Day 5 - Shopping for a Living

The day started slowly with me writing up the notes on yesterdays sign off meeting. I had made an illegible mess in my notebook and was too embarrassed to present it to my supervisor. I then had to dismantle the presentation room and file all the briefs back to where I had got them from in the first place. It was really important to keep the samples in the right place and even in the correct order as they are constantly needed to be looked at and compared with other styles.

After this task has been completed I sat in on a meeting regarding the new packaging of the novelty Christmas sock packs. Debenhams are in the process currently of creating and photographing products for the Christmas brochure and every department has products that are going to featured in this brochure. Photographs are taken of the samples, which are mocked up with real packaging, and then adjusted on the computer if there are going to be any changes made to the real product. For example, one knitted Christmas pom pom slipper sock will have red detailing around the top, but the sample has blue detailing. The photograph needs to be taken now so I mocked up the sock with the correct packaging and entered details of what needed to be changed once the photograph had been taken.

There were 7 pairs of socks and 3 sock packs that needed mocking up with the correct packaging. I was given the nets of the socks to assemble and then place the socks neatly into the packaging as well as labelling it with price. It was an interesting task and I enjoyed the creative aspect of the job.

In the afternoon, I was taken out of the office with another trainee assistant buyer, to shop around the high street to see what the competitors were doing in terms of the point of sale for briefs and hosiery. The TAB I was with was working in the fuller bust bra department, but took me round to look at briefs and hosiery, assisting me with what to write and what to photograph. We went into Marks and Spencer which is the biggest competitor to Debenhams and noticed that they had just released a new colour of brief and bra. We also entered Accessorize to see the novelty one off briefs that had been mentioned in the review, taking notes on style, colour and price point. Next, we headed over to Primark and found a selection of Alice and Wonderland themed briefs. I photographed a lot and my supervisor was really pleased with this find and wanted to know more after I presented the changes back to her at the end of the day.

I could definitely get used to going shopping for a living.

Day 4 - New Season Sign Off

I was thrown in at the deep end straight away again today and sat in on a review of sales from SS10 as well as predictions for AW10 and suggestions for future products from SS11. I watched the junior buyers who had been supervising me so far, present their facts and figures to the head of buying of the entire department. I could feel the pressure, even though I wasn't going to have to be doing any talking.

I was given a spreadsheet with all the data on it and was listening to what Jo was presenting, trying to match up the data on the spreadsheet, whilst at the same time, senior buyer Kirsty had asked me to take down notes for her.

The figures were extremely detailed, showing everything you would possibly want to know about each individual product. There were a number of different tables showing the same information but split up in a slightly different way, meaning I could use one table to find out which shape of knicker had been the best selling, and another table would show me which Debenham's stores had sold the most of a different type of brief.

The best selling brief had been the white all over lace 'Isabella' thong for SS10 and invisible and shape wear briefs had also performed better than predicted. Disappointingly, the bikini shape was the worst selling shape and so the team have decided to discontinue this shape for the following season, apart from in novelty styles.

The England world cup novelty shorts had been a huge success and had topped the weekly best sellers for weeks prior to the start of the world cup, with sales increasing prior to England matches.

For future products coming up to AW10, Jo presented my mood board that I had created yesterday, showing the inventory of all briefs that would be ready for AW10, as well as a second board, showing ideas for SS11 collection.

The competitors were mentioned, with particular note to M&S's 5 per pack of briefs which have huge variety in terms of style and colours. Another competitor who the trainee assistant buyers were told to watch for during comparison shopping was Accessorize, who's single decorative briefs collection has grown to now become a threat, including novelty styles with charms and shapes and trims. The meeting was absolutely fascinating, and overall went really well. The head of buying was pleased with ideas and only had a few minor disagreements.

Day 3 - Fitting Approvals

The morning started with me attending a final fit session for the few briefs that haven't been approved with a gold seal for mass production. I was in a small room with a fit model who fits the sample size of 34B and size 12. She was dressed in a robe and was waiting behind a curtain.

I was given a list of styles to fetch from the walk in cupboard that I had organized a few days ago. Now that I had a pretty good knowledge of the product, it was easy to find the ones that I had been asked for.

