Pash for Fash

A lot as happened since my last blog post- It almost feels as though I’ve suddenly become a ‘real-life’ adult in the space of a few weeks. It started with a relaxing week away from job-hunting and post-uni blues, and has ended with an official BA hons in Fashion and a new job!

Awooooo

Hoooo!

Yesterday afternoon we all threw on our rather unflattering graduating gowns and pretty much spent the entire day sweating under the sweltering English sun (there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say)… I spent much of the day looking bald, or as my friend so lovingly phrased it “like an upside-down eggcup” (thanks Amy)… Instead of forcing you all to look at a million photos of my boiled egg impersonation, I’ll just share this rare photo of us with the one person who managed to keep us all sane during our final year- our amazing tutor Jane Mills- I’m pretty sure I would have just spent the entire year crying under my desk if it wasn’t for her calming words of wisdom keeping me on track!

But anyway, enough about graduation!

A week or so ago, I got a tumblr message from a girl who’d seen some of my work and who wanted advice on going on to study fashion—I always find it really lovely when people ask for my advice, firstly because I’m still learning myself and it’s usually me crying for help, and secondly because I just feel like I needed to nurture her and guide her through life like an over-protective mother.

The first thing she asked is how/why did I decide to study fashion?

Generally this is quite a hard question to answer because, unlike the majority of my classmates who apparently have “always loved clothes and used to make dresses for their barbies”, I really didn’t care for clothes growing up. Obviously clothes played a huge part in my life, but being a pretty rough and tumble child I was constantly covered in mud and my only experience with barbies were the times I spent drowning them in the bath.

The only early memory I have of anything slightly fashion related was my love of buttons. I spent many a happy day playing with a jar of mixed buttons at my Grandmas- as you can tell I was a really out-going child- apparently I liked the way they felt on my hands, I don’t know. Whether this early experience was in some way related to my future career path, I’m not sure. I doubt it  (I was also obsessed with the wombles, but my chances of becoming a small furry animal are pretty slim, so….)

In fact, I have no idea what lead me to fashion. I remember being nine or ten and carrying about notepads full of little sketches- frilly skirts and chunky heels (apparently my choice of clothes changed a lot from the muddy dungarees I’d adored a few years before), however, after my dramatic “I’m Hannah and I want to be a fashion designer” announcement over breakfast one morning was met with a scoff and a “you can’t do that, it’s too competitive”, I just tried for forget it had ever crossed my mind.

Browsing through fashion blogs run by late teens/early twenties and trying to distinguish ages when other people start to recognise their passion, has proven pretty difficult. As much as I really love some of the content, most I cannot distinguish from one to the other. The last few weeks have left me with a blur of outfit posts and a lot a Topshop… When I could first afford to start buying fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue (which was rare), the thought of ever wearing the type of clothes pictured in them just didn’t cross my mind. It was a completely different world to me, a world full of successful, powerful women with equally powerful wardrobes. My closet filled with charity shops purchases and hand-me-downs didn’t quite compare, but that was okay. To me those clothes didn’t seem real- they were beautiful, yes, but they belonged in a world that I never even dreamed I could ever be a part of.

The idea of 16 year old bloggers with racks of shoes and Prada skirts just completely blows my mind. Part of me wonders if I even knew who Mario and Miuccia Prada were when I was 16…. I still lived in a world in which I was obsessed with Tokyo street style and cut up all my clothes- clearly not much has changed there...

I originally went off to study Fine art. Canterbury was really beautiful and the course was pretty chilled out- I had time to just draw, paint and do whatever the hell I wanted, which was pretty much perfect! Thankfully though, I had some really awful flatmates who made me realise I actually hated living there and really didn’t want to do art, and so on a whim I applied to study fashion at Northampton. I was accepted and switched uni’s at the end of the school year- quite possibly the best rash decision I’ve ever made!

Three years on and I’m still not entirely sure what I want to do, but at least now I know what field I want to do it in! And I guess the next ten years will probably be my most exciting and hard-working, which surprisingly, I'm really looking forward to!

Thinking back to the way I went about choosing a career path back in school, really makes me wish I’d had someone there to give me more advice and guide me through making that decision. It’s such a massive choice to make at such a young age- and who actually knows what they want to do at 17?! I don’t know whether it’s any better four years on, but I felt like I was completely alone in deciding what Universities to apply for and what course I wanted to do.

I think in the end I just browsed a list of uni’s and at random picked a few that I knew had an art course. Probably not the best way to go about it... 

