Were Back!!!

you may have noticed we have been absent from The Assistant's Wear Primark for quite a while, well it's been a very busy time! We are back to upate you on ur everchanging lives and give you plenty of gossip from the fashion world.....

A long awaited post!

I'm sure you will have noticed that I have been absent from The Assistants wear Primark for a the last few weeks! What with summer arriving and an incredibly busty time at work I've barely had a minute to myself!

When I wrote my last post I had just got back from Mauritius. So the week that followed that I spent writing up all the credits of the clothes that we used for the six shoots. This was a mammouth task as we used so many different pieces and all the prices must be correct. Most of the fashion shoots from mauritius have now been published and the look amazing.

The Nautical story was my favourite layout, (pictured below). I love the bright blue sky, and the boat, it was definately worth going all the way to Mauritius for!

The second shoot was boho beach, this looks great in the mag, and it was definately worth all that effort of getting a horse on the beach!!

The Tuesday after we arrived back I had to dress the celebrity chef Anthony Warrell Thompson. Anthony is the celebrity chef for S Magazine, which includes his article and recipes each week. The interiors and food editor was shooting at his house and I had to go along to style Anthony. He was lovely and so friendly.

This week I have been prepping for two shoots that the fashion editor is doing. The first is a 1950's camping style shoot. It is going to be quite glamorous and Prada style. We have hired an airstream which will look really retro in a cornfield. I cant wait to see how it comes out!

The second is an underwear as outerwear/nude story. This is going to be shot in an old style car and will be quite sexy and raunchy, it will be a really exciting shoot for the magazine!

On Monday I was asked to go along to an interiors shoot to dress five children that are being featured in the shoot. I was really nervous as I haven't styled many children before, and there was going to be a lot of important people from the magazine there on the day so I wanted to make sure I did a good job. I took two suitcases of clothes in the end just to be safe! there were four girls and one boy and they had to be dressed in a folklore style. The shoot was based around an old gypsy caravan, (pictured below). The caravan was amazing and looked fantastic in the meadow. I was really pleased with how the pictures came out and hopefully I did a good job!

This week I have also been house hunting. I spent the afternoon with my friend yesterday looking around Clapham for a four bed house. It was very stressful, and some of the houses were not that great, but after a long day we found one we love so we are waiting on a decision of whether or not we can have it! So watch this space I could be living in London very soon!!

Although I shouldn't have been I have made quite a few purchases recently!! My favourite is a blue maxi dress from ASOS. I saw it ages ago but have only just managed to get hold of it! It is perfect for sunny days! (picture to come soon!!) If you don't know what to do this weekend head down to Topshop. I brought some shorts two tops and a dress from this week. They have an amazing sale on right now, all of those purchases came to less than £50, that is what I would normally pay for one dress alone!

This weekend I am off to enjoy the sunshine! We are hopefully going to sort a house out on Saturday, and I am relaxing on Sunday by going to a beer festival in my local town and watching England play in The World Cup!

I promise it wont be so long until my next post this time!

2 weeks worth!

I have been mainly in the office for the last 2 weeks so I thought I'd save up what I've been doing and give you all a double whammy!

The first week was a 4 day working week woohoo! So after a mammoth birthday weekend I was still feeling the effects on Tuesday back at the Express towers. I soon got over it and focused on the plans for my Ice Cream Shades shoot, so much preparation is involved because it's not just the styling and clothes I deal with, I have to create the whole shoot. I plan everything from where to do the photo shoot, props, choosing models, photographer and make up artist as well planning how everyone will get to the location and pulling together hair/make up/lighting ideas that I think will work and of course styling the clothes.

Thursday I had a breakfast meeting with the PRs from Mission PR, they look after Kew, Jigsaw, Cherry Chau and Fashion Union. We went to the Dean Street Town House which was so lovely and great to finally meet the PRs I have been speaking on the phone to for so long.

After breakfast I had arranged several store appointments so that I could pop in to choose clothes for my photo shoot. I went to Urban Outfitters, Topshop, Zara and H&M. Then back to the office for the afternoon.