The main item in question had been a novelty short with Snoopy on. The reason that this item hadn't gone into mass production yet was because the small pocket on the first sample had not been in the right place and the snoopy logo on the front had been far too low down, meaning that the bottom of the character had been lost in the crotch area. The new sample was compared to the previous sample and the difference was instantly noticeable, the new sample was approved with a gold tag and comments sent to the supplier to indicate this item was ready to be mass produced and sent for good allocation.

There were a few other items that had previously had a few fitting and shape issues and most of them were approved as well. There was a problem with a high leg brief where the front area of the crotch was much too wide, meaning the garment technician had to make alterations herself. I was then instructed to send the altered sample back to the supplier.

It was an interesting session and I was impressed at the level of detail and attention that goes into the design of each brief. Tiny details or imperfections in the product resulted in a rejection and a return to square one for the manufacturers.

In the afternoon I sat in on a meeting with Irish hosiery supplier Marie Claire. The head designer from the Irish company arrived with a suitcase full of tights that they predicted would be successful for AW10. The head buyer and merchandiser went through the products and made decisions as to which ones would make their way to Debenhams stores. It was an interesting process, and I felt privileged to be able to see products at the beginning of the process, before anybody else.

One of the main issues that was brought up in the meeting with Marie Claire was the new 'cellulite reducing' tights. Apparently, there has been back lash about this sort of product with media coverage claiming that the technology simply doesn't work. The buyers decided not to stock this type of tight until there had been enough clinical trials and positive feedback to make it a viable purchase.

The last part of the day allowed me to be much more creative than I had been previously. Tomorrow is an important sign off day for the approval of all designs for SS11 to go forward into the next stage of production. The junior buyers in my team would present their best and worse sellers to the head buyer in lingerie as well as prototypes for SS11 collections.

I was in charge of organizing the rails and decorating to the room with the first initial products of SS11. Each product had to look like it would in store so I had to tag them and label them and put them on a hanger in order for them to appear professional. The rail of best and worse sellers also had to be organized in order of when the junior buyer would be talking about them, with all the data required stuck on the back of each brief. It was a mammoth task and took a long while to get everything organized and in the right place. Each style was presented in all the colours that it would be available in and any missing prototypes were replaced with life sized CAD drawings that I had to collect from the design department.

As well as this, I had to design a board showing all the products in a creative and interesting way. It was the first chance I had got to show my design skills and I ended up having a lot of fun in creating an interesting and eye catching display.

Day 2 - Critical Path

For my work in the afternoon, I was back on the second floor of head office, surrounded by paperwork that had been thrust onto my desk along with a brief explanation of what I had to do.

My supervisor, Jo, had printed out a spreadsheet from excel, in the tiniest writing I have ever seen. Some columns were highlighted and some rows were marked off which made the whole thing seem extremely daunting.

She explained to me about the critical path, a buying term that showed which stage a particular product was at, in terms of production. There are many stages that the briefs have to go through before they make it out onto the shop floor.

For example, once the briefs have been designed and the colour palette has been decided upon, all of which takes place in the design department on the other side of the corridor. Different components of the briefs are dyed by the suppliers to try and match the colour that the designers have come up with. The suppliers are usually based in the far east so little pieces of dyed lace are shipped from China to the UK where the buying department check to see if the colour matches. If so, the next stage can start, if not, the sample is sent back to try again.

This dip dye process is near the beginning of the critical path, any time that a buyer approves a dye, the date is marked on the spreadsheet so that the rest of the team can tell at a glance, which stage the product is at.

It seemed daunting to start with; a spreadsheet filled with dates and terms and abbreviations that I didn't understand but after a full afternoon of filling in missing dates and flagging up inconsistencies, I was finally confident in reading the data without any supervision. I could now tell at a glance, that most of the briefs for AW10 had been approved for mass production, that most briefs for SS11 had been approved for colour, and when I was asked specific information on a specific brief style or colour, I knew how to use the spreadsheet to find out almost instantly.

Day 2 - Learning The Brand

My first task today was to be sent to an induction meeting for all the new starters at Debenhams. I knew what the meeting would be like before I even walked in through the door; the typical health and safety, captain obvious question and answer session, followed by a thrilling slide show presentation to show you who's in charge, and who to be the most polite to.

For the most part I was right, it started with a slide show, but there was far more information to learn about the Debenhams company than I had really thought about.

