt inspo by emilyrodgers18 featuring topshop

Labels

Now I know fashion is all about the now, and I know fashion blogs are all about pictures these days, but I'm going to take you back in time, by about 2/3 weeks a.k.a 2/3 'fashion years' and I'm actually going to write something. I could put some pictures up of what I'm wearing today just to get into the popular pages, but that's not what I love to do, I love writing. And I know time and interest levels are low for a lot of you, but I greatly appreciate anyone who takes time to sit down and read, and I hope I'm not too boring!

Any whoo, on with my story. So during Easter break at a house party, I was talking to some guy whilst my best friend looked on and occasionally joined in. The small talk was pretty dull and I wasn't being particularly charming, (how charming can you be drinking vodka lemonade out of a bottle) but out of the blue, in the midst of chat and laughter, my friend turns to the guy and says "it's fine, Emily is shy and intimated by people." I have never seen someone's face drop so fast, and I could physically feel my face go red with embarrassment and anger. WHO SAYS THAT?! Especially after I've known this guy for 5 minutes! And this got me thinking, are these my labels? (ohhh, very Carrie Bradshaw-esque).

Some people define themselves with designer labels, the style is reflective of your personality, shining through to your exterior. But do we ever really think of what other people label us as? The interior labels. Some we tuck under our clothes, some we let ourselves be marked with all over, the metaphors are endless. 

Maybe if you have an interview, one of the corny questions is, what 3 words best describe you? Of course you're going to pick the ones that are right for the job and don't reflect you at all. But it turns out 2 of mine are 'shy' and 'intimated' whats the other one? 'awkward?!'. It turns out these are the labels my friends have for me, but have never said to my face. 

Now I'm not bragging, but since the beginning of Uni, my confidence levels of rocketed, and I may not be the most socially abundant person, and I have no bloody clue how to 'network', but who really is without putting on a bit of a fake smile and working their magic?  

I've learnt over the past year or so, that people still label me as the person I was 3 years ago. I'm not gonna lie, she was moody, obnoxious and a bit of a bitch! However, after realising this, I made the conscious effort to change, yet people still know me as that girl. 

Well not anymore! Change is nigh, I will not be marked down with old labels. Changing people's views of me now will be hard, but with my Uni life coming to an end, its time for new beginnings, so here's to new labels, let's hope they're better than the last.

What are your labels? Are they different to what your friends think? 

Library Wear

Library Wear by emilyrodgers18 featuring long sleeve shirts

Its that time of year again... teenagers and young adults of all walks of life come out of their pits and hit the books to revise for the dreaded exams. This is something I will be going through for the very last time, yikes. My finals for my degree are fast approaching which means 8 hours a day of revision cards, coke, and cramming. 

So I thought I'd do a few outfits of inspo on what to wear for the library. If you're stuck, click on google, type in 'baggy' and bob's your uncle, well he might not be, but thats basically the only word to describe the best thing to wear, for me anyway.

When your sitting there trying to remember at least ONE of the thing for your exam, you don't want it made worse with chaffing, tightness or a constant wedgie, do you?

I'm not saying go to the libs in your PJ's like a hobo, but just caj it up a bit. 

Now I'm not here to tell anybody what to wear, and personally I wouldn't be caught dead in a pair of joggers outside the house, but if your into this whole Cara Delevingne does slumpy grundge 'I'm so pretty I can dress like a half asleep man in sweatpants' then go for it, I wish I had the nerve, because they are gorgeously comfy and I'm sure I could remember half my logistics wearing them. 

If you want to up-the-caj then maybe jeans are slightly more fitting, with a loose jumper, pumps and a big bag full of books. Little tip, if you want to take a nice bag but don't to weigh it down with all your crap, take a swanky canvas bag on your shoulder, you know the free ones you get at Toppy or Primark sometimes, prevents a bad back too!

Today, I wore black jeans, a powder blue jumper and some black shoes, pretty plain but not completely casual.

So, remember to drink lots of coffee, take lots of spare pens, eye up all the fitties, eat plenty of unhealthy snacks, stress yourself out and stay POZ, all the hard work will pay off!!

Good luck to all you ducklings taking GCSE's (lucky sods), A levels (easyyy) and even finals (I don't know whether to laugh or cry) 

Oh ya, and if you're wondering, those are stress balls shaped like boobs, I would love to see someone whack them out and start squeezing!