5 Year Plan

• 2011: Finish FdA Fashion. Go back to Vietnam and get a 6 month internship at Kelly Bui done.
• 2012 - 2014: Finish Top-up year. Go back to Vietnam and start working as an assistant designer hopefully at Kelly Bui or another company.
• 2015: Having 3 years working experience, apply for a job as a designer in America or Singapore.

Ideal first job

I have found a graduate job on Drapers at Republic. As a customer, I like Republic and I think the job would suit me.

The Role
Assisting the designer in executing specific design briefs in a creative and commercial manner whilst adhering to and developing the brand identity in line with the Company/Gender/Departmental Strategy. The role will encompass the following:

• Deliver a continuous flow of cads to meet specific briefs.
• Develop an understanding of sales performance (best and worst sellers) of existing styles within the business.
• Assist the designer to create designs with a clear understanding of the pricing architecture of the relevant brand
• Research of the market, including high street and niche retailers, websites, trade fairs and catwalks to develop the departments strategy
• Identify new opportunities at style and colour level relevant to the departmental strategy
• Develop an understanding of garment construction, printing and finishing techniques to ensure relevant design packs
• Provide detailed spec sheets directly to our suppliers with all relevant information to ensure quick and correct sampling and production
• Maintain the design archive for reference by the buying department

• Develop an understanding of supplier’s abilities of specific factories.

I plan to work in designing in the future so the job is exactly what I want to do. I think the skills what I have gained at university as well as the experienced I have gained from my internships are relevant. The job requires candidate to be able to assist the main designer as well as work on market research, and that is what I can do.

Skills and Experience
• Fashion Degree to include placement year in design
• System skills to include Illustrator and Photoshop
• Illustration and graphic abilities
• Garment make up and construction knowledge
• Manufacturing processes and fabric types
• Quality management (to ensure garments are executed correctly)

I am confident that I would have all these above skills and qualifications after my graduation.

Toiling

I am quite happy with the fit now. There are one thing or two to adjust, however, generally the collection seem to looking right.

Fabric shopping

London is the best place to shop for fabric. Fabric shopping is always very inspiring to me. When I see and feel a material I like, I come up with illusions of designs in that material. To me, it is an extremely good way to work to go to fabric shops and get inspired.

Design

Seductive and sexy.

Exhibition: Pascal Rousson - Very Ape

"Very Ape" was a solo exhibition by artist Pascal Rousson. His idea was to explore the cavemen's way of life. I was very impressed. This exhibition might not be a total fashion exhibition, though, was very inspiring. I felt that the artist was wanting to bring things back to the origin when he while working on his objectives.

Exhibition: Fred Loves Fashion

Eight designers were invited to make an installation in the gallery:

1. A Child of the Jago
2. Bernstock Speirs
3. Boudicca
4. Andrea Cammarosano
5. Sian Hoffman
6. Kenny Campbell with Nelson Santos
7. Factoria Rent Me
8. Omar Kashoura

It was an exhibition with quite strong, shocking displays. First thing I noticed was a dummy sitting on a chair with a fetish outfit on, dark makeup and short hair. It was disturbing but it was interesting to see.

Second display was a stand looking down sadly but very gracefully. It was my favourite out of the bunch. All the broken bits made the whole thing look mysterious and so tough at the same time. It is hard to put into words but somehow I really felt it. I also enjoyed taking pictures and experience the display from different angles.

There was a picture on the wall of a nude body with dark background and a sort of electrical feeling effect. The photo gave me a feeling of a dark, sexual life. I did not feel like it was a few bodies of different people. I felt it was one person but she was lost. She had no heads and the light went straight where her head was suppose to be.

Toiling

Final Project: Mood board

Fashion issue: Sexiness and Vietnamese Showbiz

I would like to consider my designing style quite daring and sexy yet feminine and cute. I think it is very important for me as a designer to have a focus and from that point, build up a career focusing on what I do best. I am interested in evening dresses, special occasional clothes and outfits on stage.

