Life as a first year FCP student

This is a post i've been meaning to do for a long time since finishing my first year at university, a whole 4 months ago, can you believe?  I've been so caught up in my summer that i've put university life and thinking about my course on hold for a little while, but now i'm ready and so excited for what my second year as an FCP student is going to bring. 

The best part of being a student? Well, along side the being able to eat and sleep whenever you want, without the nagging of a judgemental parent...absolute bliss. Loving my degree is definitely one of the best aspects for me.  I have met so many people, many of them being my friends, who say that they're not really that bothered about their course and would only go as far to say 'its alright' or 'average'.  I can't imagine feeling like that about my degree, especially seeing as its setting me back £9,000 a year! 

With that being said, there is always going to be some parts that I don't enjoy, but it's all a learning curve and helping me to understand my strengths and weaknesses.  The first part of my course I found quite difficult to get used to, coming from an Art Foundation background, I was used to being very creative, however, my first module brought with it quite a lot of theory work alongside experimentation into areas of the fashion industry I had no clue existed.  It was a strange transition period getting used to the more business side of things, as well as allowing my creativity to continue throughout my work, but after the second half of first year, I feel like I managed to find a perfect balance. 

Module 2 was very different than the first, it was one project and all group work.  My first thoughts were - group work, for 4 months... absolute nightmare. Luckily, I was put into a group with three lovely girls who all pulled their weight as much as me, we all had different skill sets and backgrounds so bringing them together helped us to develop a unique and interesting concept which received amazing feedback.  

I enjoyed my second semester a lot more than the first, as focussing on one project allowed me to work on the challenges I set myself at the end of my first module.  One of my major downfalls is organisation, I don't know why I'm so bad at it, but i've tried to be the girl with the day planner and it's just not me.  My second module allowed me to find my own way to organise myself, working within a group ensured I was meeting other peoples deadlines, meaning I wasn't just working to my own and had to find new ways to manage my time. 

Finishing my first year with a 2.1 was an extremely rewarding achievement, I felt like my hard work paid off but I was still left with plenty room for improvement.  I hope to continue developing my skills and perfecting my weaknesses throughout year 2 as well as trying to gain more internship opportunities in the different areas within my field. 

GOODBYE FRESHERS

FCP first year is over and so are all the amazing memories NTU has given me.  I have absolutely loved every second of being a fresher and i’ve met some of the best people in my life, it only seems like 2 minutes ago since I was sat in my car on my way to move in, so scared I wouldn't make any friends.  Now i’m sat writing this post a few hours away from going on holiday with my 3 best gals, excited!

I never thought I would enjoy this year as much as I have, and I couldn't imagine me doing anything else.  Im so happy with how my course has gone this year and all the exciting things its brought so far, I cant wait for next year to see how much more I learn. 

Now I'm off to enjoy the Hvar sun, here are a few pictures of me with my favourite people 

x

VIVACE COMPLETED

After 3 months of hard work, today we finally pitched our brand in our final ever presentation for this year, thank god.  Its safe to say that presenting isn't my strong point, and I find myself shaking every single time, despite how well I know my script.  Regardless of how terrible I am, me and group received some amazing feedback for this presentation, none of which we ever expected! Some of the comments included were: professional mood boards, you understand the brand well, its clear you enjoyed the project, good use of models e.g brand onion and perceptual map, great visuals in presentation, concept is clear throughout, good primary and secondary research and good use of the breadcrumb along the bottom allowing the viewers to follow the journey.

So exciting! 

As part of our brief, we were asked to create a short film clip for our fragrance.  As our tonic is a new and innovative concept, we wanted to step away from a usual film and decided to create GIF's for each of our campaigns.  We created these using the stills from our photoshoot and edited them using Adobe Premier.  I absolutely loveee how these have turned out!

PHOTOSHOOT IN ACTION

Today we finally had the chance to shoot the campaign for our fragrance brand.  After we have been working at this project for over 7 weeks now we began to see our tonic come to life.  Opting for a quirky creative concept, we were worried whether it would actually work, without us ruining the studio with our powder dye.  Although we were really prepared with all our props, we probably should have done a test shoot. 

We were all so pleased with how the shoot turned out and even though it wasn’t exactly the same as the drawings, we were so impressed with the outcome as we really didn't think it would work like it did. 

We used a fast shutter speed to capture our detailed campaigns in slow motion. While all this was happening, Vanessa took lots of pictures, capturing the moment perfectly.

KICK THE CAFFEINE

After meeting with the graphics students and finally having the visuals done for our brand, we then had to sit down as a group and work on our creative concept.  Mostly focussing on our print and video campaign, we couldn't believe how quickly this part of the project had come around! 

The first idea for our print campaigns was focussed around hydration, we wanted to fill a balloon with water and photograph it popping over the skin, after deliberating this idea we felt it would be more in keeping with a moisturising brand.  

Our finalised idea was based around the key aspects of our brand, the first image will feature a balloon filled with powdered dye and the slogan ‘Release your Rhythm’. The second is coffee beans being smashed by a hammer or weight and the slogan ‘Kick the Caffeine. The final campaign will be a lemon being squeezed by a wrench into the beaker, this embodies the citrus notes and refreshing nature of our tonic, the slogan will be, ‘Zone your Zing.

YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I WANT

A large part of this module, so far, has been focussed on our advert analysis.  This involved us selecting a current fragrance advert an breaking it down using the FCP process: context, the big idea, creative concept and execution. 

I chose the new Chanel No.5 S/S15 campaign, after seeing the short film released on vogue a few weeks ago, I was instantly drawn to the amazing location and casting choices.  Or maybe it was the slow rendition of the Grease the musical’s classic song, ‘You’re the one that I want’.  Either way, I absolutely love how Gisele Bündchen has been captured as the busy mum figure, juggling her role as a mum, workingwoman and loving wife.  Shot by Baz Luhrmann, the whole execution of this advert has been done to absolute perfection!

Taking my design inspiration from independent magazine, Huck.  I am really pleased with the outcome of my analysis, I feel the time I spent on all aspects is reflected through my grade, a high 2:1.  Through my feedback, I know the areas I can improve on in future projects, onwards and upwards from here!  

LE LABO

When me and Katie took our trip to London for the Savage Beauty exhibition, we only booked a late train home so we had loads of time to explore, one of our first stops being Liberty London. 

Liberty stocks thousands of luxury brands; however, it also stocks up and coming brands that are original and bring something new to the market.  Our first destination was the fragrance section, obviously! We came across a brand called Le Labo, which has the coolest packaging ever, to say the least! 

After admiring the beautiful designs of the bottles, a member of staff introduced us to their brand and its concept.  Le Labo was founded in New York and is a brand which provides a collection of perfumes that are made from scratch, based on the consumers choices of particular notes. The brand also allows you to personalise the label, making it ideal for a gift. 

I absolutely love this brand, the quirkiness is reflected all the way through to their in store interiors.  Hopefully one day i’ll be able to afford it!

DRESS LIKE A BOY, ACT LIKE A GIRL

ALEXA CHUNG

AMY SPENCER // THELITTLEMAGPIE

SUKI WATERHOUSE

After a couple of hours of researching, we were asked to focus on current fashion and who our inspirations are, this was tricky for me as I seem to love every celebrity’s fashion that I have on Instagram, but I managed to whittle it down. 

We were asked to select a blogger and 2 celebrities, this was simple for me, Alexa Chung. Absolute goddess and master of all things, her style is so fabulous and always on point, I love her simplistic outfits that she appears to have just thrown on. My favourite and ultimate guide when it comes to dressing myself comes from her, dress like a boy, act like a girl. 

My next choice was a blogger favourite, Amy Spencer of ‘The Little Magpie’.  I LOVE her style, it’s also very similar to Alexa’s and on top of everything, she has hair to dieeee for.  So jealous! My favourite item of hers has got to be her All Saints leather jacket, this my goal when it comes to my jacket collection, maybe one day.

My final inspiration is Suki Waterhouse, the girl who opened my eyes to Superga footwear, heaven on earth for my feet.  I love her messy, tousled locks and how she can pull off a messy but impeccably dressed vibe without looking over done. Oh and to top it all off, her eyebrows.  How is it fair that someone can be blessed with beauty like that and insane eyebrows? Major envy!!

SAVAGE BEAUTY

Last week me and Katie had the opportunity to visit the savage beauty exhibition at the V&A and of course we said yes! NTU had pre bought tickets and were selling them to fashion students like ourselves for just £3!!! Insane. 

When we arrived in London we had a bit of a mad dash to get to the V&A as we’d booked ourselves a bit of a risky train in terms of timing, luckily we were led straight into our slot and were greeted by a huge black and white portrait of McQueen himself, a very powerful start to the exhibition.  The first collection was his graduate show, it was extremely surreal to see the garments in the flesh as they were all crafted at a phenomenal standard.  Knowing how difficult pattern cutting to perfection is myself, I had great admiration for his work.  

Following on from the first room we were greeted by a sign “I’m a romantic schizophrenic”, at the start of the exhibition we didn't see the story behind this quote, or why it was used in such a thought provoking manor.  However, after exploring further and greeted by darker and stranger collections, it felt extremely in keeping. 

We finished up the spectacular exhibition, which I can’t recommend highly enough, and if its still showing then go go go!! It is by far one of the best collections of work I have ever seen.  Afterwards, we headed on into London to grab a bite to eat and do some shopping, our feet were killing and the rain didn't hold off for the majority of the day… typical.  

Before our train home, we attempted to find London’s best milkshake, and finally we did! The yummiest strawberry milkshake i’d ever tasted and we found it in a little burger shack right by Liberty’s. Priced at only £3 we thought it was a right bargain.

By far, this was one of the best days i’ve had since being at University and even if it costs you an arm and a leg, I would not miss this exhibition! There’s a reason he is a fashion hero. 

PHOTOSHOOTING

Finally, i've gotten round to uploading the final images of Isobel from a photoshoot I did back in January! I'm such a slacker when it comes to finishing a piece of work i've started within the same month but better late than never, as they always say.

Finding these photographs instantly rekindled my love for photography and it made me realise how much i've been putting my real passions on the back burner recently, so as of today, i've decided that over the 4 months I have off in summer, I will dedicate my time to designing and photographing... and I cannot wait.

Keep you posted!
becky x