Curriculum Vitae 2012 the text

Curriculum Vitae 2012

Personal Details:
Name: Kathryn Bailey
Contact Address:
Telephone number:
Date of birth: 27 Jan 1987
Nationality: British
Driving Licence: Full


Introduction:
After completing my FDA ‘Fashion’ Degree at the Arts University College Bournemouth, I have been working as the Women’s Wear Buyer at Richmond Classics Bournemouth. Here I have gained some invaluable experiences and skills, I have had a great deal of responsibility placed upon me and I feel that I have managed this successfully and with a professional manner and have some great references as a result.
I now feel that I am ready for a new challenge. I want to continue my passion for Buying but within a larger company, where I can develop my skills further and take on a larger role, greater responsibilities and future prospects.

Career Overview:
While I was at school and in between college, I had several jobs working in Bournemouth in the retail trade.
I have lived in London for three years previously where I have worked for Kurt Geiger with Selfridges & Co, Oxford Street.
I have worked for Richmond Classics Designer Retail Store for 5 years, where I have been working as the Women’s Wear Buyer for 3 years.

Education:

Arts University College Bournemouth
2008-2010 FdA Fashion Studies
2007-2008 Diploma in Art & Design
Vocal Tech, Turnham Green, London
2006-2007 Diploma in Popular Music Performance
Avonbourne School for Girls, Bournemouth
1998-2003 GCSEs
Art and Design A*
Textiles A
English (Speaking & Listening) A*
English Language B
English Literature C
French B
Mathematics C
Science (Double Award) CC
Performing Arts (Dance) B Religious Studies B
Career History:

September 2009-Present
Richmond Classics, Bournemouth; Women’s Wear Buyer

November 2007 –September 2009
Company-type: Designer Men’s & Ladies Fashion Retail Store
Position: Sales Assistant
Company: Richmond Classics


July 2006- February 2007
Company-type: Ladies Fashion Boutique
Position: Sales Assistant/Merchandiser (Part-Time)
Company: L’amica Fashions Ltd
I absolutely loved working for this company, I really appreciated that my ideas and opinions were valued and I could add something to the company.

December 2004 – June 2005
Company-type: Own brand and designer shoe concession
Position: Sales assistant (Full-time)
Company: Kurt Geiger Women, Selfridges, Oxford Street, London


September 2004 – December 2004
Company-type: Large department store (Men’s casual designer brands section)
Position: Retail sales assistant (Full-Time)
Company: Selfridges, Oxford Street, London.
I really enjoyed working for the company. However, I was approached by the Kurt Geiger Manager of Selfridges to come and work for their brand, which suited my interests a lot better.

2002 – August 2004
Position: Retail sales assistant in Bournemouth. (River Island, Richmond Classics, Women.)


References:
Keith McNicol (Richmond Classics owner): 07123456789

My CV

I decided to write a CV in the future-tense as I already have a great job lined up for me when I finish University, therfore my CV is dated 3 years ahead and is aimed at a Buying Position within a large London Retail Store. It still needs a lot of work but I thought this is a great start!

5 year plan

Within the next 5 years I hope to become a professional Womenswear Buyer at a large store in London or another large city. I would then hope to use these skills and contacts that I would've made and begin to think about opening my own boutique local to wherever I may be living. I would love to also think about starting my own childrenswear brand and launching this within my boutique as well as around the U.K and perhaps abroad.
For now though, I plan to take up my position as the full-time Womenswear Buyer at Richmond Classics, Bournemouth, when I finish my course in June and stick at this role for 2-3 years to gain enough experience and show my commitment to show future employee's I then will tackle London!

New York/Ralph Lauren

I returned a few days ago from New York, where I visited for an inspirational trip as well getting some retail therapy :) While I was there I was fortunate enough to go on a trip to Woodbury Common Outlet, where there was a huge Ralph Lauren Kids and Polo Ralph Lauren store.
I ventured into Ralph Lauren Kids and managed to take some pics of the amazing and vast designs that they had to offer. The visual merchandising within the shop as well as the array of colours was very inspirational and helpful for my Project!

5 people that I believe are successful/inspiring...

1. Rachel Zoe

2. Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor

3. Heidi Klum

4. Cheryl Cole

5. Ralph Rueben Lifshitz

Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor

Why do you consider them to be successful? Pam Skaist-Levy and Gela Taylor founded their hugely successful Juicy Couture clothing company out of a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, California. They made the 'tracksuit' sexy and went on to earn $90 million from the success of their company, without borrowing any money from the bank.

