Hi Blog,

On this day we had the studio booked all day and we shot a bit rail of clothes which was nice, it really made me feel a part of the fashion industry, I love being in a studio!

BACK IN TEESSIDE:

Hi Blog,

Since being back in Teesside things have been kind of tough, family stuff and mental health related things but I ended up finding a 3rd internship (part time) to do!

I emailed the owner of Trendlistr and Studio Courtenay because I used to have lectures with her on Fashion Communication and she said she would happily have me on her team.

So for the last 6 weeks or so I have been going to that a few times a week.

I have been taking product photography , organising clothes, opening packages, mailing packages, helping out on shoots and steaming garments. It’s been so nice to have something to do and commuting up and down to Newcastle each day has been nice too, I’m grateful for this experience as Louisa has lots of contacts in Newcastle and I’m hoping a reference from her could really help me when I graduate.

Update:

Hi Blog,

I have been M.I.A because I’ve had a lot on my plate. But I have since ended my brief internship at Redress Laboratory I ended up doing around 8 weeks, but it was very slow and all over the place there wasn’t much to blog about. We spent weeks on the leather bag I designed and in the end it never got finished because it was proving to be too difficult.

My boss then needed to move out of her studio due to the lease being over so I helped her move her entire life out of that place and into a van and then I only had a few at home bits to do. I did some moodboards for a costume design project for a play but then my internship was over.

I absolutely adored my time in London and I would do it all again in a heart beat.

WEEK 2

Hi Blog,

I’m my second week at Redress Laboratory I am already making great progress! I’m really enjoying it here and each day is a fun new challenge. This week my boss set me a challenge to design my own bag using the off cuts of leather and suede she provided. I would then toile, sample and cut out the pattern for my own design and it would be sent off to be made and sold at the pop up shop in a few weeks! So exciting.

I chose these 3 beautiful colours. A tan leather with crocodile skin texture, some lilac suede and some hot pink suede. My plan was to make the main front and back of the bag out of the lilac with hot pink cow print spots and the sides and strap would be made from the tan leather with piped edges to create structure. I’m really proud of my design and I can’t wait to see it be made properly.

Hi Blog,

London is so inspiring to be in! There are so many exhibitions and art installations all over the city and so many underground art movements which are hard to find. It makes me to happy to be around creative people and to know that art is still very much alive.

A few weekends ago we went to see this incredible performance called TRANSGENISIS by Agnes Demande , the performance was in a health centre turned art exhibition and the video above shows Agnes in this swimming pool which they installed the octopus-like sculpture. The commitment to this performance was so compelling because Agnes literally stood in that suit making that struggling to breathe noise for a solid 8 hours a day. So inspiring!

WEEK 1

Hi Blog,

Week 1 at my new internship for Redress Laboratory! So far I am absolutely loving it, it’s so much fun and I really love the brand. So far on my first day I have helped out with some fabric manipulation of that neon coloured netting for a bum bag a client has asked us the make. I was looking at texture and experimenting with tightening the net to cause different intensities.

Later on in the week I began designing and pattern cutting a cross body bag for a different client. This client wanted a large cross body bag that could fit a MacBook Pro inside which was quite a challenge! This brief encouraged me and Auda to think outside the box to find a way to make a cross body bag look fashionable but functional. Auda let me have a lot of control over this brief even though it’s just my first week and I was allowed to design, draft my own pattern and sew the whole toile myself. We were both really happy with the results and after choosing the fabrics the pattern is ready to be sent to the seamstress!

Hi Blog,

My last week at Suzie Turned Couture. I decided to leave because another opportunity came up for me and I just couldn’t say no.

On my last week I filled a progress video of one of the fabulous embroideries that was being worked on in the studio. I filmed this to introduce the followers to the homeware designs Suzie Turned is working on. This is a new exciting step for the brand and hopefully many more new homeware couture products will stem from this.

In the video an embroidery of tree bark was fashioned with a space in the middle where text or initials could be embroidered in commemoration of a wedding or celebration of some sort.

I am happy to have worked for Suzie Turner for 2 months, I learnt so much about the industry and made incredible friends. I am very excited to start my new internship at Redress Laboratory!

Hi Blog,

Here is another video I edited and filmed myself for Suzie Turner Couture’s Instagram account. I am proud of this one I really like the beauty of the crystals it makes me appreciate the glamour of couture.

Hi Blog.

Last week I brought my camera into work and we played around with it a bit to get some high quality photography for the socials. The Micky mouse embroidery hoop here is an actual prop Suzie made for a Man About Town photoshoot. We wanted to give this embroidery some love so we photographed it from a few different angles as you can see. Little mini projects like these are completely myself and Sara’s ideas - at our placement we have full creative control over the social media which requires a lot of brain work.

We spend a lot of time brainstorming and trying out things that sometimes don’t work before conferring with Suzie herself and getting feedback and critiques. It’s a collaboration.

I hope as time goes by there will be more photoshoots that I can maybe be invited on so that I can get that expedience as I do have a huge interest in photography and would love to be in a professional magazine shoot setting.

Hi Blog.

This is my favourite video yet. I edited and filmed almost all of this, we were allowed to take a garment outside in the courtyard and film an IGTV. So far this has been the most creative I’ve felt whilst being in this new situation which is so outside of my comfort zone, and Suzie especially loved this which made me proud.

We always make sure when we film these videos that we emphasise the Swarovski crystals because at Suzie Turner Couture they only use Swarovski, therefore it’s essential to feature them on the social media. A lot of other couturiers will use other gem stones and imitate Swarovski crystals so we make sure to tag Swarovski in our posts and remind the followers/clients that only the best materials are sourced for the couture Suzie makes.

Hi Blog.

Here is another video I am proud of which I edited. We took a mixture of content already in the iCloud from a past photoshoot and some clips we took of the Kimono 2 piece, I think the final result is beautiful. We always need to make sure we try and keep the videos and content we post quite sophisticated and elegant due to the clients, which can at times be quite boring.

That has been the hardest part so far of this placement - I am very young and not alike the clients who come to Suzie Turner Couture so my creative mind want to make crazy context with loads of colour and editing and go out and do street style shoots but we aren’t allowed. We have to use professional photos already in the iCloud and we have to keep on brand at all times - this is a technique and a mindset I have had to learn. We also can’t use nice music on our videos because of copyright so we are limited to the small selection of audio on the editing app we use.

Hi Blog.

During my time on placement so far I’ve learnt quite a bit about couture and how it differs from my knowledge of high street/fast fashion. Before I started social media at Suzie Turner Couture I thought I could use the social media marketing techniques I learnt in uni and I thought couture was just the same as any market level, however it is completely different.

Couture clients are financially elite and their minds can’t be manipulated by sales, influencers, discount codes, competitions etc. Almost all of the clientele discovers Suzie Turner via word of mouth or at events in which Suzie herself will go and social network. In couture it’s all about who you know, and introducing yourself to everyone you possibly can, there is also a huge loyalty involved. A lot of couture clients remain loyal to a brand whereas in high street fashion we tend to buy whatever is hot or cheap at the moment regardless of the brand. I’ve been taught so far on placement the importance of not having an ego and staying police and well mannered to everyone because even if someone treats you badly , you never know who they might be able to connect you with, so you have to put your feelings to the side sometimes and it can pay off.

Hi Blog.

Here is a video I have edited for an IGTV. The model is the other social media intern I work alongside with in our wonderful work environment where everyone is so friendly.

On this day we got out the nude dress she is wearing and filmed a bunch of clips of close ups and details and I edited it on ‘Splice’ which is a great video editing app Sara has taught me to use.

The goal is to capture the essence of the dress and show our Instagram followers the beauty of the dresses aswell as to advertise them to potential clients.

I am really enjoying the placement so far.

Hi Blog.

I am a Fashion Design & Marketing student at Northumbria and this is my journey at Suzie Turner Couture in London over summer.

So far I have been here a month and I am loving it. Being in London is amazing and I feel just from being her a matter of weeks that I will want to move here after I graduate.

At my placement I have been in co-managing Suzie Turner Couture’s Instagram page, me and the other social media intern post 3 grid posts a week and 1 story each day. These consist of a mixture of professional shoots that are in the files on the Suzie Turner iCloud and videos we take ourselves in the studio.

This picture above is an example of the posts we make - it’s solely professional picture which proves quite difficult with the pandemic still mostly being in affect and we have no photoshoots coming up. Therefore we are recycling old images that have been posted and archived in the past rather than having new exciting stuff to play with.