HELLO

Hi guys! It’s Issie from last year here; back by popular demand. I’m dropping by to tell you tales of university, and congratulate you lot on keeping up the blog, which looks great. I’m in the last two weeks of my first year studying fashion design at Nottingham Trent uni (actually in the midst of a rather massive deadline) and it’s not an exaggeration to say it’s been the most exhilarating year of my life so far. At the moment I’m just finishing the ‘colour project’- the brief being to design a 6 look collection using colour and taking target market, branding etc into consideration, then make one of the final looks. Mine’s inspired by a random mix of things; Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway, heavy machinery and orchid structures. That’s one thing that’s changed since art foundation; you’re not as tied to one theme, and for the most part, you just get on with what you’re doing. I’m creating tailored and draped sportswear pieces, which took me a full two weeks to pattern cut (definitely the hardest part), but they’re all finished now, yay! You’ll all have applied to uni by now, so I won’t go on and on about NTU. Instead, my general rules for surviving a fashion course are as follows: 

 1. Don’t be catty, carry on Gayle’s mantra of helping each other, it is much more productive; you’ll build contacts and generally end up a nicer person. 

2. Don’t panic that you’re behind when you start, because everyone is equally behind and it takes a while to find your feet, which leads me to… 

3. Don’t give up and get lazy. Motivate yourself instead of relying on your tutor. Skipping classes is soooo pointless when you’ve paid that much; it drives me insane when only half the people turn up

 4. Take advantage of every opportunity- I’m going to exchange to Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC for this “fall” (incredible, and incredibly scary) but if you don’t push yourself, won’t ever know what your limitations are. Being pro-active is veryveryvery important for fashion- I’ve interviewed for two internships so far (got one with Jonathan Saunders) and I’m trying for another one on Friday (won't say with who because i don't want to jinx it, but keep your fingers crossed for me!!) 

5 And finally: You’re a student- HAVE FUN! Those are my pearls of wisdom. As for me, if you want to check out my recent work (images of my latest project will most likely go up this weekend) then visit my blog www.thestylesieve.blogspot.com. Good luck guys! Issie xx