Photoshoot

The first project I assisted on was a test shoot with 3 of LMP’s new models – Natalie, Abigail and Tiffany. Paul had arranged for his brother Mark , who is a photographer to shoot the girls at a studio in the basement of the My Boutique shop in Bournemouth. In the week leading up to the shoot Paul and I had to arrange a hairdresser, make-up artist, clothes, shoes and the models. We had no budget, so the whole shoot had to be completely free! Paul already had a contact at the new hair salon in Bournemouth – Rage Hair, and so the girls were able to get their hair done for free – in exchange for the salon having usage on the images. We then arranged for the girls to go down to House of Fraser and have their make-up done by the girls on the make-up counters – also for free. LMP have previously worked with House Of Fraser on a fashion show, and so we were able to borrow some clothes from their new range for the day. I work for New Look at the weekends and so with my staff ID card I was able to borrow the shoes we needed for the shoot. So by pulling in lots of favours we manged to do the entire photo shoot for nothing!

The day of the shoot involved a lot of running around. I was the only one who could drive and so I was driving the girls from hair to make-up and then on to the studio. My self and Paul styled and directed the shoot through-out the day, helping the girls to figure out various positions and poses. The girls were excellent, they are all very younge and brand new to modelling but they picked it up straight away and the images came out fantastic.

Bournemouth Fashion Weekend

My main duties over the first month working at LMP revolved around the organisation of Bournemouth Fashion Weekend. BFW was a 2-day event held in Bournemouth town square on the weekend of the 25^th and 26^th July. Five fashion shows were presented on a catwalk in the middle of the town centre over the weekend. In between shows, hair and makeup demonstrations were showcased on the stage and the square played host to a number of local business who all had a tent around the catwalk providing them with a town centre presences for the whole weekend offering them a perfect PR and advertising slot.

One of my main duties was communicating and organising the models throughout the week leading up to the event. This involved phoning and emailing them to find out their availability for the varies appointments, consultations and fittings they needed to attend before the shows. All the models had to be booked in for hair consultations at Rage hair salon a week before the event so that their hair could be cut and/or dyed if need be. This also allowed the hairstylists to work out and experiment with varies ideas for hairstyles they wanted on the catwalk. All models had to attend dress fittings at Fab Frocks and Beales in order to ensure that the clothes picked for them were the correct size.

On the day of the shows my job was to be the backstage caller. This involved wearing a headset and communicating between Kellyanne, who was outside watching the show and instructing me when to send the models out and Paul organising the models backstage, making sure they were dressed and sent out as quick as possible.

Having got to know all the models quite well over the weeks id worked at LMP made the job a whole lot easier. Knowing which models I had ready to send out was essential so that Kellyanne knew the formation the models needed to come out in. Working backstage and doing the job of caller was quite stressful! Because we only had 10 models – 6 girls and 4 boys, it meant that the girls had back-to-back scenes. So as the last model was coming off she was due back on the catwalk almost straight away. This meant that me and Kellyanne had to re-arrange the choreography as the scenes were developing, because if a model was late, or had been dressed in the wrong outfit – which unfortunately happened on the first show, it meant she missed her slot and so the choreography had to change in order to ensure that although we knew there had been a mistake – the audience didn’t!

the boys in Pauls collection!

As well as the high street store collections from Beales, My Boutique, Costal Creatives and Simons Leather, Fashion Enter were also showcasing some of their new designers in the show. Many of the Fashion Enter designers collections were quite complex designs and so they were hard to get on or hard to figure out how to get on! And so it was essential that the team of dressers knew the collections being shown, inside out. The Fashion Enter collections only arrived the morning of the show and so Annie, who was heading up the dressers team, and myself, spent the morning before the first show fitting the models for the fashion enter collections, pinning and stitching the dressers to fit them and working out how exactly some of the pieces went on. We then had to relay all of this to the dressers in order to ensure everyone knew what they were doing.

In between shows the LMP team - Kelly, Paul, Annie and myself and some of our models went out into Bournemouth scouting for new faces. Alongside the fashion shows LMP were also running a model search competition over the fashion weekend. The winner was to receive a 12month contract with LMP Models as well as the chance to walk in the final show on the Saturday and a whole bunch of other goodies. The Scouting was lots of fun and gave us all a chance to chill out in-between the shows.