For such a busy day with a lot of walking up and down Oxford Street involved I had to wear flats (I chose my new Office studded sandals and complete Jimmy Choo rip offs) although because I had the breakfast meeting in the morning I wanted to still look presentable so I went with this outfit:

White vest-1971 at Reiss; Pink trousers-Zara; Sandals-Office; Grey woven bag-Zara

So do you remember me saying that over the bank holiday weekend my friends and I were snapped by the ASOS Street Style team? Well all the pictures were uploaded onto Facebook and the top 25 people with the most 'likes' on their photo won Capital FM Summertime Ball tickets and....I won! So I went along to that on Sunday at Wembley Stadium, was a great day. I didn't have the best seats in the world but the atmosphere definitely made up for the fact that Cheryl Cole looked like an ant to me.

This week has been more of the same preping for the shoot. I was suppose to shoot on Thursday although because the weather has been so bad, I decided to move it up to next Tuesday. Shooting on Brighton beach in the rain would not have been fun or looked good.

Here is a sneak preview of my rail in the fashion cupboard. It's jam packed full of pastel and ice cream colour clothes.


I've had a pretty quiet weekend. Girlie night in on Friday and then watched the first World Cup England game at my friends house on Saturday whilst eating lots of food from the BBQ. Today I have had the biggest clothes/shoes clear out ever. I was completely ruthless and got rid of everything I haven't worn in the last few months, although my clothes are still rammed into my wardrobe and I still own about 50 pairs of shoes (and that's not even a joke)! But at least it is all in some kind of order. Now I feel a car boot sale coming on!

An exciting trip to Mauritius

It’s been a while since my last post, and there is so much to tell!

Firstly happy birthday Simona for Sunday!! I’ve hardly had a chance to see her this week, and you will see why…

A couple of weeks ago I found out that we would be going on a trip to Mauritius to assist the fashion editor on five main fashion shoots for the Sunday supplement. Anyway, at the beginning of last week we realised we would have to fly out on the Sunday if we were going to be back in time for deadlines!!! This was SO exciting but we also had a lot of work to do if we were going to prep five shoots in four days! I spent the week helping the fashion editor to call in clothes and get everything for the stories we needed. On Friday we almost ended up not going when at the last minute our flights still weren’t booked! The finally got booked at 7pm on the Friday, and on Sunday afternoon we flew off to Mauritius….

The island was amazing. As we drove into the resort the beach looked like paradise. We stayed at The Sugar Beach resort and it had everything we could ever need. It was situated right n the beach and I could look out over the sea from my bedroom!

The beach at our hotel



Gorgeous sunset

The fashion editor decided on five shoots that we would be doing out there; block coloured swimwear, beach cover-ups, nautical, summer wardrobe, and tennis. The tennis shoot was the most important as it has to coincide with the start of Wimbledon. The hotel had fantastic tennis courts that were perfect for the shoot.


Beach Kaftans


Nautical

Although they all came out so well, my favourite shoot of the week has to be beach cover ups. The kaftans were styled with lots of jewellery, and we even had a horse on the beach, given the impression that the model was stranded on a desert island.

There is so much I could write about the trip but for me these were the highlights. It was hard work but well worth it, and we even got a little bit of time off on the last day to sunbathe!!

I arrived back in England on Saturday night and as so tired!! I ended up having quite a chilled out weekend, even though I had planned for it to be much busier. So a very busy week, and I was back in the office today writing up everything from the shoots and returning all the clothes to the PR’s.

Shoes, Ray Ban and my birthday weekend!

This has been the first chance I have been able to sit down and write my blog for last week. It was a pretty busy week but so much fun.

Throughout the week I was organising permits and finding models for my forthcoming 'Ice Cream Shades' shoot as well as shooting my 'Must Have' flat sandals page.
Wednesday night I went to the Ray Ban Aviator party. It was such a great night, they had some amazing bands playing like The New York Dolls and The Big Pink. Went home with a fab new pair of metallic blue Aviators which I absolutely love.


