My Journey In The Fashion Industry So Far

Throughout my second year at the Jimmy Choo Academy, I have learnt and pushed myself about fashion opportunities, business ideas and social media. There have been many positives as well as many negatives. Within this blog post, I will explain the ups and downs and my dos and don’ts.

The Positives

SO far there have been positives experiences with the industry and contacts. I sent many emails for internships and fashion opportunities to put myself out in the open and I got offered one with Melissa KAte. I have been learning to sew more of a variety of garments and how a Demi couture collection comes together. As well as the internship, I got offers from friends within the industry to apply for different internships like with the brand Dreaming Eli.

Due to many opportunities with fashion weeks, I have gained friends in the fashion and modelling industry. I met my friend Abbie Carl at a global fashion week show in February last year. We kept in contact and I found that she is the perfect model for my brand. Another few models came from me asking on the street and through friends of friends. At my current job, I met my supervisor who has modelled for big photographers like Darren black. Fortunately, she agreed to model for my mini shoot for my design and make assignment.

As well as all of these opportunities, there have been networking events and social media opportunities. As I go to the Academy, I am invited to networking events in and outside of the academy. Many events can be found on eventbrite or through instagram. You can apply, email or dm on all of the social media sites and event sites. I know a few acquaintances that run social media for a brand and have invited me to their networking events. I always try to attend as many influencers and industry staff can be found there. Friends from other university have sent me contacts for fashion week opportunities as well.

The academy itself has gotten myself contacts due to the name and mentors within the academy. Jimmy Choo himself is an amazing contact the Academy has. Along with the contacts, there are lessons on building a brand, social media and business ideas. This is a huge help as I haven’t completed a qualification in business as of yet. As for social media, I have learnt from my cousin lizzy who boasts of 250k followers on instagram (renovationhq). Lizzy has given me advice on what to post and when to post. This helped me gain over 15k views on one of my instagram reels.

The Negatives

There are always negatives to breaking into any industry. One main negative aspect is procrastination. It is the one thing that is hard to get away from when life gets busy. It interrupts what you want to achieve so therefore the lesson is to not overwork and take care of my mental health while working towards my goals.

Another negative is the amount of no replies from brands or shows I emailed for internship opportunities or invites to shows. As a small emerging designer, it is hard to get into these types of events and work experiences because you don’t quite have a name for yourself yet. To improve this, I will increase my social media presence and put myself out there more.

A negative for the social media aspect is that it is hard to get noticed especially if you do not pay for the promoting. On instagram I have a good following on my usual account however, on my business account I find it hard to gain followers. I have been reposting my posts on my main account to promote as well as the models posting my posts on their stories. To improve I shall learn to be smarter with social media and how to attract a following.

As for procrastination and mental health. I have found that I still haven’t gained confidence in myself. I am still concerned about asking for help and contacts off my peers and mentors. I also still struggle asking photographers and new contacts for models. This is due to my worries of coming across as desperate and in need. I will improve this by learning how to give myself a boost in confidence and to not be afraid to ask questions.

Conclusion

To conclude, I will improve my journey by improving my self confidence on selling myself to the industry so I can get more opportunities and work experience. This is so I can make a bigger name for myself. I will also launch my brand by the summer of this year so I can start selling my clothing. Firstly though, I shall learn the ins and outs of creating a brand and running a brand. Reflecting on my journey so far, I believe it has been a slow start and that I should find ways to make the journey a little faster and more up to speed with my degree.