I was lucky enough to have had the opportunity to sit in a "lecture", that was styled as an interview, with the ex-editor-in-cheif of British Vogue, 'Alexandra Shulman'. Alexandra announced in November 2016 that she would be leaving the magazine after more than 25 years of occupying the position.
She intends to hand over her occupation to Edward Enninful in the early summer of 2017, where Enninful will takeover on August 1st.
Now, most interviews start with the positives, but Alexandra firstly was asked what she won't miss from the job and she followed with stating that the job left her relentless. She expressed that the feeling of achievement was what she missed out on, this was due to work being an ongoing progress.
She expanded with how powering over so many varied personalities meant that varied opinions occurred. This led to controlled conflict and meant that negotiations of opinions, even her own, had to be done. She touched upon a specific personality that supports this statement, David Bailey. Through her experience with working with him, she gathered the idea that he is an individual who identifies with the "you need me, I don't need you" attitude. However, this controlled conflict allows for the skills of the team to be used to the fullest and gives everyone a chance to express their own perspective and creative scope.
The questions then, quite rapidly, changed spectrum towards her opinion on the impact of media on the magazines production. Her opinion consisted of that the main impact was production was not just minimised to physical production, but digital too. This meant that work was doubled and extra knowledge had to be obtained.
Personally, I see it as despite extra work added onto an already large pile, your skills grow with a growing industry.
In her eyes, she saw the fact that the demand for digital copies was increasing, meant the interest in Fashion was. Therefore, expanding and growing with media forms, allows the highly valued content to be easily accessible to all their readers.
Later on in the interview, she reflected on how she feels a physical copy allows the reader to have proof of a relationship and bond with the content and how that says a lot about you - my take on this was that she was referring to the level of appreciation you have for detail and the content itself. This is because print will always appear of better quality on a physical copy.
Moving onto referring to the specific job of a Journalist within the industry, she indicated that it overall was the act of not rewriting a press release, but taking your own view on it, whilst still sticking to the brief - this helped knowledge people who wanted to embark on the above career, but also allowed us to keep this in mind when working on our blog, where companies may be considered.
Regarding the above topic on embarking on careers and passions, she voiced that her motivation was that "things you dread do not turn up", this highlights upon the idea that fear makes a situation seem worse than it will occur as.
The final question that was directed specifically towards Vogue was that her overall opinion and a pet peeve of certain views was that Vogues is not just a woman's magazine, but rather a unisex magazine that stands as a 'Fashion Magazine'. This is proven correct through the future editor being male.
Nearing the end of the "interview", personal questions closed it off.
As the Vogue Editor-in-Chief, for over 25 years, you'd expect Alexandra to have had a varied exposure to styles and trends. When asked upon her personal Style Heroin, she found it difficult to pin point her mind to one.
She left us with the advice and motivation to not strive for perfection - otherwise, you don't do it and it is better to do something over nothing.
This is actually something that I believe is going to stick with all of us, especially because you as an individual are your biggest critic.
I hope you found some interest in my "lecture" with Alexandra Shulman and expanded your insights into the world of fashion.
She intends to hand over her occupation to Edward Enninful in the early summer of 2017, where Enninful will takeover on August 1st.
Now, most interviews start with the positives, but Alexandra firstly was asked what she won't miss from the job and she followed with stating that the job left her relentless. She expressed that the feeling of achievement was what she missed out on, this was due to work being an ongoing progress.
She expanded with how powering over so many varied personalities meant that varied opinions occurred. This led to controlled conflict and meant that negotiations of opinions, even her own, had to be done. She touched upon a specific personality that supports this statement, David Bailey. Through her experience with working with him, she gathered the idea that he is an individual who identifies with the "you need me, I don't need you" attitude. However, this controlled conflict allows for the skills of the team to be used to the fullest and gives everyone a chance to express their own perspective and creative scope.
The questions then, quite rapidly, changed spectrum towards her opinion on the impact of media on the magazines production. Her opinion consisted of that the main impact was production was not just minimised to physical production, but digital too. This meant that work was doubled and extra knowledge had to be obtained.
Personally, I see it as despite extra work added onto an already large pile, your skills grow with a growing industry.
In her eyes, she saw the fact that the demand for digital copies was increasing, meant the interest in Fashion was. Therefore, expanding and growing with media forms, allows the highly valued content to be easily accessible to all their readers.
Later on in the interview, she reflected on how she feels a physical copy allows the reader to have proof of a relationship and bond with the content and how that says a lot about you - my take on this was that she was referring to the level of appreciation you have for detail and the content itself. This is because print will always appear of better quality on a physical copy.
Moving onto referring to the specific job of a Journalist within the industry, she indicated that it overall was the act of not rewriting a press release, but taking your own view on it, whilst still sticking to the brief - this helped knowledge people who wanted to embark on the above career, but also allowed us to keep this in mind when working on our blog, where companies may be considered.
Regarding the above topic on embarking on careers and passions, she voiced that her motivation was that "things you dread do not turn up", this highlights upon the idea that fear makes a situation seem worse than it will occur as.
The final question that was directed specifically towards Vogue was that her overall opinion and a pet peeve of certain views was that Vogues is not just a woman's magazine, but rather a unisex magazine that stands as a 'Fashion Magazine'. This is proven correct through the future editor being male.
Nearing the end of the "interview", personal questions closed it off.
As the Vogue Editor-in-Chief, for over 25 years, you'd expect Alexandra to have had a varied exposure to styles and trends. When asked upon her personal Style Heroin, she found it difficult to pin point her mind to one.
She left us with the advice and motivation to not strive for perfection - otherwise, you don't do it and it is better to do something over nothing.
This is actually something that I believe is going to stick with all of us, especially because you as an individual are your biggest critic.
I hope you found some interest in my "lecture" with Alexandra Shulman and expanded your insights into the world of fashion.
Love Always,
Misha XO