Looking at the show business in Vietnam at the moment especially in music industry and movies, I have noticed that celebrities tend to go towards the 'Sexy' direction due to the information and influences from Western countries. Singers and actresses did not use to dress like this 10 years ago. We have adapted this 'Sexiness' from Western culture which is a completely good thing, however; We are adapting it too fast we seem to be trying too hard to keep up with it. Lets not blame the singers and the actresses as they all have their stylists behind every show, but some of the outfits they put on to perform are just not great. We do have many beautiful outfits, but some are still either too shiny, too colourful or ridiculously revealing. This, I think, is the result of adapting a new trend too fast without really studying it and making the most out of it.

I want to be able to produce elegant, unique, graceful, glamourous, sexy outfits and to bring a fresh style to Vietnam and contribute to not only the fashion industry but also music and film industry.

Updated CV

I am quite happy with my updated CV as I have got a few lines under my Experience sector. I understand that it is extremely competitive and it is very important to have work experience in my CV in order to get a job later on. I have never worked before, all my experiences came from internships that I have taken, but I am confident that they will make me a strong candidate and I believe my travelling would be my advantage everywhere I apply.

I am looking forward to build up a great CV with my degree and the 6 month work experience I am getting by the end of next academic year.

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Fashion issue: 'Seeing-through' & Vietnamese Fashion

Seeing-through material is one of my favourite. It is completely feminine, elegant and sophisticated. It depends on the designs and construction, however, it creates a beautiful, graceful look. Thinking about seeing-through materials, I can mention chiffon for a soft, flowy look and silk organza for slightly more textures. I cannot also not mention that seeing-through materials are very revealing.

Since seeing-through became one of the hottest fashion trends, everyone has all seen examples of women that pulled it together tastefully and also women that went a bit over the top with it. It is a trend that might not be everyone's cup of tea as it's quite daring and people have very different opinions towards it, though; It still has made a fashion revolution around the world.

I love the materials and they not only appear in most of my designs, I also have a few transparent garments myself. I think the transparency is absolutely elegant, very trendy and sexy. However, being revealing in Vietnam is a total different thing. It is quite strict in Asia and only a small percentage of Vietnamese girls dare to wear chiffon or lace.

The seeing-through trend also raised up controversy in the country. Many people think it is inappropriate to adapt this trend from western countries as we have different lifestyle and point of view. On the other hand, there are many people love the trend and quite often I could see celebrities promoting this trend. There certainly are debates about celebrities wearing transparent clothes and influence young girls.

In my opinion, it is totally a personal thing for a person to dress the way they want to. Daring and different things always raise up debates and there are always people who love a trend and people who do not like the same trend at the same time. However, designers have to be aware of the environment and the market they are working in in order to focus on their target market and to do good business. To me personally, I am glad that Vietnamese women nowadays are more daring and willing to look unique. Considering my designing style, I think lots of people in Vietnam will like my designs and that is the thing all designers want.

Final project inspiration - Military accessories

Useful websites to find Fashion jobs

I have been researching and have found a few websites that are very useful in terms of finding internships and jobs. I think it is best to have a focus that are a few companies that I really want to work for and contact them directly, however, it is also exciting to get on recruiting websites, be open to all the opportunities as well as different directions (Of course still based on my focus and special interests) and see where I might end up.

1. Drapers jobs http://www.drapersjobs.com/

This is a great website to look for jobs in fashion industry. They offer a variety of jobs based on different location including the UK, America and Asia, job roles, salary bands, sectors and also employer types. The website and searching tools are easy to use and jobs are also regularly updated which is worth following.

2. Fashion Internships in America http://freefashioninternships.com/

Different fashion internships in America can be found here. I have always wanted to go to America and the website gives me many great opportunities to get internships there. Many of the jobs require candidates to be a local American, to have own transportations or to start working asap, though, if I wanted to get an internship, I could still find quite a few that suite me and my conditions.

3. Fashion jobs in Singapore http://www.careerjet.sg/jobs-apparel-fashion-textile.html

On CareerJet, they offer a range of jobs based in Asia. The link above shows fashion jobs in Singapore as I am quite interested in working in Singapore. I think it is a good thing to be able to travel and to locate anywhere I want to. Most of the jobs found on here require work experience (1- 5 or 7 years). So I do not think it would be best to apply for a job there after graduation, however, after a few years would be great.