Graduation Day

So after a full year of major stress, none stop work and a little bit of fun for good measure today was my MA graduation. I am now officially a Master of Arts in Fashion and Lifestyle Promotion, which is essentially creative marketing. What did I wear? A swooshy skirted midi dress from ASOS, a gorgeous necklace from Summer and Silver in the Jewellery Quarter,  star tights from New Look and block heeled shoes from Kurt Geiger.

My gorgeous friend Sarah went for quirky rather than formal a stripy shirt and leather shorts. (You probably can't see any of this in the pictures as I was rather flustered and didn't spend enough time on the pictures. Plus, my dads camera decided to make most of them blurry. Always good.)

Misty Miller Makes Me Smile

I'm currently a bit poorly and feeling a little sorry for myself. My graduation is looming and I am trying to find my first step on the career ladder at a time when there are lots more people than there are jobs. Post-Masters I am a bit at a loss and as winter is creeping up on us I spent most of today curled up under a blanket with my MacBook on my lap trying to find something to perk me up a bit. Misty Miller's music was the thing to put a smile on my face.

I first fell in love with her when I heard her acoustic version of Remember, which she filmed as part of Burberry Acoustic. She isn't new, I haven't tapped into some unknown talent or anything unfortunately, but she is spectacularly talented. Lots of her songs are on her MySpace in very good quality so you should definitely check her out. Hopefully she'll help you relax and smile a little bit too.

University Arts Funding

A massive issue at my university currently is funding for the arts.  The governments limitations on funding for arts and humanities funding will effect many universities, thousands of students and the industries as a whole.  I am currently studying MA Fashion and Lifestyle Promotion at UCLAN, extending my knowledge from my BA (Hons) Fashion and Brand Promotion with Journalism, for which I gained a first.  There has always been an issue with funding but according to my tutor the only reason the creative departments are managing is because we are part of a larger university that also teaches subjects the government will fund such as sciences.

What is strange about this is that fashion is an extremely profitable industry.  It is worth £21 billion in the UK alone and is our 15th largest industry according to Fashion United, similar in size to the food/beverage services and telecommunications industries and bigger than the wholesale and retail of automotives, sports activities, chemical manufacture and advertising/video sectors".  Why aren't we investing in fashion and other creative industries when they are great for our country not just in economical terms but because of the culture they add.

Fashion is innovative and the UK has some of the best fashion colleges and universities, whose graduates are driving its future.  So how can this continue with a lack of arts funding?  It has been acknowledged by many newspapers, such as The Guardian, that this will hit those from lower income families especially as solely arts based universities will need to rethink fees and supplementary costs.  So how will universities continue to be fair to all students?  And how will graduates get noticed when they leave?

Graduate Fashion Week was a great opportunity for me, I won the Lyle and Scott Strategic Marketing Award and got lots of opportunities to meet mentors as well as a fantastic win to put on my CV.  Whilst Graduate Fashion Week and portfolio websites claim to be fantastic there is still an issue with costs.  Universities are wondering if they can afford a stand/a catwalk at Graduate Fashion Week and graduates simply can't afford to join portfolio websites when there is such a slim chance anyone will see them.

Lyle and Scott Strategic Marketing Award 2009, Image from GFW Website

I have been considering creating a magazine as part of my MA to highlight the brilliant and conceptual work that can come from unknown creatives in the worlds of music, art, fashion, architecture and graphics.  Trends and industry articles would be supplemented by imagery created by new talent and additional elements would profile successful people within the industry and offer exhibitions etc that could further inspire.  I think it would be great for students and people within industry alike, giving them a chance to see what was already out there, inspiring them to make the most of themselves and their businesses. What do you think?

The Big Job Hunt

I have officially finished work for the summer.  Well...I have finished full time work for the summer, I start a work placement at Fused Magazine a week tomorrow and I am massively excited.  I will be writing articles, researching, helping out with their marketing/PR activity and organising their 10th birthday bash.  Awesome!  Sounds a bit full time though doesn't it?  I'm going to become superwoman to get it all done with only two days in the office a week!

