In this episode we talk about the following topics and more:
- A short introduction into fashion
- Why fashion is important
- How important are qualifications within the industry
- What would you recommend studying?
- What do the different courses cover?
- Working at Vogue
- How important is what you wear within the fashion industry
- Is copying others fashion bad?
- Standing out vs doing your time
- Is it always important to say what you think
- What’s it like being a fashion magazine editor
- What’s the point of fashion shows?
- Why do the clothes worn at shows look so crazy?
- Is all publicity, good publicity?
- How has the industry changed
- The rise and power of influencers
- The Fashion Brand lifecycle
- How hard it is to create a brand and the disconnect between learning and practising
- Can you teach yourself to be a harder worker
- The power of self belief and limiting beliefs
- Starting her own fashion brand
- What are the different industries within fashion
- How to take an idea and turn it into a product
- How much does starting a fashion brand cost?
- Brand marketing
- The future for the industry
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Bio: My Guest today is Sarah Walter. While studying a degree in Fashion Communications and Promotion at St Martin’s School of Art in London and on placement at Vogue Magazine, Sarah was offered a job as a fashion assistant at the company. She took the job deciding to drop the degree and focus on working within the industry. After two years of hard work, she was promoted to the position of Accessories Editor - responsible for 10 pages a month. Next Sarah moved to Africa for a few years and after she returned she took the position of Fashion Director at Marie Claire, responsible for 130 pages. After 7 years, Sarah decided she wanted to leave the journalism side and move into the business side of the industry, joining New Look as the head of Fashion Communications. 6 years later Sarah moved to River Island as the Director of Fashion Communications. After 2 years, she started style-passport her online holiday fashion and beauty brand, which featured in articles in Vogue and many other major publications. She ran the company for two years until she took up her most recent role as Chief Creative Officer at Metail, a tech fashion company, in 2013. The company sold in 2019 and since then Sarah has been focusing on the next chapter of her life.