Overall the Bournemouth Fashion Weekend was a great success, and we received some fantastic feedback for LMP’s role in the whole event.

Networking

I ended up spending 4 months at LMP and over that time I met so many people within the fashion/modelling industry. LMP have a very close working relationship with the Animal clothing brand and now supply them with models for their campaign shoots. Natalie one of the models on the shoot me and Paul did, is now the face of Animals A/W ‘09 footwear campaign due to be showcased on posters, billboards and buses all around the country! I met several people from Animal including Jo Gregory who is the marketing and PR executive at Animal and it was fascinating to see how she works, and the variety of work and jobs she has to organise on a day-to-day basis.

I also worked quite closely with the guys from Big Bear/Fonix Events. Bournemouth Fashion Weekend was organised – as far as staging, sound, lighting, and sponsorship by Big Bear/Fonix Events. The Clothing, styling and obviously model side was organised by us at LMP Models. And so this meant that a lot of the week leading up to the event was spent communicating with Big Bear/Fonix to make sure that the whole thing came together in time for the shows. LMP always work with Big Bear/Fonix (Fonix being the technical side of the business and big bear being the event organising side) when they produce shows, so they have a great working relationship that benefits both businesses.

I was also able to meet various photographers, stylists, hair and make-up teams and it was fantastic to be apart of it all. The highlight, in regards to the people I met, was meeting and working with the various models. As LMP Is only a very new boutique size agency, many of the models are first time models, who all seem to be so grateful and thankful that they have been given the opportunity to work in the modelling industry. Everyone gets along fantastic and all of the models are extremely polite, professional and fantastic to work with. Hopefully as the agency expands over these next few years these qualities will stay with the team at LMP Models because it most certainly makes them stand out!

My Expectations

My work placement with LMP far out weighed what I had been expecting to gain from a work placement. To be honest I thought I would be doing really boring office admin jobs, I thought id feel like I was in the way and a bit of a burden but working with the LMP team was the total opposite. I was involved in everything, there was nothing which was kept secret or which I couldn’t be apart of. I was constantly asked if I felt I was getting enough out of it and was helped in gaining as much experience as possible from the work placement. I relished the responsibility given to me and I have come out of the experience feeling like I made a difference and was a valued addition to the team.

My Strengths and Weaknesses

Working at the agency has defiantly improved my self-confidence when meeting new people – something, which has always been a real weakness of mine. People skills really is a must in this industry and watching how Kellyanne and Paul work with clients taught me a lot about how to respond to and interact with people in a professional manner – something which in the past I would have felt completely intimidated by. I have also gained a hell of a lot of experience in speaking to people on the phone! Which I have always been terrible at! In the lead up to BFW the LMP phone was literally glued to my ear so I had no choice, but it was always such a stumbling block for me and so it was good to be thrown in at the deep end and forced to get over it!

Working in Fashion Production

Up until this point I had always imagined I would end up working in the design side of the fashion industry. I love design and construction and meeting the people from Fashion Enter over the Bournemouth Fashion Weekend, talking to them about their collections and the experiences they have gone through to get to the point where they are at today – selling and showcasing their designs through fashion enter, I was really excited to see how it can all become a reality and is all very achievable and possible – something which, from a “ id like to be a fashion designer “point of view, can often seem out of reach.

However the work I have been involved in with LMP has also made me see that the promotion and production side of the fashion industry is also something I would love to get involved with. I have always enjoyed being involved with organising events and productions, something which I did a lot of at school, and the work I have done this summer has really made me realise that I could be just as happy, content and ambitious in a job working on this side of the fashion industry.

Conclusion

I have absolutely loved everything about working at LMP over these last few months. To be honest this time last year, knowing that within a year I would have to complete at least a 2-week work placement I was absolutely terrified. Having had a bad experience in the past on work placement, I just felt like it would be way out of my comfort zone. But having completed an extended work placement of 4 months I can honestly say I have gained more from this summer than I ever imagined possible. The placement has made me even more determined to one day have a career like this, which I love, working in this industry, which is fascinating and with people who are amazing at what they do.

jenelle