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Life of a visual merchandiser

After graduating from university. I had spent 4 years working as a visual merchandiser in a mass market fashion brand. I have learnt and grown up so much to more than what I had expected. This is a new series of a visual merchandiser, full of meaningful memories, deep thought, unforgettable experiences. Coming soon on my blog <3 

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SUMMARY OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

SUMMARY OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

The module professional practice is working like a diary with clear outline of what we have learnt and done in the whole process at university and from there, we seek out what we missed and what needs to be improved to prepare for our career. Throughout the study process, we tend to forget to reflect back what we have absorbed and adopted as skills and knowledge, this module taught us how to classify to get the best out of each person resume, portfolio, skill and knowledge.

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A CAREER IN FASHION MERCHANDISING/ MARKETING

After 4 years of at fashion college and several internships, I realize my passion for fashion merchandising job and fashion marketing field. Working for designer as well as brand under merchandising department made me realize the skills that school never taught me were:

·             There are always risks and loses when it comes to stock control

·             Managing merchandise at store require set skill of finance, responsibility, detail orientation and attention, product knowledge.

·             When school teach in a bigger and general scale, minimal but potential damages would come unexpectedly.

 The other field that I am interested which is fashion marketing. What I have learnt through school, work and the module professional practice is:

·             School provides professional terminologies and knowledge but they are theories that work like a scale.

·             Market research and understanding the audience are very crucial. When you know your customer, you will most likely know where to go, what to do and provide the right direction for the business.

·             Observation at front line level will provide you the best information of consumer behavior.

·             Learn how to put yourself in audience’s shoes.

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Creative Resume

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Tips for sustainable fashion and life style

Sustainability in fashion( eco or green fashion) is a trend which is blooming and cornered about. It follows the very anthropological design philosophy of protecting the environment through adjusting human impacts, social and industrial responsibility toward environment.

Apparently, fast fashion is still the winner of the competition due to the demand of financial growth, what can we do in our daily life to promote sustainable fashion:

Everything starts with the knowledge and awareness. Influence the trend of sustainable fashion and life style into education from young age to higher education. 

Companies and organization should hold activities regarding protecting environment, recycle and reuse old clothes and products, donation.

Purchase good quality products and learn the care label to keep the product last longer.

Save water and energy.

Purchase and promote sustainable fashion brands.

Use vegan and cruelty free products and brands.

Follow minimal life style to save money and enforce sustainability

If one individual can follow this simple step, the hope of our better future will no longer be a dream. Embrace sustainable fashion and life style with passion and love!

Sources

Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. (2016). Aconsciousconsumer.com. Retrieved 4 December 2016, from http://www.aconsciousconsumer.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/MTIwOTMxMDA2OTU3MDE2OTc4-1170x658.jpg

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An Interview with Singapore designer Chelsea Scott- Blackballs regarding Geometry and Fashion

                                       Dzojchen Spring Summer 2016

To understand and see what a local designer think about the importance of geometry, a short and detailed interview with Singaporean and New York based designer Chelsea Scott – Blackhalls was conducted. In 2011, a brand called Dzojchen came out in the market and carries mostly denim and leather products. ‘Dzojchen’ means ‘wholeness’ in Sanskrit was chosen as the brand name in order to represent INDIVIDUALITY in each person in the society. With that philosophy, the brand gives consumers unexpected balance from contradiction through the ways using fabrics, forms, supported with innovative drafting techniques, washes, textures and finishes. Renowned for its refined cuts with bold expression.

                    With Dzojchen designer Chelsea Scott Blackballs

As we can see, denim is one of the most essential categories in daily fashion today. Denim can be worn by children and the elderly. Denim plays a very important role in the fashion industry and it is considered as one of the most useful and spectacular invention in the 20th century. The denim market seems to go stable and unchanged but according to Chelsea, there are always revolutions to maintain the growth and interest of people who love denim. We all know jeans is a piece of garment which usually made from cotton yarn, thick, dyed in blue or black, with zipper, waistband, front and back pocket, provide comfort and warmness to protect their bodies from weather hardness.