Thursday I went out to two press days in the afternoon. Schuh have a great selection of shoes and boots for A/W 10 and they had my favourite nail art company, WAH! Nails, on hand as well. I had a really cool orange and yellow leopard print design. The invite to this press day really caught my eye when it got sent to me. The details were printed on an old school record, such a great idea.


Then onto the Kurt Geiger press event aka shoe heaven! So many amazing pairs over two floors, set out in a winter wonderland.


They also gave out the best press gift of the season so far. A pair of knee high riding boots, so I'm all set for the snow before summer has really kicked in, but they can be put in the back of my shoe cupboard until they are ready to make their debut!!

Friday in the office was relatively quiet, I was researching for my main fashion shoot and doing returns. That evening my boyfriend met me from work and took me out for a pre birthday meal in Covent Garden, which was lovely. I didn't know where he had booked so I went for an outfit that was fit for a day in the office as well as any restaurant he chose to take me!

Cream leather jacket-Doma; Stripe top-Land's End; Cream chinos-New Look; Lace up wedges-ASOS; Bag-Mulberry

He went off on a stag weekend on the Saturday which meant I could have a girlie birthday weekend. A few of my friends and I went from brunch at The Luxe near Spitalfields Market on Saturday morning, followed by a full on day of shopping. We hit the Reiss sample and warehouse sale where I bought some shorts and vests and then onto pretty much all of the other stores on Oxford Street, my poor bank balance! We even got snapped for ASOS street style which was quite funny.
This was my outfit:

Cardigan-Limited Collection at Marks & Spencer; Denim jumpsuit-Urban Outfitters; Pink pumps- Topshop; Belt-Vintage.

Saturday night we went for a few cocktails before watching Sex and the City 2. Was a slight disappointment but I love SATC so I can't say too many bad things about the film!

Sunday was my 23rd birthday, woke up to a Barbie birthday cake opened lots of fab pressies and then went off to the Hilton on Park Lane for afternoon tea with all of my friends, my sister, mum, great aunt and my boyfriends aunt. It was the perfect start to a great birthday and something really different.
After our very sophisticated tea my friends and I headed to Hoxton for one of the most fun and extremly drunken birthdays I've ever had.
I wore loafers during the day with my outfit and changed into killer heel wedges in the evening

Pink blazer-Miss Selfridge; Silk vest-Urban Outfitters; Shorts-Zara; Loafers-Linzi; Bag-Vintage

I was so glad to have Bank Holiday Monday to recover.
I had a really great week and an amazing birthday weekend, and now ready for another busy week ahead.

London in the sun!

The London Underground is one of the worst places to be when the city is as hot as it has been this week. Although, the Express towers are in the perfect spot along the river Thames to help me forget about the hot & smelly commute to and from work and make me appreciate just how beautiful London is drenched in sun shine.

This week I was given my next main fashion photo shoot, which means my first one must have gone down well. This time instead of shooting in a studio, I need to shoot on a beach! Was freaking out inside when my editor told me that he wanted me to do the photo shoot on location, but I'm up for the challenge. The theme of the story will be 'Ice Cream Shades' so I have chosen Brighton and will give it a very traditional British holiday feel. I won't be shooting until the 2nd week of June although I have started organising permits, photographers and hair and make up already. I am really looking forward to seeing all my work come together.

Other than preping main fashion, I shot my 'Must Have' kaftans this week and have started calling in for my next one, which will be Flat Summer Sandals.

Again this week I went along to a few press events. I went to see the A/W 10 collections from Flax PR, House of Fraser and Reiss.
I absolutely loved the Reiss collection, especially the 1971 range which they have expanded for the coming season. When it first launched, 1971 was a small collection mainly made up of denim but for Autumn/Winter they have brought in so much more the sequined 'trophy' jacket and leather paneled T-shirt were my favourite.
These will be mine by the time Autumn hits (well...I'll decided for definite when I find out how much they are)

Apart from the 1971 range, the rest of the collection is, as ever, beautifully designed in great fabrics.