I’d really like to start blogging more about career options within the fashion industry- it’ll probably be an eye-opener for me as well as prospective students- as well as advice on what to do once you’ve actually graduated.

Personally I’ve already gotten pretty sick of the majority of my parent’s generation banging on about the recession and how none of us will ever get jobs- it’s NOT motivating, and even if it is true, please stop raining on our parade! It really doesn’t make people want to start looking for work, trust me.

Internship advice is also really important, as work experience and connections are probably the most crucial elements to finding fashion related work after graduation. Again, the word ‘internship’ has started to make me feel slightly ill, butttt they’re essential and I’ve actually learnt A LOT from interning, so they’re definitely worth it!

And if there’s anything at all fashion or uni related that anyone wants to ask feel free to tweet me at @hannahpodbury  ---believe it or not I ACTUALLY WANT TO HELP! 

H

Hair envy no.1

I've always been envious of mens hair. It always looks so effortless and healthy! (Something I always strived for when mine was ridiculously long and full of split-ends). Eve since having my hair cut I always having people asking me why on earth did I ever decide to shave it all off and I always give the same nonchalant "I dunno, I just got bored one day" (when in actual fact it actually took me seven years to pluck up the courage)... I can pretty much always guarantee the reply I get as well. It's usually a quick glance at my head and then a "oh... well, at least it'll be easier to manage now, and quicker to do in the morning..."

I wish that were true, but somehow it takes me about three times longer to attempt to make it actually lie flat, and it grows so fast I have to get it cut every two weeks. These being two of the many reasons I will pretty much stalk every person who successfully manages short hair because dammit, I wanna know their secret!

This weeks hair envy is Tao. 

Now I'm pretty certain Tao does not achieve such a beautiful head of hair every day by himself, but I'm going to ignore the fact he has an army of hair and makeup artists surrounding him, and pretend that mine could one day look this good..

For now though I will have to make do with this mushroom inspired flop of hair... Please note that this photo was taken after five days of unemployment, little sleep and a lot of caffeine... Coffee cups now come in useful for not only keeping me sane, but also as a prop to cover my face, because, ew. 

I'll also leave you with this by LC9. I'm not gonna lie, I've been really out of the loop regarding anything Kpop related the last few months, mainly due to uni work and having no life. One of the only good things about moving home is that my little sister has been filling me in on a million new groups that have debuted whilst I've been dead to the world.
Usually new groups don't hold such a massive interest for me- there are just too many I can't keep track, but I really liked this one. Mainly helped by the video- usually it's the same dancing in a cube, lots of eyeliner and a load of sparkly jackets- so it's kinda nice to see something slightly different/ a load of men beating the shit out of eachother...
Enjoy

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The beginning of the rest of my life..

So, graduate fashion week is officially over. The long nights spent wrestling with metres of tubular crin and sweating over a boiling bath of dye have finally come to an end! This sounds like it should be a good thing, and I should probably be out celebrating my new-found freedom (I can have a life again)?! but I've found I actually feel the complete opposite. Three years spent throwing myself into something I absolutely love has been incredible, and despite a fair few break-downs over print mistakes and shrunken tubing I can safely say this past year has been incredible! So incredible that the thought of it all being over, having no uni work to do and having to move out of the house I've spent living with my best friends for the past two years is making want to crawl into hole and cry. Buuttt as everyone around me keeps insisting (and what I've also been trying to convince myself), this is just the start and I guess the next few years spent discovering what I want to do with the rest of my life will be pretty damn exciting as well...

It better be.

Anyway, for now I thought I'd share a few more recent images of my work (and a little work in progress)--I'll make another post later this week on my final collection and the gfw catwalk--

Studdioo space 

Initial experimentation with tubular crin

The beginnings of my knitted jumper-- I got rid of my face because it was gross okay..

Inspiration of the week. 31.05.13

A few images that caught my eye during the God knows how long spent browsing random blogs and magazines. Everyday. I have literally nothing else to share with you guys other than this- I HAVE FINALLY COMPLETED MY COLLECTION AND IT'S ALL READY TO BE TRANSPORTED TO GFW THANK THE LORD I CAN SLEEP AGAIN AND I HAVE TWO WHOLE DAYS OF EATING PROPER FOOD AND NOT JUST CHOCOLATE AND BLACK COFFEE. I'm so relieved I could cry...

I don't know how to dress? (Summer edition)

I have literally no idea how to dress for the summer...In fact the thought of the summer really disturbs me. Usually summer dressing only ever occurs for about 7 days of the year over here (much to the annoyance of the majority of the British population), buuut this last weekends unusually warm English weather still threw me a little off guard. The thought of my so-pale-they're-practically-transparent legs made me feel slightly sick and then I remembered I only own black and also HOW RIDICULOUS WOULD I LOOK WEARING A FLORAL SUMMER DRESS?!