The history of the Debenhams department store is traced all the way back to 1778! I was obviously aware that Debenhams is a British heritage company but had no idea that the history went quite so far back.

The company grew in size and prestige, with rich families paying a fortune to have they're children trained by the company through an apprenticeship. Right through the 1900s, the store grew as part of different groups and eventually became independent in 1997, the same year the first store opened in the Middle East. Today there are 153 stores across the UK and Ireland and 48 international stores in 17 different countries!

I learnt all this information in the first few minutes of the slide show, when I had that horrible feeling that I really should have done some more research into the company before starting my work experience.

I learned about the different sectors of the company, and what their roles are, understanding as well that they vary between clothing, home and food etc and I also gained an insight into the many different types of 'target' customer that shops at Debenhams. How each department has to cater to such a wide range of people, and each in house brand is as well meeting a specific need to a specific type of customer.

For my upcoming work in the lingerie department, I paid special attention to the different sorts of customers that would need to be targeted in this single department. My mind flew back to the typical arrangement of the Debenhams lingerie department and I hoped that it would start to make sense to me soon.

Feeling confident that I had learned a lot in a short amount of time, I was ready to leave the brief meeting, until a 'fun and light hearted' quiz was dropped on my lap. Now i really had to show that I had been paying attention.

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.

Valentino - Past, Present and Future Exhibition

Brisbane, Australia

During travels in Australia this summer, I was lucky enough to find myself at the Valentino Retrospective exhibition in Brisbane's gallery of modern art in Queensland, Australia: A three room exhibition, filled to the brim with Valentino's most iconic designs, original drawings, videos and interviews.

Valentino Garavani, since the first collection in 1959 (ibis) to the final collection in January 2008, has constantly created elegant clothes that give the wearer an unrivalled feeling of grace and allure. As an apprentice during the 1950s, Valentino was learning his trade during the golden era of French couture and in today's contemporary world of ever changing fashion, Valentino was consistent with his unchanging elegant style. Perhaps the trademark of the brilliant designer is the 'Valentino red'; a passionate yet elegant colour that is constantly reused and restyled throughout the decades of Valentino's career.

Inspiration

Valentino combines craftsmanship with a sense for beautiful styling to create highly intricate and delicate pieces of couture fashion. Recurring themes throughout his career are the use of animal prints which were constantly rejuvenated and revived, as well as floral designs which are used again and again. The flower motif is sometimes printed, encrusted, stylised, shaped, painted or embroidered; sometimes as a central focal point, sometimes as a pattern but nevertheless the effect is always one of style and grace.

During the 1960s, Valentino struck up a friendship with Jacquie O, designing and presenting for her. He is responsible for the design of some of her most iconic dresses, including her wedding gown and evening gowns to the opening ceremonies of important cultural events. Jacquie O was not his only muse, throughout the collection at the exhibition, there were dresses designed for the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Julia Roberts and Vivien Leigh, the grace and elan of these women is reflected in his designs.

Valentino - "I have always considered my work as one of a writer. Over the years I wrote only one story, the one of my style, where each collection represents a single chapter" In the hands of new creative directors, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, the story continues.

The Top Pieces

Spring/Summer 1959

Model 79

'Fiesta'

Hurel cocktail dress with tulle rose appliqué. In the iconic Valentino red. This dress was later featured in the 2002 presentation in Rome, in which 40 'Valentino Red' gowns were shown, representing Valentino's 40 years of creativity.

1968 The White Collection

At a time when other designers were obsessed with bright and vibrant colours, Valentino produced the White Collection. A collection that consisted of the wedding dress Jacquie Kennedy chose for her wedding to Aristotle Onassis.

Autumn/Winter 09/10

Look 33

Oiseaux de Nuit

Tattoo lace dress in Chantilly lace, feathers and lave. This dress marks the continuing of the Valentino story, under the new creative direction, but still remaining true to the original style intentions that began in 1959

Spring/Summer 1968

Coral was a recurring theme throughout Valentino's career. Occurring time and time again as an accented colour for accessories and shoes. In this particular piece from 1968, the coral is shown in the form of a hand painted coral branch motif that runs the entire length of the silk evening gown.

The exhibition was absolutely fantastic and really increased my love of the life and work of Valentino.