I think the camel cape is great and will be a key piece of every fashionistas wardrobe next season.

Friday night I went to the G-Shock party. Great BBQ and lots of free drinks at the presentation in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane and then onto a slightly odd after party at Cargo.



This weekend all I have done is chill out in the sun with my boyfriend. I actually have fully on bikini tan lines from the good old British sunshine. Although, it will probably be nothing in comparison to Lindsay's tan by next week, as she has jetted off to Mauritius today with her editor to assist on 5 photo shoots. Can't wait to hear how it all goes.

Stacey Solomon, press days and my first test shoot...

I’ve finally had time to sit down and write this week’s blog entry! So much has happened…

Last Tuesday I assisted the fashion editor on a shoot with Carol Vorderman. This was for a feature in the magazine to coincide with the release of Carol’s new book. She wore some amazing dresses and looked great.

As Simona was away in Cyprus this week it was quite quiet for me in the office. I got to interview for new interns which was really surreal as this time last year it was me being interviewed! We are going to have an intern all the time now which will be great to have someone else to help.

Last weekend I went on a spontaneous road trip to Nottingham with two of my friends. It was so nice to be back in the city where I went to Uni and see lots of my old friends but it really made me miss it!

Back in the office on Monday and it was going to be a very busy week. The first couple of days we were preparing for a photo shoot with Stacey Solomon. Stacey was really nice and so photogenic. She was someone that I was really interested to meet. It was amazing to hear her story of X Factor, and to see how she was such a normal person. The shoot itself was 1940’s oriental style. The set looked fantastic, we borrowed authentic Chinese furniture from a shop in Stoke Newington, and it really gave the image we were looking for.


Set for Stacey Solomon shoot


One of the outfits on the set


Dresses for Stacey


Me with Stacey

On Thursday I went to a couple of press days with Simona. We went to Office first which was in an amazing location. The theme of the press day was that it was a shoe factory. The location was an old factory style building called The Painting Rooms. The walls were covered in paint. The collection itself was really nice as usual from Office. There were lots of vintage inspired shoes, lots of boots with low heels, which I love being tall. We then went to Land’s End which was on the 31st floor of a building in the centre of London. The view out the window was fantastic. The collection was much more fashion forward for Land’s End and there were lots of nice prints and pieces I could see myself wearing.

Thursday evening and I was styling my first test shoot. This is a shoot that I can use in my portfolio, and is great practice for me. I was really lucky to get a great experienced model, and I had a photographer that I know quite well so it was really easy for us to get some great shots. The theme to my shoot was nude colours. I enjoyed styling so much, and it was so good to see the pictures after. I’m really pleased by them I can’t wait to do my next one now!Here is a taster of the shots we did, thy're not retouched yet so they're not perfect!






As we are so busy in the office at the moment I had to work Friday which is usually my day off. We are planning for a 1960’s style shoot on Tuesday, so we spent the day looking for a male model and 1960’s mod style clothes. Later next week I am also assisting on an Underwear as Outerwear shoot. This one will be really interesting as it is being shot in a vintage car.

I planned to have a chilled out weekend this week, but I ended up going out locally on Saturday night. Apart from that it was quite relaxing, I needed some time doing nothing after the busy week I’ve had!

Back to reality...

Back in the office this week, after Cyprus and it started really well. My 'Must Have' Spring Jackets page was published in Monday's paper which I was really happy to see. My next page will be City Shorts so keep a look out for that and I have started calling in Kaftans to shoot next week.

Lindsay and I went to several press days this week. We checked out Dorothy Perkins high summer beach resort day, Lands End, Marks & Spencer, Moda in Pelle and Office.
Moda in Pelle have designed some great shoes for Autumn/Winter as well as their predictable jewel encrusted stilettos, not really my taste but as a favourite of Katie Price there is definitely a market for a bit of bling!
Both Marks & Spencer and Office really impressed me. M&S have some great fashion forward pieces and have picked up on all the main A/W 10 trends. It seems that the days of A Line skirts for your granny are well a truly gone and beautiful soft leather skirts in nude tones as well as fur lined coats are in.