Or just even anything remotely girly..

Pretty ridiculous, okay.

So this is what I wore. 

hi vampire legs.

Also, check out the pretty fancy curtain ties I picked up second hand the other day! A cheeky well done to myself for my dissertation results. I've been on a hunt for more over-sized chunky jewellery for a while, so this was pretty perfect. Plus it looks pretty fancy worn swung over the shoulder as well.

Curtain ties-most marvellous place to shop

Black dungaree playsuit- Topshop

Black tee- H&M

Platform Sandals- Red or Dead

Hope you guys have been embracing the sunshine slightly better than I have!

For now I leave you with CL's new MV.. it grows on me the more I listen to it, and she's lookin' hawwt as per usual..

I love spying the rest the of YG family in the majority of their solo MV's.. (and mademoiselle Yulia)..

Lavender

I have come to realise that my wardrobe generally consists of the same few pieces of clothing worn over and over again. An oversized black t-shirt, loose black high-waisted shorts and black platforms sandals. Occasionally I'll throw on a black dressing gown or a kimono, but generally that's about as exciting as it gets.

Sometimes I find myself opening my wardrobe door and just standing there sighing at the contents.I guess it's a similar feeling you get when you repeatedly walk to the fridge and mindlessly stand there expecting to find something other than the empty jar of piccalilli and mouldy cheese (I should really go food shopping)... The sea of black and grey I'm confronted with every morning can be slightly depressing, but at the same time getting dressed in the morning has never been so easy. Plus I'm still wearing items I bought about seven years ago... 

I think this lack of colour in my wardrobe has had an effect on my hair however... I cant wait to try a red and orange effect- not sure resembling a flame will be a particularly good look, but I'm excited anyway!

The beginning of the end.

Another shopping trip with the lovely Michaela Claricoates to spend the rest of our life earnings on fabric. As is typical of us we spent the majority of the day wandering around &Other Stories wishing we hadn't spent all our money on said fabric before going on to treat ourselves to Sushi and dumplings at itsu- Perfect day :)

You can't really tell from the photo but I've finally gotten around to re-dying my hair... Somewhere during the bleaching process the ends of my hair turned a purpley-blue (yey happy accidents)! However I'm still toying with the idea of shaving the whole lot off. Perhaps one day..
For now though I should be doing work seeing as I have THREE DAYS (dear Lord)! left of my degree-- I still can't work out if this is exciting or incredibly depressing! I still feel as though I have so much more to learn and so many more ideas and possibilities left to try... If I could have it my way I'd probably end up staying in education forever.. <3 
I wish...

Transparent.

When it comes to accessories, I'm the type of person who owns an awful lot but only wears the same three pieces every day. Having been brought up with a wardrobe full of hand-me-downs, as soon as I reached my teens and starting buying my own clothes I went crazy for cheap high street fashion -trying to buy as much as I could to veer myself away from anything associated with being second-hand. Draping every item of jewellery I owned over multiple layers of clashing prints and sequins are a definite thing of the past for me (said with a hint of nostalgia). 

Over the past few years though, less has become to mean considerably more to me, and if any of you have ever tried to draw or paint with an armful of bangles you'll know from experience it's an absolute pain in the arse. 

And so, (as dull as it probably sounds), everything I chose to wear nowadays is mostly determined by how comfortable and how practical it is, which is why when it comes to jewellery I usually go for something fairly simple. 

After having realised how little student loan I'd be receiving this year I was given an extra incentive to be even more thrifty with the way I dress and what I buy, and so recently  found objects such as elastic bands, netting from a garlic packet, gardening wire, plastic, foil and most recently duct tape are all things that have found their way into my wardrobe. Wrapping strips of metallic tape round my fingers is perhaps one of the cheapest ways of creating rings that I could think of (unless of course I drew them on, which is another possibility). Granted, it does kind of look like I'm covered in plasters, but I enjoy them nevertheless.

On a side note, please ignore the state of my hands- winter and hours spent washing them free from blue dye hasn't really had a great effect on them... 

..old woman.