Sources

Event Post: Dzojchen FW15 Singapore Fashion Week. (2016). Bagaddictsanonymous.com. Retrieved 9 December 2016, from http://www.bagaddictsanonymous.com/2015/05/event-post-dzojchen-fw15-singapore.html

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Geometry and the Fashion Industry

 1.         Geometry is the primary source of fashion

 There are so many simple things that we all forget where and how they came from. From the ancient time, when there was no civilization, primitive people knew that they had to create something to cover their bodies and prevent the hardness from nature and temperature. They imagined the shape and used those organic material from tree leaves, wood or animal skin. Many different cultures from parts of the world with the long history of eras and dynasties, each period had their own unique of clothing style, represented the equivalent society which was happening at the same time. The job ‘tailor’ started to appear from thousand years ago and they were the people who defined and built the first brick for a whole new field that is now called ‘fashion’. They also adapted and interpreted geometric knowledge into fashion.

 2.         Geometry is the unlimited source of inspiration for fashion industry

 We have regular silhouettes such as A-line, fit and flare, boxy, flare, loose, elongated,… and irregular ones. All of these silhouettes are descriptive by geometric terminology. Pattern makers have to be thankful to geometricians for creating the basic system of definitions and principles in geometry that contributed the most into contemporary pattern making knowledge.

 “Fashion was beautifully created by many sources. One of the most important factors that we have to admit is geometry and it is shown clearly in the final outcome of the designs. Your design is good, customer will purchase it but if there is nothing unique about it, no one wants to buy it” said Chelsea Scott Blackhalls – owner and designer of the Singapore/New York based fashion brand Dzojchen. Basically, what we have in fashion are already set and unchangeable, we always know how an ordinary dress looks like but designers twist the line, silhouette in pattern creating step to make it become a new shape. There are varieties of new creative works which become breakdown of the tradition. People from inside to outside of the fashion industry pay attention and money to things that they have never seen before. And that is how the fashion business goes on. On the other hand, geometry is the core tool to hold and build the house of fashion industry.

 Yohji Yamamoto is one of the great avant garde designers, who successful in inventing new fabric manipulation and especially introducing magnificent world. His works are famous for being unique in a very experimental way and full of adventures. His designs are out of the traditional boundaries by the way he experiments various techniques of dyeing, draping, cutting and pleating to achieve different silhouettes, different shapes, different forms and textures. The designs are combined with his creativity and heavy geometrical influence. Yohji Yamamoto’s works do not stop at being something for people to wear but they are beautiful pieces of art as well as amazing sources of inspiration to other secondary designers who want to find geometric ideas. Without the existence of geometry, the empire of Yohji Yamamoto will not be so marvelous.

  Sources

TOP 25 QUOTES BY YOHJI YAMAMOTO | A-Z Quotes. (2016). A-Z Quotes. Retrieved 2 December 2016, from http://www.azquotes.com/author/29493-Yohji_Yamamoto

The indiviDUALITY of DZOJCHEN’s Chelsea Scott-Blackhall | SENATUS Magazine. (2016). SENATUS. Retrieved 4 December 2016, from https://senatus.net/article/individuality-dzojchen-chelsea-scott-blackhall/

Explorer, N. & profile, V. (2016). House of Architects Millinary. Fashiongeometry.blogspot.sg. Retrieved 4 December 2016, from http://fashiongeometry.blogspot.sg/2009/08/house-of-architects-millinary_13.html

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An interview with David Weshthead - the CEO of RSH Ltd Al-Futtaim group of companies for Sports, Fashion and Lifestyle for the APAC region.

A guest speaker which was held by Raffles Institute of Design on 21/11/2016 with Mr. David Westmead - CEO of RSH group (fashion, sports, lifestyle). RSH carries brands like Nike, Adidas, Inditex (Zara, Massimo Dutti), Mark and Spencer,.. many more. The company has stores all around South East Asia, Middle east (Dubai, Abu Dhabi) , Novo shoes (Australia).

David started as a sale person when he was really young. Before that, he served Royal British Navy. And followed by an boring office job. But he felt so bored, depressed and kept asking himself every single day “ Why I am doing this? “

So one day, he decided: “ I’m quitting!!!”. And he started his career from the retail floor as sale associate. And he learnt more than what he expected. He saw so many things: location, traffic, different preferences from different races and nationalities’ reaction, fashion psychology in people, communication, competition of brands. And how all of above factors affect the business of the fashion brands.

