Work Experience at Debenhams - The Introduction

Monday's are said to always be manic in the lingerie department of Debenhams so I was a little apprehensive as I made my way to the head office just behind the Oxford Street Debenhams store in London. I was greeted by a friendly junior buyer who took me upstairs straight away to the office where I would be spending the next two weeks.

The atmosphere was nothing like the competitive 'Devil Wears Prada' image that I had expected of a fashion buying department, there seemed to be a sense of camaraderie that came from having relatively small teams in a large open space environment. Another thing that surprised me from first impressions was the separation of the different elements of the lingerie team. Basic Briefs and Basic Bras, although the two teams are buying items are designed to be paired up, there was not as much communication as I was expecting. Bras are bought after the basic briefs have been decided upon. This only applied to the basic black, white and nude and not to the fancy lingerie collections, but I still always assumed that even basic briefs and bras would go hand in hand.

I was introduced to the 'Basic Briefs and Hosiery' team which is where I would be spending the next two weeks and was given the rest of the day to make myself familiar with the product. Although from the outside this seemed quite simple, as soon as I began I realised there was much more to it than I was first expecting. From the start I had to be able to recognise the different shape of brief at a glance, and be able to register it with it's colour code that it is assigned when the product reaches the shop floor. While obviously it is easy to see the difference between a Thong and a Full Brief, I became a little confused with the number of categories: Short, Bikini, Thong, Brazilian, High Leg, Low Rise Short, Full Brief and Novelty. The colour code referred to the information label it would eventually be clipped with and where it would be on the shop floor, as well as how many would be purchased in which sizes, and which Debenham's consumer is likely to purchase which particular shape. Phew!

It didn't end there though, after learning about the different shapes, there was also the different fabrics and styles. All of these were given a different name, for example the full lace 'Isabella'. Isabella refers to the fabric only, so there could be an Isabella thong, or an Isabella high leg, both obviously look completely different.

The last point that I was instructed to become familiar with was the AW colour palette. Luckily for me, the basic colour palette is mostly made up of black, white and nude so there were only a few colours that I had to learn, a midnight blue, an ice cap grey and a hot pink.

I was thrown into the deep end and asked to begin filing the samples away in a huge walk in wardrobe style cupboard full of buying samples. It took a while, but eventually found that I could recognise each of the styles by sight, a skill that would be essential for the rest of my time in the department.