DIY and dinogear

Another outfit post- these are becoming more frequent than I imagined...
I was inspired to create this top after a recent blog post by Love Aesthetics, and thought I'd give it a go myself with a basic black top I'd previously bought second-hand, and some left over plastic found under my bed. The contrasts in fabrics were a pain to work with and after a fair amount of unwanted ruching it actually turned out pretty good. I chose to wear it to uni today paired with river island black shorts and lace-up flatform boots from yesstyle.
I also wanted to share my little backpack from Dinogear with you- IT'S SO ADORABLE! Despite it having been designed for a child it's actually surprisingly roomy and I managed to comfortably fit all my essentials for uni in there, and was pleased to discover the bottle holders at the sides- perfect for my flask of coffee :) I absolutely fell in love with the dinosaur print and the 3D eyes are amazing..

Sludge.

Took a few minutes of our lunch break today to appreciate the sudden snowfall. The park  outside our campus always looks so beautiful covered in frost and snow, so it was the perfect backdrop for some classic group photos with my 'siblings'... Oh and I forgot to mention in my last few posts- I finally got my hair cut! I'd let it grow so long it reached my waist and I usually use it as an extra accessory to hide behind, so getting most of it shorn off was a quite a tentative move for me. However, I have to say I'm rather enjoying this new length (I haven't has shorter hair since I was a child, so I kind of feel like the 8 year old self again)...

Thoughts.

There’s something quite nice about listening to something relatively meaningless. I’m the kind of person who questions my existence, the meaning of life and society far too much, and ultimately am usually drawn to music with a deeper meaning than the majority of music played in the charts today. People who write stories about love, life struggles or who constantly question the world around them make me feel slightly less alone in my rather cynical outlook on life…

However, the last few years I have found myself drifting towards a genre that is quite the opposite. Without me really being aware of it, Kpop has come along and barged its way through my rather solid beliefs, and nestled itself firmly and indefinitely in the middle of my life. Korean pop can definitely be described as the complete antithesis to the usual music I enjoy- mostly written and produced by the companies that own the artists (with a few exceptions), it’s pretty much a combination of mass marketed music and beautiful people mushed together- just throw in a load of auto tune and some very well choreographed dance moves and that’s pretty much it.

Oh and I don’t think I mentioned that I don’t speak a word of Korean. In fact the only words I pick up are the odd English “baby”, or "dance", both of which make an appearance in pretty much every song. But perhaps that’s why I love it so much. Admittedly the reason I discovered Kpop was after coming across images of Shinee’s Key a few years back and finding myself absolutely smitten (not much has changed there)… But I have discovered with revelation that I don’t think of anything when I’m listening to it. No questioning my existence, no doubting humanity. Nothing, (Unless of course you count the urge to dance around my room singing into a hairbrush). I’m finding this drastic contrast quite hard to get my head around, being someone who is usually quite against meaningless music. (I draw the line though at anything written by Will.i.am). Just no.

However, I was pleased to read a couple of months ago in December’s Vogue that Canadian musician Grimes (Claire Boucher) openly admits to having set out to just make pop music.

“I feel like the term pop has a bad rap, or is considered lowbrow or something. I don’t know how much I care about authenticity in pop music, especially in mainstream pop, where you’ve got these teams of people doing the thing they’re best at.”

One of the things I respect Grimes for the most however is her refusal to comply with the industries typical (and rather boring) standards of beauty;

“One of the reasons I like playing specifically with pop music is that I want to be able to fit into it enough to challenge the image of the mainstream. At the moment, someone like Beyonce is the image of the mainstream. She’s defining what women are supposed to be. I think if you can flirt with that and change what people expect of you, if you can be empowering by presenting something different to the norm, then you’re doing something great”.

I think the same can be said for fashion. I know that throughout my career I want to aim to keep pushing the boundaries of what society sees as beautiful. In LCF’S recent issue of ‘Pigeons and Peacocks” Rob Phillips (creative director of the school of design technology) gives some really insightful advice to current fashion students;

“Some students arrive at LCF and they have already been seduced by bland fashion imagery that is so heavily one sided that it’s very hard for them to see past that. They think this whitewashed image is where you should be if you’re going to be in this industry, and that to me is rubbish. Society has invented what beauty is and society can challenge it, just as you would challenge politics. Fashion, art, design are no different, they’re there to challenge, to provoke and change the norm. “

As much as I love the fashion industry there are so many areas of it that I just don’t agree with and which I find repulsive, but I’m sure I’ll go into greater detail about that some other time.

I think another reason why I’m a fan of Korean pop is the strong feeling of fun and freedom I get in the way many of them dress, something I don’t see as often as I’d like. I’m not saying everyone should start trying to dress like their favourite idol- far from it, and there are many issues within that industry that I’m don’t agree with (hello plastic surgery), but I digress.