Fashion job scopes are normally designers, marketer, merchandiser, buyer, analyst, writer,.. and many more. But he suggested everyone should start from a sale person to see and observe how consumers behave to your particular brand, products, competitors too. Understanding the products and demand is very crucial. 

To every employer, most importances are the passion and the drive. If you have both, you can achieve whatever you want. David’s top tips to fashion graduates: 1. Follow your dream 2. Take time out to think 3. Ask - what do I do for the company, organization? 4. Think big then think bigger- enjoy the journey 5. Hire people who are better than you 6. Take some risks 7. Know who you are 8. Think global, act local

The truth is nobody knows who they will be before they even try. If you have a dream, realize it. Everyone has to start somewhere. If you fail, try again and again. Every failure will eventually teach you something that could master you later. Always ask yourself what is my dream and follow it!

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Will sustainable fashion become the main trend?

Sustainability has been happening not only in fashion but in other industries like packaging, electronic, cosmetics and beauty. Big question is WILL SUSTAINABILITY IN FASHION BECOME THE MAIN TREND?

As a fashion student, I have been taught to comprehend the need to embrace and merge sustainable methods into fashion in order to save the environment and to make the brands more ethical. However, this is still a very small part of the industry and fast fashion is still moving forward very fast. What are the reasons?

People follow new trends, get bored easily

Fashion fashion is likely more easier to sell due to low affordable price.

Environmental issues are not aware enough to spread the message through wide range of audience.

Making money is more important than saving the environment

Designers like Stella McCartney, SVILU, FROWTOW, Freedom to Animals and many others are heading towards green or sustainable fashion. Despite the applause from social media, newspapers, and magazine, they are undeniably good trendsetters to follow. But in term of economics, big names like Inditex and HM are the winners. Mass production and extremely low cost and labour earn them millions of dollar every year. Since the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory which killed over a 1,000 workers, the world fashion industry started to claim their philosophy of sustainable fashion. But has it been really settled or they are just the pass tickets for brands in order to declare innocent and to continue earning more dirty money. 

The truth is sustainable fashion will still struggle to climb on top of the competition. It will still likely be a sub trend alongside with its biggest rival Fast Fashion. 

Sources

How can the fashion industry become more sustainable?. (2016). The Business of Fashion. Retrieved 1 December 2016, from https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/voices/discussions/can-fashion-industry-become-sustainable

Cadwell, A. & Cadwell, A. (2016). 35 Fair Trade & Ethical Clothing Brands Betting Against Fast Fashion. The Good Trade. Retrieved 14 November 2016, from http://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/fair-trade-clothing

Hoff, V. (2016). 7 Eco-Friendly Fashion Labels to Know Now. ELLE. Retrieved 14 November 2016, from http://www.elle.com/fashion/g8913/best-eco-friendly-fashion-brands/?slide=3

Mortimer, C. (2016). 41 charged over deadly Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh. The Independent. Retrieved 3 December 2016, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bangladesh-factory-collapse-41-charged-over-deadly-rana-plaza-tragedy-a6781876.html

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The Danish Girl

Following the great victory of The Theory of Everything, Eddie Redmayne returned as Lili Elbe - the world first transgender woman in The Danish Girl along with the beautiful Swedish actress Alicia Vikander. 

 The story delivers a meaningful and anthropological message of heterosexual relationship and love which broke the conservative and bias ‘law of nature and religion’. Lili Elbe (male born as Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener in 1882 in Denmark) married to Gerda Wegener. They were both successful painters and happily in love as husband and wife. One day after dressing as female model for his wife, Einar realized his feminine side and secretly discovered his deep desire of wanting to be a woman. Gerda slowly found out and the truth broke her heart. Despite the fact that she was deeply upset and disappointed, she supported him in finding ways to embrace his deep down hidden nature. Einar called himself Lili, started to dress like female and had the world first sexual reassignment surgery. She died in 1931 in Germany. 