The location of the Office press day was great, it was held in the Painting Rooms in west London and had all the shoes hung from the celling or on a conveyor belt. Not only did it look impressive but the shoes, as always, were great.


Friday morning a rather strange gift arrived for me in the post. Thank you to the PR that sent me the 'Come on England' false eyelashes but I think I'll give them a miss.


That evening I had plans for dinner with some friends at Gaucho so I had to find an outfit that could take me through from a day in the office to dinner and drinks with the girls.
I opted for this:



Dress,Topshop; Leather jacket,Doma; Belt,Banana Republic; Ankle boots,Office; Bag,Angel Jackson.

The rest of my weekend has been surprisingly quiet but a welcome change. My new obsession with the gym is still going strong and was there Saturday and Sunday (am really feeling the pain in all my muscles now though) Then spent the rest of the afternoon reading my favourite Sunday newspaper supplements, Fabulous and Sunday Times Style. Refreshed and ready for my week ahead!

Cyprus...

I finally made it to the sunny shores of Cyprus on Monday. It was so nice to step off of a plane a feel some heat.

We stayed in the beautiful and palatial Savoy hotel where everything looked as though it had been dipped in gold. We shot the first shoot, Kaftans, on the roof terrace of the hotel, where Katie Price and Peter Andre had stayed. The shoot looked fab and was a great start to a week of beautiful photo shoots. I like assisting the stylist I was in Cyprus with, she has a great sense of style and has always believed in my ability, so she really allows me to get involved and give my opinion on putting the outfits together.

The rest of the week we found some more amazing locations. We shot Embellished Swimwear on a beautiful private beach and Tribal on the eroded rocks along the coast line, and finally, Summer Evening Gowns in the ruins of an old Abbey in the gorgeous village of Bellapais.
All us girls on the shoot loved the evening dresses so much that we just had to try them on:


From left- Model; Stylist; Hair & Make up Artist; Me (Stylist Assistant)

I had a great time but it's always nice to come home after a trip. I never really know why everyone can't wait to go abroad and then can't wait to get home by the end but it's so true!

I had a lovely weekend with my boyfriend and friends. Went out on Saturday night and then had a nice girlie lunch on Sunday.

Back in the office on Monday, I'll be working on all the post production of the trip. Editing the shots, typing up the credits for the outfits and returning all the clothes.

Press days, last minute shoots and a great weekend!

Sorry for the late post this week, I have only just had the time to sit down and write it!

Busy as always we have begun prepping for six separate shoots this week!

The week began watching Simona’s friend Natalie run the London Marathon. Although we didn’t actually get to see her running it was a fantastic atmosphere and she did brilliantly! It almost made me want to run it myself, but as I told Simona, I struggle to run up the road! Our VE Day 1940s shoot was in the magazine on Sunday and it looks great, I think my favourite shoot yet!

Monday was a quiet day, I was feeling quite relaxed when Tuesday began with a frantic decision to change our florals shoot from Friday to Wednesday when we saw the awful weather forecast! It was all pulled together at the last minute but it turned out great on the day. I also forgot to take my phone to work on Tuesday, and I have never felt so lost in my life! It was so difficult to find anyone or do anything, just shows how much we rely on technology!

We went to River Island, New Look and Gap press days early on Tuesday morning. It was great as these are the first ones I have had time to go to. The collections were all great. New Look was very vintage inspired and looked really expensive. The had some great dresses in their Limited Collection range, and the fur lined shoes were amazing! River Island had a definite Lady Gaga theme running throughout. It also had a great collection of animal inspired hats! Great for kids, but well see how they take off with adults! Dress-vintage, leggings-Dorothy Perkins, Jacket-Primark, Bag-Warehouse, Socks-Topshop, Shoes-Primark, Sunglasses-Primark

My weekend was exciting, spending it with my friend Kirsty at Uni in Loughborough. We had a great time at FreeFest which was an outdoor festival with bands, rides and lots of cool things to do! If only the weather had been better! Above is my outfit from Sunday which I love. Being there was great but it also highlighted how much I wasn’t to move and have my own independence, so I’m thinking about what my next move on the moving out front will be...