I just think it would be great to see more people experimenting more with the way they dress. It really saddens me to see less and less people being creative with their clothes, and the fact that I know barely anyone who takes pleasure in thrifting or customizing is a shame. I sometimes imagine how exciting it would be if we all tried to outdo each other in how creatively we could dress instead of sticking to the usual rules of fashion, and always too afraid to wear something that might be seen as ‘different’. I love being in a creative environment all day everyday- I couldn’t think of anywhere else I’d rather work, but even here I’m surrounded by a lot of close-mindedness and fear of the ‘abnormal’.  I know there isn’t an awful lot I can do to change the way other people view the world, but I just hope to one day witness the moment we decide to stick by our own views and not feel the need to conform to what is generally seen as ‘normal’…

This probably doesn't make much sense and doesn't really have an awful lot of relevance, but I've experienced a lot of confusion and negativity recently and there's so much flying around my head and I've no idea where to start breaking it all down. I guess this is a start. 

Calpol Barney.

Helen Bullock for Sibling

 I absolutely fell in love with Helen Bullock's illustrations for Sibling's A/W menswear collection, and as her style is fairly similar to my own illustrations I found it pretty relevant..

I haven't posted much these past couple of weeks due to personal reasons, but I'll be up and running again as soon as possible! I have so much to update about my work now that I'm back working in the print room and getting my portfolio ready for Graduate fashion week, so I'll be sure to share it all with you soon!

X

I never change, I simply become more myself.

First of all, my sincere apologies for the lack of posts over the last few weeks- christmas seems to have been a much bigger distraction than I imagined it would..
Secondly, as we will be heading into the year 2013 in approximately three hours, I thought I'd take this opportunity to wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 
Me being a general scrooge, have never really been one for New years (possibly due to my chain of unsuccessful celebrations ), but anyway.. This year I'm pleased to be having a quiet one with my family eating tomato and maple brussels, smoked mash and wild mushroom parcels (which definitely beats a night passed out in my own vomit)!

I don't know about any of you, but this year I won't be making any New years resolutions. I've come to the point where I feel if you want to achieve something, why wait until the beginning of the year? Time seems to just be disappearing so fast at the moment, so waiting until this one moment to fulfil my ambitions just seems like a waste. 
I am however, going to take this moment to think back over the past year, as it's been a pretty incredible one!

I chose the title of this post as it seemed to really sum up the past twelve months spent discovering what is unique about myself, and I've become a lot more comfortable in my sense of style. Most importantly I've come to realise that it's okay to not follow trends or look like a typical "fashion student". 

My resilience in the way I dress as well as my passion for quality over quantity has grown to the point where I feel quite uncomfortable purchasing anything new from the high street, (that and the extensive research I've taken for my dissertation on sustainability)... I've also learnt that by dressing in a much more paired down way not only saves a hell of a lot of wardrobe space, but leaves me free to experiment more with my makeup-something I've longed to do for years!

I'm expecting my purchasing habits to not only continue, but actually improve over the next year as I carry on learning as much as I can about about the importance of slow fashion. Having a wardrobe free of cheap high street sale finds I've never worn is quite thrilling, and has (surprisingly) actually enabled me to become more experimental in what I wear. 
I probably sound like a boring old fart right now, but don't get me wrong. I still weep over beautiful prints, I just choose to wear them in a more paired down way- a flash of unexpected colour rather than all over clash. Besides, I'm more interested in the idea of investment rather than purchasing just to throw away...
All I can say is, I'm very much looking forward to another year charity shopping, DIY and throwing myself into my work, and I hope 2013 is a fantastic year for you all!!

See you next year!
Hannah

Flail.

As some of you may already know, Bigbang played in London for the first time last weekend, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been there to witness it. To be quite honest the few weeks running up to it I tried not to think about it that much--too much work and it hadn't really sunk in that I was going-- In fact it wasn't until they actually walked on stage that it felt real and I finally realised where I was...

I'm not going to go into much detail about it as I don't think I can find the words to describe just how amazing they were (and I'm not a good writer at the best of times)

And in all honesty I think I'm still on a bit of a comedown, so instead I'll just leave you with a few photos. 

I took mostly videos whilst I was there (which I don't plan on ever sharing because they all include me screaming like an idiot), so please enjoy me and Michaela and the sea of VIPS

Much love

Hannah

I've been meaning to share my relatively new pale blue babydoll (bought for a whopping £3.50) but hadn't had the chance to photograph myself in it yet, so here you go... Quite possibly the cutest thing I own...

Ridiculously blurry crowd due to my dancing, but I thought it looked pretty...