orchid-kisses: 2017

My Experience Interning at Fabulous Magazine - Week Four

By Chloe - 15:30

It feels surreal that as I write this I'm entering my last week at fabulous yet when this gets published on my blog I will have long finished - I'm not ready to leave!!

Monday was spent doing the usual returns + special deliveries, and unpacking from shoots! Also a new intern arrived called Nhi who's going to be there a month so myself and Sophie have been doing our best to settle her in.

Tuesday was another shoot day - at Motel Studios (I actually navigated the overground today and am pretty pleased with myself), and it's with Tess Daly and included lots of tailored monochrome pieces and some amazing Kurt Geiger heels

Tuesday also marks the day I saw the cover of the magazine from the shoot I did with Caroline Flack (and a selection of her pics from Instagram which I've included below!)

Wednesday involved a lot of returns, and also unpacking some new in items (including some dreamy shoes from ASOS) and amazing faux fur coats from Zara. Today I also got tasked with writing the credits for the 'Lust List' feature for the October 3 issue on behalf of Nana, the shopping editor and celebrity stylist. I also packed up some suitcases for Tracey, the fashion directors shoot, which had a Victorian 70s vibe with lots of florals, velvets and layering.

Thursday involved further returns and searching for items, as well as getting to see a physical copy of the Caroline Flack issue! Unfortunately myself and Mary weren't credited for our work on the shoot; however my name features for the staff pages shoot I went on and did the credits for, eeek!

We also got to see the most incredible sticky toffee cake that had come in for Nana (the shopping editor) and also got given some Hotel Chocolat treats that had already been shot (thank you PRs for sending food, yours sincerely a fashion intern)

My final day at Fabulous seem to go so so quickly - in a midst of unpacking New in pieces for the fashion editor (and then getting to write some credits for some amazing velvet, sequin, tartan and leopard pieces - including the most amaze teal velvet backless jumpsuit I need in my life) and also writing up credits for a shoot that occurred yesterday (I have successfully overcome my fear of phone calls which I guess happens after you call PRs chasing their lack of response to your email, but probably more to do with the fact that every press assistant or manager I spoke to was so so LOVELY that it was like chatting to a pal!). Myself and sophie felt a bit emotional as we were leaving - especially me after I received the NICEST email from Lynne following my completion of the credits for the sequin / velvet etc (and may have shed a tear or two!) and even more so after we gave our hugs goodbye to her and Daisy, and then that was it!

I'd officially survived and LOVED my month of commuting and interning in London at a fashion magazine.

The other parts of this series can be found here - week one, week two and week three.

Kisses, Chlo x

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My Experience Interning at Fabulous Magazine - Week Three

By Chloe - 15:32

Monday morning was my first experience of a celebrity shoot - with the gorgeous Caroline Flack, how bloody cool!! Myself and Mary made our way to Wapping, specifically an area called Tobacco Dock which included a deserted ground with cool graffiti (in which Caroline posed with an old car) and the rooftop of a car park which gave amazing views of the London skyline.

Myself and Mary were responsible for unpacking the clothes, steaming them, making teas and coffee (intern life!!), buying snacks for Caroline at Waitrose, finding lost suitcases (trust me it's as weird as it sounds there were 4 suitcases left abandoned on the rooftop and we had to walk up 14 floors to get it), packing up clothes, and of course detailing everything worn for the credits!

Tuesday started with credit writing - I basically contacted all the relevant PRs and scoured the websites to see if the pieces were up, including the dreamiest Louis Vuitton boots and Zara Shearling jacket.

Then I returned back to the fashion cupboard to process returns and special deliveries (as well as look through 2 full cages worth of bagged returns - there must be at least 200 bags - for a singular shoe someone had called back) and then met the 2 new interns - Sophie and Sarah.

Wednesday and Thursday were much the same of special deliveries, returns and unpacking all the new items that arrived this week. I got to see Daisy (the fashion assistant ) plan out a handbag guide she's doing and I've never seen so many cute (and sometimes tiny or quirky or fluffy) bags in my life - I want to own hundreds of handbags!

I was also asked by the fashion director if I wanted to apply for the new fashion assistant job there (despite my lack of experience) because I'd made such a good impression *somebody pinch me* this was such a flattering thing to be asked (even more so to know that my hard work was acknowledged and appreciated) and I was so disappointed I had to decline because of committing to third year of university, but alas I hope there's an opportunity like this in the future for me!