City Shorts, Karaoke and a Sports Luxe shoot!

This week started relatively quietly after a pretty busy weekend. Lindsay and I went to the fashion editor of Smag's birthday bash in Shoreditch last Saturday. Was a great night!

Then an early start on Sunday to watch my friend run the London Marathon. She was amazing and finished in 4 hours 13 minutes, raising over £1500.

This week I shot city shorts for my 'Must Have' shopping page and as predicted I'm planning on buying two pairs. Went to a few press days to check out what New Look, River Island and Gap will have on offer for Autumn/Winter. New Look have some amazing pieces and their shoes in particular were great. Fur lined clogs and a pair of velvet shoes were my favourite.
Gap have designed a range of 'Perfect Trousers' all with a different fit perfect for any body shape. I think a pair of these trousers will definitely be a staple part of my wardrobe come Autumn.

Although, a main part of my wardrobe at the moment seems to be stripes. My newest stripy purchase has been a navy & white thick stripe blazer.

Blazer - Fearne Cotton for Very.com ; Jeggings - ASOS; Lace up wedges - ASOS; Bag - Mulberry; Sunglasses - Ray Ban; Rope necklace - ASOS

This week Faith shoes went into administration, quite sad seeing as they have been around for so long, although I suggest you get down to your nearest store because they are selling all shoes with big discounts and actually have some great summer sandals at the moment.

So Thursday myself and the fashion team went to celebrate one of our beloved post room guy's 50th birthday. Lots of drinks and karaoke was in order and it was such a fun night.


Friday was a big day for me, my first ever main fashion shoot went into the paper. I had a double, centre page spread for the Sports Luxe story I styled. Here is the link so check it out and see what you think http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/features/view/172405/The-look-of-luxe
I wasn't actually in the office on Friday, I had booked a day off and so went shopping with a friend. First stop was a sample sale I had heard about through work, and picked up some amazing designer bargains. A cream Doma leather jacket for only £50 and a pair of grey James Jeans for £10! Bought my first pair of clogs since I was about 10 years old (although a must have for this season) and then the inevitable trip to Topshop as always.

Friday night I went to an 80's bar to celebrate my friend's 25th birthday. So much fun, with constant cheesy 80s hits playing and lots of glow sticks and blow up microphones being passed around all night.

I am finally off to Cyprus tomorrow on the work trip that was postponed due to the volcanic ash cloud. So at 12.50 tomorrow afternoon I'll be flying off to assist on 4 photo shoot. Will fill you in on how it all goes when I return.

Press Days, Double Denim and A Marathon Run!

Well, for starters I'm still in England. I frantically packed on Sunday night, after spending the day in the busiest beer garden in Essex, only to be told on Monday morning that we weren't going anywhere. So the Cyprus trip has been moved to the week of 3rd May.

Back in the office this week, I have started calling in samples for a City Shorts Must Have page I'm styling. Its the perfect story for me because I have a huge weakness for a great pair of shorts and will probably end up buying a few pairs! Thought I'd start the week as I meant to go on and went to the gym with my friends straight from work. Although I'm beginning to think this is just a new place for us to go to gossip!

Tuesday morning was an early start with a breakfast and preview screening of the new Next advert which aired on Friday http://www.next.co.uk/tv/ It's a great ad and shows off the clothes so well, it actually made me want to buy Next for the first time! I then popped in to the Ebay Fashion Outlet press event. Ebay have collaborated with several high street stores, where you can buy last season's items with huge discounts, its a great concept especially if you missed something in store the first time around.

Wednesday I thought I'd try out one of this seasons biggest (and slightly tricky)looks...double denim. This is how I wore it, but you can tell me if it worked or not!!