Despite this excitement it is time to look for a "proper job" again.  Due to my father's encouragement I have a meeting on Wednesday about "going on the dole".  It will be terrible.  I hate the Job Centre.  However, hopefully they will help my summer cash flow whilst I'm off work and will of course push me to sort a job.

Now, what do I want to do...in no particular order...
1. Be a fantastical magazine editor.
2. Do the marketing for Burberry (they are so on it right now!)
3. Be a fashion buyer extraordinare.
4. Write a novel.
5. Take the world by storm.

Now...any chance of all these things being incorporated into one job?  Anyone reading this who will give me a job?  No, thought not.

I'm employed...wooo hooo

This is obviously a regular topic of mine but it is one that currently seems to baffle everyone.  A friend of mine wrote as her Facebook status the other day: "I'm employed!!! Wooo hooo!! :)"  Everyone that read this was of course over the moon and asked what job in the police she had got....as this was her aim.  Rather than replying that she had got Christmas work in a department store she merely said she had only got a temporary post and was still pursuing the police full time.

Now, she should not be ashamed of something she was so excited about.  Indeed, at the moment having any kind of job is marvellous.  People don't seem to understand that though.  Graduates feel they have almost failed, despite not actually standing a chance, whilst non-graduates feel sympathy for those poor 'young ones' wasting the talents that have got them into so much debt.

I can't lie, sometimes I wonder why I am not doing what I dreamt of.  Or in fact why what I dreamt of doesn't necesarily seem like the right thing for me any more.  When in the midst of those dark moments I have a little moto "at least I'm employed".  Doesn't sound like much but hundreds of gradutes have gone back to bar jobs, work in Topshop/River Island/Debenhams or do as I have and relish an opportunity thrown out by family/friends/acquaintances.  After all, it's better than nothing.

I do have something to dream about though...I am going to meet Peter Ruis from John Lewis and Fred Uribe-Mosquera from Burberry next month.  God bless Graduate Fashion Week.  After all, blogs don't pay the rent...not even Sophie Power's amazing Trendspiration.  She was invited to London Fashion Week as a guest of Canon and could only make one day as she had to work...typical!

Failure

I'm currently feeling like a bit of a failure.  By now I was supposed to be living a wonderful life in a new city with an amazing job, a lovely boyfriend and lots of fabulous friends.

Ok...I knew this wouldn't be the case.  I only left uni four months ago and for most of that time I've been working/travelling so really it's not like I've already failed.  The only thing is I, and many many other graduates I know, can barely even find jobs they want to apply for.  This is pure madness.  It makes you wonder whether or not you did something wrong.

I was reminded of a quote from Carl Jung: "Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and epecially on their children than the unlived life of the parent."  I fully relate to this quote because, whilst I love my dad, he is all about the grass is greener.  He was in his early 20's when he had me and has struggled for money for many years.  Recently his hours at work have been slashed from five days to two as the woman he replaced has returned from maternity leave.

We argue.  A lot.  We are just too similar and this is making my transition from university to consistant job seeker/dreamer even harder.  I am pleased to see my friends are in the same sorry state.  No, pleased isn't the right word....comforted?  Maybe.


A friend said today: "I was thinking yesterday whilst taking out my failure to get a job out on the treadmill how you could do an 'unemployed graduates' gym class where the instructer shouts things like "you should have worked harder/applied EARLIER/done more extra curricular!!"  This is a fair point.  In fact maybe I should turn to excercise as a way to work out my frustration.  I believe my dad's girlfriend has recently moved her treadmill into our shed.  I could definitely work up enough of a sweat to not notice the cold...I'm just not much of a runner.

It's a sorry state of affairs.  All I know is I don't want to get to my 40's and wish I'd travelled/had children/not had children so early/got the career I wanted/lived abroad.... God know's what!  I figure rather than worrying about what my failure will do to my future, and how it will effect Lily (the daughter I really have no plan's to have...if caught though that's the bame of choice...) or indeed my career.  Most importantly myself.

Needless to say I found a more encouraging quote: "Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid."

Thank you Keats, I'm hoping you'll inspire me and also the people reading this.  Maybe we can be failures together then?