I also got the dreamy job of collecting a food delivery that had arrived for a member of the fashion desk and it came in the form of a pale green Doughnut Time box crammed full of treats

It's safe to say delivering treats like this makes everyone become your best pal!

The final day this week was spent much the same and I helped daisy accumulate the prices and brands for the handbags she'd selected for her guide, along with Sophie. Also daisy had been sent some sweaty Betty leggings to share amongst the fashion staff and she kindly offered me a pair - which I was so thrilled about as I know how popular the brand is and wanted to try them out however the £80 price tag isn't exactly student budget friendly!

It seems surreal that I'm going to be on my last week - I'm not ready to say goodbye!

The other parts of this series can be found here - week one, week two and week four.

Kisses, Chlo x

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My Experience Interning at Fabulous Magazine - Week Two

By Chloe - 15:29

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My Experience Interning at Fabulous Magazine - Week One

By Chloe - 14:43

As you may know I'm currently interning at Fabulous Magazine, the Sunday supplement magazine that comes with The Sun Newspaper. Now you may not know but the building and location of Fabulous and The Sun is also the headquarters for The Times, Wall Street Journal, Harper Collins publishers amongst others - which means there's always free newspapers by the very fancy lifts and there's also a discounted Harper Collins bookstore in the communal canteen (like I needed an excuse to buy more books... anyways!)

So in my role as fashion intern I'm basically in charge of helping look after the fashion cupboard alongside the Fashion Assistant and Fashion Editor - in my case Daisy and Lynne respectively. So I help tidy up, sort out things that need to be returned to the relative companies or PRs (and trust me there's a lot of returns but it's so nice to see the space become clearer after sorting through, filling up, sealing and carting off around 50 or more bags to the mail out cages).

I also do what is known as special deliveries, which are essentially the same as returns but are often for brands, PRs etc that are located outside of London or for expensive goods. For example, on Friday I packaged up, created a docket (essentially it's like a list of what's inside the package and that Fabulous is the one returning it) and arranged the post and insurance for some shoes to go back to a London PR agency which were used for the Mollie King (aka from the Saturdays) cover shoot for this week's issue - how cool! Doing special deliveries is quite time consuming but again it's so rewarding to see the overpacked area shrink day to day, and I think the fashion assistant and editor are happy as some of those things have been there for months !!!

[pictured above is the second fashion cupboard that belongs to the fashion editors Tracey and Lynne. Often ill get messages from PRs and Brands asking me to find specific items from their sections and then it's my job to go through and locate them)

Also whilst doing all these tasks, you're often emailed by PRs, brands, other members of the fashion team such as stylists to locate items that are needed for shoots or to be sent back ASAP. This can be quite stressful as many want to arrange a courier to pick up the item/s asap so it's up to you to find, locate, package and drop off at the mail room as quickly as you can. All of the PRs / brands etc I've spoken to though are all so nice - one lady from marks and spencer's press showroom even told the fashion editor that I was such a credit to the company and how great I was (sooooo not blowing my own trumpet but it's nice that my hard work has been recognised).

One of the most exciting bits I would say is getting to unpack the new delivery items, particularly if its for a specific story or editorial for in the magazine. I got to unload lots of incredible cowboy boots, leather jackets, checked shirts, neck ties, fringed dresses and embellished denim for a western theme shoot that's coming up!

One of the highlights of my first week (apart from buying some new books - thank you Harper Collins for your 60% off book stall) was the cupboard clear out of old stock - this meant that some items couldn't be returned due to lack of clothing labels, being too late to return (again some had been there for months) or ones that simply didn't need to be returned / were gifted to members of the fashion team. This meant the fashion cupboard held a "help yourself" free shopping for the Fabulous team to have a look through the items and help themselves to anything they fancied, with all left over items going to charity. I myself picked up a gold bangle, some sunglasses, a gold choker, a turquoise and silver Thomas sabo bracelet, ripped denim shorts, a floral bomber jacket, a bikini top, a thin western belt and a tie (that's for my dad), which I think is a pretty good haul indeed - thank you @ fashion cupboard for satisfying my shopping needs despite my lack of ££ on a student budget!

[the view from the canteen is insane as it's on the 14th floor - you can enter through 2 doors either "riverside" or "southside" to which you can get get panoramic views of the city]