Denim shirt, Topshop - Jeans, Uniqlo - Trench coat, ASOS - Pink pumps, Topshop - Pink bag, Marc Jacobs - Sunglasses - Ray Ban

Went to the Joules and Arcadia press days on Wednesday. Joules was, as expected, very 'lady of the manor' country wear although it is slightly more trend focused for next season which was good to see. I got a great pair of navy wellies perfect for the festival season as a gift from them. Arcadia as ever, was amazing. Miss Selfridge pulled out all the stops and displayed their Autumn/Winter collection in a winter wonderland. I thought this dress was amazing and something a little different for Miss Selfridge.


Topshop of course, always on top of every trend and are now starting a make up range with all of the seasons perfect colours, a sure sell out!


Thursday, I spent most of the day in the office, editing all the shorts that PRs had sent in for my Must Have page, and then went to the Johnnie B for Boden launch party in the evening. Amazing party,with Daisy Dares You DJing. Especially loved the photo booth and WAH Nails counter, where Lindsay and I had leopard print nail art!!


Plans for the weekend include the Fashion Editor of S Magazine's (Lindsay's boss)birthday party and chilling out in the sun on Sunday whilst cheering on my very brave and athletic friend as she runs the London Marathon. She is raising money for Contact a Family and has almost reached her target of £1500, so sponsor her for what will be an amazing achievement http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=NatalieAdams


Follow The Assistants Wear Primark on Twitter http://twitter.com/T_A_W_P

Another exciting week has past and so much has happened....

I started off the week dressing Alan Titchmarsh for a feature in the magazine. This was the first time everything was down to me. I chose the clothes myself and, with Alan's input decided what he would wear for each photo. We were in a beautiful location and he was a really nice man, he even let me have a photo!

A few weeks back I was asked if I would take part and model in a feature story in the newspaper. The feature was entitled 'How to wear classics at every age' and would require me , my mum and my nan to take part. I reluctantly agreed, and it turned out to be a great day and the pictures came out really well! Yesterday it was in the paper. Not only did we have a double page spread but were also on the front cover!! I have never seen my mum so excited! I've be inundated with facebook messages and text ever since from people that have been browsing the paper and seen my picture! Its definitely something I'll keep forever.

Last night we attended the launch of Johnnie B at Boden.
http://www.boden.co.uk/en-GB/Johnnie-B-Clothing.html#nav
This is the new teenage range by the brand. The party was great it was full of fashionista and very cool teenagers, looking much more trendy than I did at their age! we reminisced about our Adidas tracksuits and lack of hair straighteners when we were 13! There were great canapes and a Wah nails nail bar. There was also a photobooth which we enjoyed a lot of the night in!



And finally... I have just brought an amzing new bag. It's a brown satchel fropm Warehouse. It is an obvious copy og the Mulberry Alexa, which is my dream bag! Unfortunately I will never be able to affors that, so I have settled for teh next best thing!


Apart from this we are preparing for three fashion shoots in the next couple of weeks and taking the time to attend press days.
This weekend we are both off to the fashion editor's birthday party and then hopefully spending some time in the sunshine on Sunday! xx

Lindsay's week.

Well my week has been eventful as always. I started off Monday on appointments selecting clothes for a shoot dressing Alan Titchmarsh. This was the first time I have had to do anything like this and it was a tricky one. I felt like I was shopping for my dad, and I discovered men have it so much harder than women when it comes to shopping they hardly have any choice!

I then had a strange experience on the tube this week… I was in a carriage with a group of people promoting the new Glee DVD. They suddenly started singing. No one knew what was going on until they ripped open their shirts to reveal the “glee out on DVD” t-shirts they were wearing! It was strange but such a good marketing technique!

On Friday I was on a shoot assisting my fashion editor. The shoot was 1940’s themed, to come out on VE day. It was shot in an airfield and we had the use of three 1940’s war time planes. It was one of my best shoots so far. Having such amazing props and clothes meant the photos looked so good!

