London fashion week and (and for the mere mortals) London Fashion Weekend is a definite highlight in the British fashion calendar. It a diverse space marking a time and place where everyone from the industry plugs in to exactly what’s going on with peers, with the climate and with the potential for new business.

In addition to catwalk shows and designer inspiration, it has become a place for all industry professionals; stylists, consultants, bloggers, models and the rest to recharge their spirit and revive for the year ahead (or in the case of the designers, hope and pray all the hard work pays off). With much ado in the media right now about designers choosing different paths to their consumer and the future of fashion week, one things for sure, we love what it gives us as style and image professionals to expand our knowledge, networks and client base.

We took a trip to London Fashion Weekend this year and having spoken to lots of industry professionals, walked our little feet off and attended some great industry talks here are our thoughts on how style and image professionals should get the most from the opportunity to attend.

LEARN FROM OTHERS

I always sign up for as many talks as I can during London Fashion Weekend. What better way to find out new things, see things from others perspective and see how the industry is changing? This year I went along to listen to stylist and consultant Pandora Sykes in conversation with Martha Ward. Pandora spoke about how the lines have blurred in the industry in what professionals ‘call’ themselves and her view was everything is about having the goods (or CV) to back up what you say! I recorded this event live for our Facebook page, you can listen back here. I also listened in on a panel speaking about ‘careers in fashion’ and ultimately feel frustrated the panel was made up of  speakers from the education space who focused more on the traditional routes into fashion. It would have been lovely to hear more about what’s being done to equip students to thinking outside the traditional careers box to creating their own businesses and the supports and education being put in place to support this!

VOLUNTEER

We met lots of young professionals over the weekend who were volunteering, either for a brand or at the event itself in order to connect with others, learn and soak up what it takes to have a business represented at fashion week. I met one lovely girl who was starting out as a personal stylist and had volunteered to style and merchandise mannequins for an up and coming british label who were selling at the show.

CONTENT CREATION

What better way to build up a bank of amazing images, stories and insights to be able to share with your clients, in your newsletter and on your social media channels. FIPI launched their Instagram page (I know, I know about time!) just last week and we used Instagram’s two new features; instastories and their new slide share feature to share our behind the scenes shots. Follow us here! We also as I mentioned above did a live stream from the Pandora Skyes interview on our Facebook page so our followers could tune in without even being there! Making your clients or potential clients feel like their part of the event really builds your credibility and your connection with those who matter most to you.

KEEP UP TO DATE

One of the biggest things I love (as a fashion lover first and foremost!) is getting insight into what new brands are emerging. Which are new to me (both jewellery and fashion), what’s hot right now and also connecting with the founders to see if their is potential for collaboration. For example, being Irish 🙂 I met with amazing jewellery designer Chupi. Her jewellery is amazing and I had been following her on social media for ages. To get to meet her, create a little video with her and also swap business stories was such a great opportunity. Remember, a lot of designers (when they are not busy) are usually more than happy to chat with other style professionals! Although our businesses may be different, what better way to get views on different topics! Small businesses unite 🙂

See you there next year we hope!

Julie x