Besides the beautiful meaning of the plot, the remarkable haute couture fashion plays an important part which helped recreate the whole scenario of 19th century. This was thankful to the dedicate work of two times Academy Award nominee Francisco "Paco" Delgado López - Spanish costume designer. 

The infusion of 1920s avant garde Parisian fashion with the influential style embedment from the most famous designer at time - Paul Poiret ‘s relaxed silhouettes of the shift and flapper dresses. To Add on the theatrical tastes to the visual illustration of characters, Delgado also used Lanvin’s robe de style to give a classy, luxurious but liberated look to Lili. This can be seen pretty much from Coco Chanel. 

There is no doubt that without the help of the talented Delgado, the portrait of fragile, beautiful yet strong Lili Elbe will not be that lively. 

Sources

TRENDIN, T. (2016). The Danish Girl, The Roaring Twenties and Eddie Redmayne's Brilliant Transformation. TRENDInsider | Fashion News and Views. Retrieved 8 December 2016, from http://blog.trendin.com/the-danish-girl-the-roaring-twenties-and-eddie-redmaynes-brilliant-transformation/?utm_source=blog

Kosin, J. (2016). Paco Delgado on Dressing 'The Danish Girl': "We Were All Contained by the Bravery of Lili". Harper's BAZAAR. Retrieved 2 December 2016, from http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a13461/paco-delgado-interview-the-danish-girl-costumes/

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Curriculum Vitae

Biography and Contact information

Full name: Tran Thuy Anh, Cherrie

Date of birth: Jul 9th 1993

Phone number: +65 9368 4469

Email: cherrie9793@gmail.com/tranthuyanh@raffles-marketer.com

Experience

Fashion Marketing Intern at DVF (Diane von Furstenberg)

October 2015 - December 2015 (3 months)

- Working in the internal department/head quarter team to discuss various marketing activities. - Assisting the store management team with various operational tasks such as replenishing the stock levels, assisting with the promotional setup of the store etc.

- Providing event support and customer service.

- Assisting merchandising team to create window and or interior merchandise displays throughout the stores

Featured Designer at MediaCorp Pte Ltd

2015 - 2015 (less than a year)

- Graduation collection was selected and featured on Singapore National Television MediaCorp - Channel 5 singing contest The FINAL ONE season 2.

- Styling and advisiing Charlene Su - singer, the Final One Season 2 Runner-up on performing outfits.

Fashion Intern at Dzojchen

2014 - 2015 (1 year) - Assisting fashion designer/owner on marketing strategies and schedule. - Assisting designer and organizing special events during Singapore Fashion Week 2015, Audi Fashion Week 2014.

- Brand representative to deal with manufacturers in overseas for product development

Merchandiser at LINK (THM) SCIENCES

April 2013 - September 2014 (1 year 6 months) - Assisting the store management team on operational tasks: replenishing the stock levels, the promotional setup of the store.

- Assisting merchandising team to create window and or interior merchandise displays throughout the stores

Beauty Consultant at ORIFLAME COSMETICS

January 2009 - 2010 (1 year)

Education

University of Chester

Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Fashion Marketing and Communication, 2017

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts

Diploma in Fashion Merchandising and Marketing, 2012 - 2015

Skills & Expertise

Fashion Design/ Fashion Photography/ Fashion Writing /Fashion Marketing/ Pattern Making/ Fashion Styling/Sewing/Fashion Illustration

Languages

English/Chinese/Vietnamese

Volunteer Experience

Choir Singer at Apollo Education and Training Vietnam

2005 - Present/Vocal and Choral Performer

Designer Assistant at Audi Fashion Week

2014 - Present/Designer Assistant Model coordinator Fashion show coordinator

Finalist at Language Link Vietnam (LLV)

2010 - Present/Student Singing Competition

Dresser at Fashion Week Digital

2013 - Present/ Assisting designers, models to prepare fashion show.

Designer Assistant at Singapore Fashion Week

2015 - Present

Coastal Cleanup at World Water Council

August 2014 - Present

Volunteer under Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts students team to clean up the banks of Pulau Ubin island, Singapore.

Raise awareness among schoolmates upon environmental pollution and solutions.

Hobbies

Water sports/Travel/Photography/Cooking/Make-up/Psychology research