To be accepted as an intern in any job area is hard but to get an internship in the fashion world is even harder!
Before I begin, if you are seriously wanting an internship in the fashion world, then be prepared you will gain anxiety, stress overload, panics and endless mind arguments when you have just sent off your first email and waited many weeks for a response. But my days were always great fun in these moments! This proves how bad you want it.
Designers get CV’s emailed to them everyday, knowing that each one is going to look roughly the same as the next, so think outside the box! Don’t just write your skills such as, photoshop, illustrator and indesign in a boring line, make it personal and fun. Your CV isn’t just a summary of your work experience; it’s a key portfolio piece that demonstrates your creative style, as well as your typographic, layout, and illustrational skills.
From my experience, I sent out emails way before I had finished my studies, so that I wasn’t waiting at home doing nothing with my time. I was chopping and changing my CV all the time to different designers and emailing about 50 designers a week. I was waiting weeks on end to hear back and my anxiety was taking over causing me to panic everyday that they didn’t receive my email. I would always blast their inbox with my CV to all email addresses that were linked to them. Sometimes I guessed at their emails and lo and behold this worked! This started my first real fashion intern experience. OOOMMMMGGGGG!
Camilla Elphick
Camilla Elphick is an awesome up-and-coming Shoe Designer at 25 years old and the only Designer that responded to me after 3 weeks of waiting. I thought this was a sign and that this was my shot to prove myself.
I began interning for Camilla in April 2015 in London. There were only two people in her team, Camilla, herself and Geraldine the Designer Assistant. I loved the fact that it was only the three of us as I was able to take on all the tasks she presented me with, showing her my capability. Camilla wanted me to work on marketing, social media and trend research. She was always extremely kind and chilled everyday, even when things were being sorted at the very last minute. My typical day began playing with her cute doggies and then cracking on with posting new updates on all social media platforms whilst sorting out all the sample books into the correct season, boxing up orders and sending them, and also researching inspiration for the new season trend. I loved it.
I was in heaven knowing that I was in her office everyday and having new responsibilities assigned to me, as this makes you feel they trust you and believe you can get the job done well. Camilla also asked me to go to a Fashion event hosted by Avenue32 where her collection was on display with many other fashion and shoe designers. I had the time of my life at the event, as I was able to try everything on, talk to designers that were there and send her pictures of her display so that she could see how it was presented.
We even spotted a couple of celebs already wearing Camilla’s AW15 shoes at glamorous events where I posted them on social media.
The beaut Laura Whitmore and Ella Eyre.
At the time, we were busy preparing a Trunk Show, where she was displaying her AW15 collection for press, buyers, family and friends. This took place in Tramp nightclub in London where we all contributed on how to make the atmosphere fun. We had shoe shaped cookies, AW15 shoes displayed on food trays and DJS making the event very lively.
By the time the Trunk Show was upon us, a month had flown by and my time interning had come to an end 😦 This was because I had decided way in advance that I was going to travel round India for 2 months as it is the place I had always said I will visit once I had completed my studies. (Check out my travel page on India).
Before I left Camilla in tears pretty much, she had offered for me to come back to her in September to intern over London Fashion Week! This was where I had hit the jack pot knowing I would be visiting India with also another internship lined up after I got back 🙂
September 2015
III’MMMMM BACKKKK!!! FASHION WEEK HERE WE COOMMEEE!!!!
My Indian travels had been and gone – insane to say the least! Now I was back, ready to experience the intern life around London Fashion Week!
Straight into it, September 1st, preparing lunch boxes as gifts to hand deliver to all press HQ with one more intern, Serena. We became great friends and still are to this day. Camilla’s SS16 was all about her PEZ Collection which had sparked a major craze within the fashion world! We stuck Pez stickers onto every lunch box and filled them with Pez sweets and dispensers that suited all the magazine girls and guys we were sending them too. Inside was an invitation to Camilla’s Preview Cocktail Party: Going Places, SS16 Pez Collection.
Serena and I charged round London handing the invitations to all the excited girls that were invited, going crazy over the Pez lunch boxes. Hand delivering all the invitations took 4 days going all over London starting from early morning and finishing late evening exhausted. Worth it though.
The party was upon us for London Fashion Week and it was all go with organising catering, drinks, DJ, photographers, last minute invites and we had yet to complete the SS16 photo shoot a week before party! Intern madness had kicked in.
Keeping up with posting to social media Alexa Chung and Ellie Bamber were spotted taking in the glory wearing Camilla Elphick’s SS16 Collection.
The day before the photo shoot, I was sent off to find 3 huge exotic plants to inkeeping with the Tropical SS16 Trend. As Camilla was away in Italy for the day, everything was down to me, deciding the right ones and getting them to the shoot for 6am! You just got to take this on full charge and use your vision on how a Tropical set should look.
The shoot took place at Sketch Restaurant on Conduit Street, where I arrived at 6am, plants intact meeting everyone, Camilla, Photographer, Makeup artist, Model, and Wardrobe. Photo shoot was underway as we all pulled in helping set up, dressing the model and of course digging into the best part about being at a 6am shoot, the Breakfast! Sketch’s Breakfast!
Success at the shoot and blasting Camilla’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram during the last week to her LFW event with upcoming SS16 Preview Party preparations, we were busy bee’s preparing her LFW Pop Up event. The whole event was plastered with tropical plants, tropical colours, tropical sweets, food, drinks, the whole tropical lot! 30 minutes prior to the event beginning and our guests arriving, we rushed to choose our outfits for the event, put our makeup on and hurry back to the venue to greet everyone. Press, presenters, magazines, PR, family and friends practically arrived right at the beginning! So much for begin fashionably late ahah! First to arrive and last to leave always 🙂
Party Party Party
My two friends helped being Pez Girls with me where we worked the room, showing off the Pez Collection to guests and taking them through Camilla’s journey that inspired her to create a Pez Collection in Tropical SS16 trend.
I was fortunate enough to talk to so many wonderful guests and have photos with them such as Laura Whitmore! She is such a rockstar. I chatted away to E news, Casting agents, Vogue Magazine, Elle Magazine and so many more it was incredible! A massive whirlwind.
Laura Whitmore was rocking it on the DJ set getting the guests pumped with Camilla working the crowd sipping on their dreamy tropical cocktails. However, a party is never a party until a guest in fancy dress rocks up with her parrot, turning the whole night into a tropical zoo, it was brilliant! The whole event caught the attention of all photographers making it a huge banging evening.
A full weekend was upon us… London Fashion Week was manic crazy in Soho. Serena and I strutted our stuff – what did I just say! Into London Fashion Week, outfits from the Photo Shoot, inviting all bloggers, press, fashionable public with also a few actors and actresses passing by 🙂 We were known as the Pez Girls walking around LFW handing out sweets and invites, with our pictures being taken every 5 seconds. Photographers went mad for our Pez Shoes and everyone asked who we were and where we were from.
The whole of London Fashion Week was a surreal blur. One of the best weeks of my life being in that atmosphere and surrounded by great inspiring people.
To anyone passionate about getting into fashion and starting out as an intern, be determined, show willing, share ideas, opinions, research and always aim high. Never listen to anyone that says it’s so competitive and try something else, you are just opening up a door for someone else to take your opportunity.
Dream big Kiddies 🙂
Madness in my Palace 
Great piece and congrats on your experience. Keep inspiring! X InternGirls.Wordpress.com
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