This weekend was nice and sunny so I spent Saturday evening having a cocktail party in my friends garden and then today I went to a bbq and ate way too much. Up early tomorrow for the start of another exciting week…

Simona's Crazy Week

What a week I have had! I have been non stop but to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way.I am due to head off to Cyprus on Monday (well as long as this cloud of ash moves along). I will be assisting the Express stylist on 5 high summer photoshoots. It's hard work and will mean lot of early mornings but I'm really looking forward to it.

This week the stylist and I have been holding last minute castings to find our model for the trip as well as arranging flights and putting the finishing touching to the outfits.On Tuesday I shot my 'Must Have' Spring Jackets page which will be published in early May. Wednesday and Thursday I mainly went on press days. I got to check out the Autumn/Winter collections as well as come away with some lovely gifts including a £100 voucher for Jaeger, a Miss Selfridge dress, season 2 boxset of Gossip Girl, a few belts and lots of cosmetics. I do love a freebie..or two!

The Miss Selfridge press day was great, they have collaborated with Gossip Girl and designed 2 dresses for each of the 4 main characters, lots of champagne and Chase Crawford as a special guest (although i didn't get to meet him) made it one of the best press days this week.Friday I shot my swimwear shoot...'What your swimwear says about you", for the feature pages in the paper, and then was off out for a cheeky few drinks and a wagamamas for dinner. Thought I would treat myself as i've just joined the gym and have been like a woman obsessed by it!

Monday nights Body Jam class was the funniest which resulted in my friend walking out half way through because the woman triple our age was picking up the dance steps quicker than she was!This weekend I'm off to a friends brother's birthday party, and then nursing a hangover and hopefully packing for Cyprus on Sunday.

Fingers crossed!!

Lindsay's year so far

When I finished my degree i fashion marketing last year I didn't know how I was ever going to get my dream job. I spent my days during the first few weeks after uni constantly emailing trying to get work placements. I knew that I wanted to work for a newspaper or magazine and the only way to do this was to work for free. I finally started to get replies and arranged a number of placements over the summer months.
After two months work experience at the Express it came about that they were looking for a new fashion assistant for the Sunday fashion team. This was my perfect job! Over the next few months I worked as hard as I could to impress everyone and finally in january this year I started in my new position!
The past few months have flown by and I have been involved in so many amazing experieces. I get to assist on fashion shoots most weeks and help with the day to day business in the office. I spend everyday around clothes...it's perfect for me!
My hightlight so far was a trip to Lanzarote in March. We were there for five days shooting swimwear and holiday clothes. It was hard work, early mornings, dragging suitcases across sandy beaches and making sure the models don't get sunburnt! But it was great fun and showed me exactly why I tried so hard to get here.

Simona's year so far

So, as of January I was promoted from a 2 year paid internship (yes I know that's so long!) to...Fashion Assistant! The greatest moment of my career so far.The past few months have been a lot of fun but hard work and pretty hectic at the same time, and a completely new learning experience for me. I now style my own main fashion shoots as well as shoot 'Must Have' shopping pages. My first piece was published in the newspaper and online last Thursday, http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/features/view/167990/Go-Wild.
In Febuary, I went to Venice to assist my Fashion Editor on four photoshoots for Spring. Venice is so beautiful, even when we had to don a pair of wellies just to make it across the flooded St Mark's Square.
Well apart from an amazing London Fashion Week, many press days,and several fashion parties in between that's about it from me and the past few months.

An introduction to us

We are Lindsay and Simona; two aspiring fashion stylists/journalists trying to make it in the big wide fashion world.
After completing fashion courses at uni and taking part in (what felt like), endless work placements, we are both currently working as fashion assistants for the daily and Sunday editions of a national newspaper based in London.
While still living at home outside London we both endure daily commutes into work, and are hoping to soon make the move into the city.
This blog follows the ups and downs of working in fashion and our lives while trying to make our mark in one of the world’s most competitive industries.