Tuesday 24 July 2012

Day 2

My second day as a working London gal. First day nerves are nearly gone and I'm feeling ready to take on anything they offer me.

Because of the train I have to get so I'm not rushing across London, I'm in Covent Garden about half an hour before I'm due in. After two days and two morning trips to Starbucks it's looking like I will be a regular there for the next two weeks. I'm a caramel coffee frappuccino girl.

This morning I've gone in with a list of boys for Lucy's article, learnt how to use the photocopier, gone through More!'s competitive magazines and got to sit in on the news and feature team's meeting. I felt really lucky to just be asked if I wanted to go. All the girls put in a lot of work and are really on the ball with current trends, celebrity news and current affairs. Not only that but they're funny, warm and open. They make me want to work harder. Being given this opportunity is a big deal, work experience isn't easy to get, so I am even more determined to make the most of it.

This afternoon I went out for an hour with the features intern, Lauren, to find 20 guys to ask the one big question to and no I can't tell you the question, you'll just have to buy the issue next week to find out!  Wrote up the latest competition give away for Street Dance 2, which you can enter by clicking on this link http://www.moremagazine.co.uk/win/view/win-street-dance-2-on-dvd/. I did some twitter stalking of something funny/stupid a male celebrity had said, researched the papers and online for some 'Man Facts' and ended the day by researching Rita Ora.

Things I have learnt today

  •  That approaching men on the street to ask personal questions is hard.Looking for hot guys age 20-30 when all you can see is suited and booted 30-40 somethings, men on their phones and people who just don't want to talk to you is hard. So I have huge respect for the writers who do this on a regular basis. 
  • That a cup of tea will always go down well in the More! office.
  • Maxi dresses and tubes aren't ideal partners. People stand on your dress and there is a constant fear of being caught on the escalator and the dress just ripping off you, leaving you stood there half exposed in a ripped ensemble.  
Nothing embarrassing actually happened to me today, that hasn't happened for a long time! However, someone did sneeze on me on the train. It was gross. Problems of a commuter. 

Today I wore


The dress code for the office is casual, so in a way it's nice to have the pressure of formal office wear taken off, but at the same time I still want to look a little bit dressy. 

I promise I will try and get better quality photos (sorry about that) but my camera died so I had to take these on my phone. Also I'll try and get photos of the outfits actually being worn. I know they're not great but it's still nicer to have visual. 
Maxi dress from New Look 
Denim Jacket from New Look
Belt from Primark
Necklace from Primark
Had a bit of a shop theme running today! 

Anyway so that just about sums up my day, and I've realised I have to be up again in about 6 and a half hours!  I think it is officially bedtime. Night x

Day 1

So for the next two weeks I am on work experience at More! magazine, and am aiming to use my blog as an online diary of what's been going on, what I've learnt, my London adventures etc... I know this is already a day late but last night I was exhausted! For someone who rarely sees before 9am (I'm a bit nocturnal) getting up around half six in the morning is quite a challenge! So here is a quick low down on my first day at More! HQ.

After a quick outfit change and making it to the train station on time, I had a good feeling today was going to go well. So far so good for someone who usually says that they're just leaving when they're still running around trying to get ready.

Waiting in the reception area, surrounded by other nervous looking aspiring journo's I can only assume that this is what happens every week, work experience Monday. We all had beaming smiles, hoping to have the time of our lives for the next few weeks.

Now normally I don't really get nervous, but this morning I was. I think it was a combination of fears that they wouldn't like me and that I wouldn't be any good in the job. But as the day went on, and under the friendly guidance from the lovely Sam and Lucy, I definitely felt more at ease and really excited for what I'd be getting up to during the rest of my time in London.

Things I got up to today

  • A tour of Bauer Media
  • Trying to learn who everyone is and where they sit
  • Writing up the weekly 'In this weeks issue you'll find...' subscribers email
  • Writing the weekly 'Welcome to the issue' for online which I will link once it is up!
  • Learnt what archiving is and why it is important.
  • How to use a mac, well sort of, it's more of a work in progress but I'm sure I'll get the hang of them eventually
  • A critique for editor Channy on the new redesign of the magazine against the older version. It was nice to know that she really values the opinions of people on work experience.
  • Researching famous brit boys with normal ex-girlfriends for a future article. 
Embarrassing things that happened today (things like this happen a lot to me!)
  1. Had to ask the security guards if the ground floor was actually ground floor or was it actually level one...they laughed at me.
  2. Accidentally walked into the wrong end of Heat's office when doing the weekly exchange of magazines. They asked me if I was ok but I got too flustered so said yes. hi. sorry. and walked back out again.
  3. Awkwardly asked a stranger if I had any dirt on the seat of my white jeans, sitting on the steps of Covent Garden wasn't my greatest idea. They said no. Got home, turns out they lied.

What I wore

  • A snake print blouse from HM
  • White jeans rolled up to 7/8s from Dorothy Perkins
  • A pale pink blazer from HM
  • Nude ballet shoes from Topshop
  • Multi strand feather necklace from Dorothy Perkins
I wish I had a picture of this to show you, but unfortunately I forgot until I was in my pjs. So instead here is a picture of the Chanel taxis in Covent Garden outside their pop-up beauty shop, which I will be visiting at some point this week! I want a ride in one of these so badly! 

So far so good so I think, well a girl can hope!

Sunday 22 July 2012

Interview with Sebastiaan Pieter Groenen

Hello everyone!
Since this is my first post on my blog, I thought I would post my most recent article for Label online, (www.lufbra.net if you're interested) as it is also one of the articles I am most proud of. The interview is with Sebastiaan Pieter Groenen, the winner of Collection of the Year from the London College of Fashion. It is the second article I have written as the Style editor for my uni's magazine and it was a risk just asking him if he would do the interview, but luckily he was nice enough to agree. I'll link the interview below for you.  Hope you like it. http://www.lborosu.org.uk/media/label/beta/article.php?id=931
Chloé x
Image courtesy of www.catwalking.co.uk