How did they get to be? They worked extremely hard and believed in their brand.

What drove them? The need for a brand where you can be running around doing daily eerands in comfortable clothing yet look and feel sexy.

What can you learn from them? To be creative and follow your instincts, be street smart and believe in your product.

Ralph Rueben Lifshitz

Why do you consider them to be successful? Ralph Lauren was born Ralph Rueben Lifshitz in the southern New York City borough of The Bronx to Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in 1939, his company Ralph Lauren is now valued at $4.3bn (£2.1bn), in 2007.

How did they get to be?
Ralph Lauren studied business science and served time in the army before breaking into fashion • Ralph Lauren's empire was founded in 1967, after he opened his first ever tie shop, with no formal design training. Next came menswear and, in 1971, Ralph Lauren introduced his women's label• The brand floated on the US stockmarket in 1997, and now includes Polo Ralph Lauren, Polo Sport and the Ralph Lauren Collection.

What drove them? His brand and vision was to become a guardian of the all American dream, albeit a Wasp-y upper class Ivy League one which, in theory, included polo playing as a hobby. His ubiquitous polo shirt with its horse and rider logo has never really gone away throughout 40 years of designing - and every few years it's revived by young cool kids.

What can you learn from them? That you do not have to have formal training in order to follow a certain career path, if you have the skills and determination all you need is to practise and to perfect your craft and gain as much experience as possible.

Rachel Zoe

Why do you consider them to be successful?From red carpet dressing to design collaborations, advertising campaigns to editorial shoots and runway shows, stylist Rachel Zoe is the go-to force among “It” starlets, fashion houses, beauty firms and magazine editors looking for a dose of effortlessly chic style. Zoe’s strength lies in a commitment to bringing out the best in the individual women she works with, including many of Hollywood’s A-list leading ladies.

How did they get to be? Rachel Zoe Rosenzweig, born September 1, 1971 in Millburn, New Jersey, came from a family of art collectors. At the age of 13, Rachel’s mom took her to Paris, where she fell in love with fashion the moment she bought her first-ever Louis Vuitton bag. Although Rachel Zoe studied sociology and psychology at the George Washington University and graduated in 1993, she started off a career in fashion by working in magazines around the 1990s. During this time, Zoe worked for YM, styling teen pop stars like Britney Spears.

What drove them? Her passion for bringing out the best in the individual women she works with.

What can you learn from them? To follow your dreams and turn them in to a career.

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren has been an established brand for many decades and the childrenswear line is becoming just as popular as its preliminary design area of men's and womenswear. The colours used throughout the the childrenswear collection is an array of pastel coloured rainbow tones and the designs always feature the classic Polo Ralph Lauren branding logo of the polo player and horse. This usually is positioned on the front left hand side of the garment, in front of the human heart and is coloured to compliment the garment colour.
The Childrenswear line consists of Polo Shirts, Polo Dresses, Shorts, Skirts, Knitwear, Swimwear, Shoes and Accessories.
Ralph Lauren has a very strong image when it comes to Brand Identification. The Polo Player can be identified anywhere in the world and the quality of the clothing is perfection, yet at an affordable price.
I love the range of pastel and bright coloured tones used within the SS10 colour palette and the way they incorporate pastel checks into the collection.
I feel that Ralph Lauren is a great example of an Iconic Designer and I have chosen this brand as inspiration with my Professional Project.

Something I have become good at....

I feel that my skills within Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop have improved significantly within the past year. I feel confident within using these skills and feel that I can achieve a professional finish to any piece of work when using this media.

I think it's a fantastic piece of media and I have used it throughout my previous project as well as within the logo/brand design of my Professional Project.

A learning experience that went wrong...

Last year for our end of year project I worked for On/Off at London Fashion Week, whilst there I visited Berwick Street to purchase fabrics for my end of year Professional Project. I found the perfect fabric that suited my swimwear illustrations perfectly, as it was really out there and different. I didn't think of the technicality of the fabric and purchased 2 meters costing a total of £120. Once I returned to University and showed my tutor the fabric she advised me that I had made it extremely difficult for myself as, as the fabric was embellished with sequins, I would have to hand pick off the sequins in order to sew through the fabric. After various attempts and other technical difficulties, including the fabric having very little stretch I had to completely scrap the idea of using it and stick to the cheaper metallic lycra that I had purchased in order to create the outcome that I hoped for.

So there for I learned a lesson to never buy expensive fabric on impulse, always do your research and look at the technicality and functions of it and your designs, else you end up wasting a lot of money!!!!

