All the pretty faces

Interview-Eileen Connolley

Fashion Advisor-Eileen Connolly

What made you want to be a fashion advisor?

I originally worked in a bridal store eventually going on to run the business so John Lewis offered me a job as a sale assistant then going on to offer me the fashion advisor job. I got the job because I can work with any type of customer even if it was the Queen. I think its about a personal touch working with the customers and you have to have a certain something.

What is the most common problem a customer has when choosing a garment?

I find the most common problem a customer faces is their shape , never are any two customers are the same shape. Customers have difficulty finding clothing for their size or the right fit but I find if you get the right bottoms you can find the top easily and visa versa.

How long have you worked for the fashion advisory in John Lewis for and what has been your most memorable customer?

I have worked for the advisory for 11 years and I have had some very memorable customers. My favourites are dressing ladies for the Queen’s Royal Garden Party. Also I dressed a lady last week who was presenting the Gold medal in the Olympics swimming. But my personal favourite was dressing my little niece who was presenting a bouquet of flowers to Princess Anna who was opening the new monument mall.

What has experience taught you when dealing with customers?

I think you need patience and you have to make the customer feel comfortable and not to be too pushy. You need to understand their needs and make sure they are happy and you find something for them adding your personal touch.

Personal statement

‘To define is to limit’ is one of my favourite quotes meaning you should never say were you want to go or set yourself a level because you will never peek past it. This is how I feel about my work, my ambition to learn everything about the fashion industry and my hard working nature will make me an important asset to the fashion business. This course would give me the chance to get to a high level of professionalism and an opportunity for me to show people how creative I can be. To me it would be another step to the career I thrive for.

My education in fashion started when I specialised in design in my year on Art and Design foundation in 2008.I adore being a part of fashion and I have learnt not to be afraid of hard work. Why I want a career in this industry is because of the mixture of art, music and design and I love how there are no boundaries with creativity. It is constantly evolving and I want to be apart of that. The past three years I have grown confidently in the design stages from pattern cutting to the assembling of my garments.

One of the achievements whilst studying on FdA Fashion is having a design I made in first year chosen by a company called Phaze clothing. I received a £50 prize and a certificate of achievement for my dress design which later was put into production and shown at London Edge at London Fashion week.

At the moment I work part time at John Lewis where I have been learning all aspects of retail. I have recently been transferred to Women’s wear. This has been a positive move and has benefited me to be in contact with clothing, looking at how it is made and experience how this aspect of retail works. In January I will be moving to Visual merchandising and also working with the fashion advisor. I am looking forward to this opportunity as it will further broaden my experience.

My interests include reading and films. Reading biography’s is a particular interest of mine as I believe gives me an open mind into how people think and I get inspired by peoples life stories. I was touched by reading a Marilyn Monroe biography because of how fascinating she was and the impact she had on the world. Travelling to different countries I find myself being inspired by different cultures. In Paris I visited the Sonia Rykel exhibition which I found stunning. The exhibition itself included her work for ‘Laura’, her husbands label to her passion for knitwear.

My favourite designers are Alexander McQueen and Calvin Klein. Alexander McQueen is my biggest influence, I have become almost obsessed with his Couture designs and the way he pushed the boundaries with each collection he made. I could only strive towards having his level of creativity and experimentation. The collection which caught my attention was his ‘Girl who lived in a tree’ This fascinated me because of his originality and the way he created his own story. Instead of re- inventing the past he made his designs his own. In my work I love to design dramatic styles of clothing when designing couture wear but in my aesthetic I am a minimalist. When making ready to wear clothing I am inspired by the likes of Calvin Klein and Stella McCartney.

I believe I am a self motivated, creative and a hardworking designer. My dream would be to work for a high end designer but at the moment I want to learn and absorb as much information about the industry as I can and work on my own personal aesthetic. Hopefully your course will be that stepping stone I need.

　

Final Major garments

Toile stage-I made several toiles to create this dress

Creating this dress i had to make sure the patterns were perfect to create a symetrical line and also had to do an edge stick to create a neater line aound the leather panels and netting.

This is the top i made which would go with purple leggings, I think it fits the body well and is light enough to wear for yoga or even running.

These are my final desings. Being inspired by modern architecture and the simplistic lines and details i decided to create shapes for a casual wear range. I chose colour blocking to add to the definition of the lines. I was also inspired by Jil Sander and how she created minamilism through colour blocking and maximalism.

It used to be the shop every woman relied on. So where did Gap go so wrong?

After firing their chief designer because of a decline in sales it has made people wonder what has happened to the store that women relied on at one point.Gap certainly seems to have lost its way. It no longer does basics, which made its fortune, nor fashion-forward garments well.

So WHO is beating Gap at its own game? Goodness, who isn’t? Zara’s green floral playsuit beats . Gap’s horrid print polyester maxis hands down.
Gap’s more expensive sister, Banana Republic, does everything better than its poor relation, from tailoring for work to easy cashmere tanks and colorful silks. On October 6, 2010, Gap debuted a new logo in an attempt to create a more contemporary presence in the retail market.There was a public outcry against the new logo, especially in the graphic design community. The company returned to its previous "blue box" logo on October 12, only a week after the new logo's debut. Marka Hansen, the executive that oversaw the logo change resigned February 1, 2011

Work Experience-John Lewis

For my work experience i worked with the fashion advisor for a week and the Visual merchandise team for a week. I helped dressed the mannequins, made displays and painted display boards. i found out how the John Lewis customer thinks learning about different brands and the certain customer who would buy these garments. Working with the fashion advisor i found myself thinking like the customer being their personal shopper and learning about the fit of a garment and what suits certain body types. The most popular brands are Phase 8 and Fenn Wright Manson for the older customer. Warehouse and Reiss are popular for the younger person.

John Lewis. com is a big part of John Lewis's profit and sell more brands online than they do in store.

Sam-Taylor wood- Artist

Sam Taylor Wood is an English filmmaker, photographer and conceptual artist. Her directorial feature film debut was the 2009 Nowhere, a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter and singer John Lennon.Taylor-Wood began exhibiting fine art photography in the early-1990s. One collaboration with Henry bond, titled 26 October 1993, featured Bond and Taylor-Wood pastiching the roles of Yoko Ono and John Lennon in the manner of the photo-portrait made—by photographer Annie Leibovitz—a few hours before Lennon was assassinated, in 1980. In 1994, she exhibited a multi-screen video work titled Killing Time, in which four people mimed to an opera score. From that point multi-screen video works became the main focus of Taylor-Wood's work. Beginning with the video works Travesty of a Mockery and Pent-Up in 1996. Taylor-Wood was nominated for the annual Turner Prize in 1998, but lost out to the painter Chris Ofili. She won the Illy Café Prize for Most Promising Young Artist at the 1997 Venice Biennale.