Major excitement!

So after a month of ahem, slightly obsessively checking my emails everyday to check if anything exciting had landed in my inbox, I finally received an email from Channel 4 during a hungover photography lecture last Tuesday. And yes, what was in the email definitely put a smile on my face and took away the slight nausea and pounding headache that was preoccupying me moments before. The e-mail read ‘Congratulations, 4talent would like to offer you a placement with Channel 4. Your placement will be in the Press & Publicity team for one week starting from Monday 7^th November. Please email to confirm acceptance or call me if you have any questions.’

 Will be great to see how the department at Ch4 publicises its programmes across print, broadcast and online. And will hopefully bring me a step closer to deciding what I want to do in the future after Uni ends and I have to step out into the big bad world, eek!

 Needless to say I’m VERY excited, definitely didn’t think I was going to get anything, especially after meeting so many super talented people at the 4talent open day a couple of weeks back in Manchester. Can’t wait to spend a week in London in the hustle and bustle of the capital city! Somehow even after reaching the grand old age of 20 (soon to be 21, gulp) I still get a massive buzz whenever I visit London, even it’s just for a few hours or a couple of days. It’s something about the atmosphere and mass of people that makes me all excited and reminiscent of childhood days out. And I get to see the ‘4’ in person; you know the one on the Channel 4 adverts that transforms itself magically to different locations?

 If anyone reading this thinks they’d like to apply for a work placement at Channel 4 too, check out this link http://4talent.channel4.com/  Definitely something for everyone whether you’re interested in tv production, sound technology or like me press and publicity..

Gender bender or Androgynous angels?

“What is most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine,” said Susan Sontag in the Spring/Summer edition of Love magazine. The running theme throughout the edition is androgyny; something which seems hard to escape within the fashion industry at the minute. From the catwalks to glossy front pages, are the lines blurring further and further when it comes to what differentiates the male and female gender?

 Love’s front cover features Kate Moss (never one to shy away from a little controversy) and Brazilian model, Lea T engaging in what appears to be a passionate same sex kiss. What I didn’t recognize upon first glance is that Lea is in fact, what the fashion industry has dubbed as the ‘fashion world’s first transsexual.’  

  Without a doubt, the increasing acceptance of androgyny in the fashion industry caused a stir throughout London Fashion Week and across the globe. Whilst I may have been stunned to discover Lea is a transsexual, and also that 19 year old Serbian/Australian model Andrej Pejic is actually male, I can’t help but wonder if it’s just another tactic to shock and surprise the general public? After all, the fickle fashion industry thrives year after year through their tried and tested means of fads, trends and general shock tactics.

 Many within the fashion circle argue that using a male to showcase female clothing is wrong; simply due to the fact that the proportions are completely unachievable and unrealistic for any woman to ever be able to strive to. Yes, the clothes may look/hang better on these male mannequins; but if no female can ever hope to even squeeze into the impossibly tiny sample sizes, where lies the point in the garments being designed and produced in the first place?  After all, are the designers designing women’s clothes for women or women’s clothes for men?    

 Telegraph journalist Hilary Alexander interviewed Andrej backstage at Jean Paul Gaultier’s show at Paris Fashion Week. “Andrej is obviously beautiful and he has the most amazing figure. When you consider that a lot of designers are designing for this impossible ideal for someone who is 5ft 11in, no hips and no chest."  She goes onto suggest the fascination with the androgynous male model might be a reflection of the times. "It's not just a fashion thing. People are more accepting of transgender personalities, civil marriage and gay couples adopting. It's only natural that a transgender person would appear on a catwalk modeling both menswear and womenswear."

 Speaking purely in terms of the gender issue at hand, I personally have no issue with men dressing as women and vice versa, I would even go as far to say Lea and Andrej look better in the lavish designer garments than I could ever hope to! However, another topic which people are divided over is that whilst most female models that reach 6.1ft+ are not normally picked for the catwalk, 6.2ft Andrej sashayed down the catwalk on countless occasions during London Fashion Week. Does it seem fair to make one rule for women and another for men who are portrayed as women?  

Spring/Summer 2011 Love Issue

Andrej Pejic (left) in a recent Marc Jacobs campaign



Andrej Pejic (right) in Jean Paul Gaultier campaign

Androgynous model Andrej Pejic


Check out these links for more if this topic has got your knickers in a twist!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12567337

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8335719/Andrej-Pejic-Whos-that-boy.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1359853/London-Fashion-Week-2011-Gender-bender-male-model-Andrej-Pejic-causes-stir.html



Nothing like a bit of rejection to spur you on..

So finally recieved a reply back to my e-mail from the editor of Cambridge Style Magazine. After writing to her over a week ago, and constantly/impatiently/excitedly checking my email to see if a reply had popped up, something popped up in my inbox about an hour ago.

 But unfortunately it wasn't the positive response I was hoping for. Maybe I was being too optimistic when I thought that a local fashion magazine would be a fool proof option to gaining the invaluable work experience you need to get ahead on my degree. Obviously I'm fairly dissapointed that they "aren't actually taking on any work experience candidates at the moment" but I guess that's just part of the business. 


 Clearly moping around isnt going to make the situation any better so once I'm home; time to get back on the e-mailing and try, try again, after all, no one said work experience was going to be handed to you on a plate, especially in the fickle world of fashion.


 The e-mail response today has made me not only reflect on work experience, but all kinds work in general. It seems to be becoming harder and harder to secure any kind of employment over the last few years.


Since joining university in Southampton way back in September, I've lost track of the amount of cv's and applications I seem to of handed out or filled in to no avail. Is the on-going recession still to blame? Is there a hideous flaw on my cv that I simply haven't noticed, or as yet, no one has had the courage to point out to me? Maybe it's the label of being a "student?" Do we have a stigma attached to us which screams out "lateness, unreliability, generally all around unemployable?"


If someone has the answer and would like to let me know asap, it would be greatly appreciated as the level of student loan continues to spiral downwards towards the dreaded overdraft.