Christian Dior

Dior's childrenswear has a beautiful and individual style that is very classy and luxurious. They use the 'D' logo throughout the collection as well as highlights of bows and pretty finishing's. They stick to a classic colour palette of mainly White's with highlights of various pastel colours for their SS10 collection.
Their campaign is always very classic looking and their accessories section follows suit.

Something I feel good about......

My job as the Womenswear Buyer at work has made me feel good about myself as I feel that my life now has a bit of direction. It has made me feel reassured that I have a full time job (that I love!!) in place for when I finish this course. It has given me so many fantastic experiences and opportunities already and I really look forward to my London showroom trips!

Roberto Cavalli / Armani Junior

I've also been looking Roberto Cavalli kids and Armani Junior, which also have a strong design style and colour palette I especially like the purple and white colour palette used within Armani Juniors SS10 collection. It is instantly recognisable and definable, which is exactly what you would hope for in Brand Identification.

Roberto Cavalli images:

Here some images from Armani Junior's SS10 collection:

Research/Juicy Couture

I 've been continuing my project research by looking at various other childrenswear designers, their signature colours and styles.
Juicy Couture really stood out to me as their designs are so girly and fairytale-like they have a unique style throughout their collection and the colour palette and font that within their designs captures the vissions of a child's imagination.

Research

Through researching childrenswear designers I came across a fantastic website entitled:http://www.childrensalon.com/ it is fantastic for viewing the hottest kids wear collections that are available on the net. Via this website I discovered an amazing design collection by a company called Miss Grant. The designs are gorgeous and a great inspiration to my collection.
Here are a few designs that I loved:

Final Project Research

I have chosen the following brief for my final major project:

FdA assignment brief

Course: Fashion Promotion Year: Two Term: Autumn/Spring
Unit Reference:
Credit: Weighting:
Assignment: Fashion Promotion and Styling
Commencement Date: Deadline Date:
Project Title: Iconic design

Aims:
• To develop reflective thinking
• To continue to develop creative thinking in a historical context
• To examine movements in design and trends

Introduction:
All great photographs, fashion shoots and images tell a story, evoke a mood
and propose a particular sense of style onto their audience. Today’s imagemakers
use fashion photography as an outlet for their personal vision, opinion
of current trends and directions.
The most successful shoots are made up of many key components which you
will identify during the process for the following fashion shoot, starting at
research, development of ideas, analysis of trends and understanding and
contextualizing of fashion design in a historical context through studying of a
chosen fashion house.
As a stylist, it is important to have a well-rounded informed understanding of
fashion, its mechanisms and how it evolves throughout time. For this shoot
you will look at a proposed ‘Iconic Designer’ and research into all aspects of
the chosen label in order to understand more about the changing nature of
design, its identify and most importantly its ethos, design commitments and
overall spirit which determines its visual communication.

Brief:


Part 1: Research an ‘Iconic Designer’ of your choice from the following:
YSL,
Halston,
Balenciaga,
Chanel,
Sonia Rykiel,
Givenchy,
Christian Dior,
Gucci,
Dolce & Gabbana
Louis Vuitton.
Examine their philosophy and design aesthetic, past collections, advertising,
branding, fragrance and signature colours etc.

Part 2: Examine the SS 10 collections from the current shows,
(www.style.com etc). Identify new movements and trends for the season.

Part 3: Produce a shoot based on the spirit of the ‘Iconic Designer’ from a
specific era, which incorporates relevant trends from the SS 10 collections.

Learning Outcomes:
• Demonstrate an ability to apply practical skills in relation to creative
problem solving within a fashion context
• Demonstrate an ability to source appropriate materials for styling

Assessment Requirements and Process:
• Research and development book
• 6 – 8 x A4 prints
• Images should also submitted on a disc

Criteria for Assessment:
• Research & implementation 20%
• Development of shoot ideas 20%
• Creativity 40%
• Visual communication 20%

After briefly speaking to Sarah Charles, I hope to adapt this brief by designing my own childrenswear designs inspired by one of the Iconic Designers listed. I then hope to create a Look book of the pieces as well as producing some of the designs for a fully styled photoshoot. This will act as a press package for my Childrenswear designs.

Review Of Last Term

I am really pleased with how my Trend Book turned out it was a fantastic learning experience and I learned some valuable new skills on Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. My team also really came together in the end and our group presentation went really well. Our tutors said that they thought our presentation was the most organised and ran very smoothly! :)
Here's how my trendbook turned out!: