For the creative and probably oh so slightly ‘strange’ amongst us.

I'm sure this is a situation the majority of us remember from school. The “What do you want to be when you grow up?” moment. I’m talking more primary school as opposed to the work experience careers centre conversations of secondary school. No, this question was answered with far more innocence, far more hope, far more dreams and more than likely far more humour for our teachers. This was a question, which I seem to remember being answered by a class of twenty-five, nine year olds who were all, apparently, aiming down the same five ‘career’ paths. The boys had two main choices, a policeman, for the courageous, brave, heroes and then a footballer, for the aspiring sportsmen (although they may well have actually been over-indulged spoilt brats prone to throwing a tantrum). The girls had three choices, a vet, for the caring, considerate and responsible, a ‘super model’ for the mummy’s little princesses, and my choice a fashion designer, for the creative and probably oh so slightly ‘strange’ amongst us. Actually I tell a lie, there were in fact six ‘career’ choices, there was always that one child who said they wanted to be a doctor, for the child with already career driven, pushy parents, mummy and daddy’s little brain box who was going to keep his mother and father in their old age.

The point I wish to make with this fond and innocent school memory is that not very long after throwing that somewhat over used idea into the classroom. The job I had believed to be cool, fun and interesting soon lost its shine when the ‘adults’ made it quite clear it was also an unattainable pipe dream completely out of my reach. So after gaining my BTEC National Diploma in Fashion and Clothing with double distinction and merit, my Foundation Degree in Fashion for Industry and a BA in Fashion Studies I felt pretty darn proud of myself that that I was indeed going to dip my toe into the once distant dream pool the was the fashion industry.

And here it goes………..