Officially a Stylist.

It's hard to believe that I started this year in Bournemouth, sat behind a desk of a job that just wasn't me.... and as I enter 2012.. I live in London, finally doing something I love. 

After 3 months of Mood boards, assignments, personal shopping, museum exhibitions, photo shoots, blog entries, articles, and one fabulous runway show - I can officially call myself a stylist.

This past Wednesday was my last day on the course. I have massive mixed emotions about this. On one hand I am happy to be qualified as it mean I can finally get out into the industry and start to make a name for myself.. and on another hand I have been having so much fun the past 12 weeks - I can't imagine it ending.  From the other girls on the course to my lecturers, I met some amazing people.... we became like a little fashion family and it's sad to think I won't be guaranteed to see them once a week.

Our last class was pretty chilled out - we started by going over everyones portfolios. Everyone laid their work out on a tabel and we got a chance to see everyones final images from our photo shoots. Pretty amazing to see how creative some of the girls are... and how much they have grown from their first to their last image... and I was really happy with mine in the end.  I've got 4 really strong images to start with. 

The rest of the morning we spent having final classes with our guest lecturers from over the past few months. They gave us contacts, advice, and final tips about making it in this industry and then after lunch, it was time for our final individual assessments. 

Although I pretty much knew what my final grade would be... I was still a bit nervous for my one on one. However as soon I walked in the room that all ended, I had become so close with both my lecturers Wendy & Jim - that it was just like any other conversation. 

My assessment could not have gone any better. It was essentially a recap of all my marks and feedback on how I did on all of the assignments and live jobs (our photo shoots, runways show etc..) through the course and they said some really lovely things about me. I got quite emotional half way through and like the massive geek that I am started crying. I don't know why... perhaps it was overwhelming hearing someone say all those nice things combined with the come down from all the hard work and stress. Regardless I cried - lame.  But they seemed to think it was endearing... and nice to see how much I loved the course - so I guess not so lame in the end.

They also gave me feedback on which area of styling I would be best suited to... my strongest areas (according to them...) seem to be Fashion Writing, Personal Styling, and Fashion Show Styling......  any of which I would be happy to do for a living.  But at this stage I still don't know what area I'd like to stick to. I'll probably dabble in a bit of everything... film, editorial, live shows etc.. till I find my niche and run with it.  I really enjoy it all - so it is hard to pick just one.

we said our goodbyes and I went to wait for the rest of the girls while they had their one and one assessments...... (I think I scared them a bit as when I came out I cried a bit again haha). 

At the end of the day my fellow fashion homies and I went for a celebratory dinner - and drinks to enjoy our new found titles in the industry..... 

But as sad as it may be that the course has ended, I know that things are only just beginning. The college has an amazing relationship with the alumni students, always staying in contacts, offering internships and providing job opportunities..... so in the end it isn't really goodbye, more of a see ya later.....

So now it is up to me - to get out there, network, and make a name for myself. Wendy's final advice to me was 'Be patient because it won't happen over night, but it will happen for you'. 

Watch this space :)

My Diploma