In conversation: reflecting with two freshly graduated BA Fashion Journalism students

Mimi: So, now that our course is done, what's one thing you wish you could go back and tell your younger self on the first day?

Una: Probably to not be as scared. I wish I’d gotten rid of my impostor syndrome earlier, and to stop focusing on what other people are doing. I didn’t realise that I deserved to be here and that I’m allowed to progress in my own ways. I wish I’d taken advantage of being at LCF and went to more events, believed in myself more. How about you? 

Mimi: I suppose I would tell myself that the best thing about LCF is how it gets you through the door to so many different places. I didn’t make the most of that until the summer between second and third year. So, I had almost two years of not understanding that simply saying that I go to LCF could get me into fashion shows. I’d also tell myself that networking and making friends aren’t two separate things. Especially in music journalism, the line between professional and social blurs and that can be really fun. If you want to have a fun student experience, then do fun networking. You're getting into free events with free drinks.

Una: I also feel like there was a switch after second year, I finally understood how to take advantage of LCF.

Mimi: So, what would you do differently if you could do our time at LCF all over again?

Una: Just be more open to people and experiences. Even just using Fashion Monitor, going to the Blender workshops. I have retroactive FOMO.

Mimi: RIP our Fashion Monitor subscriptions, I’m going to miss that. I think I would have told myself to make the most of having a student loan because in the creative industry, especially with the way that it is now, I think internships can be the most fun. Its great being able to spend some of your time doing stuff that doesn't make money, because after your graduate there’s no student loan, no bursaries. I also remember in my first year being so scared to do anything because I felt like I still had so much more to learn and I didn't want to embarrass myself. But then I realised, no one’s going to remember me. If someone reaches out when they’re a student and then again three years down the line, no one if going to correlate them as the same person. Send that email! You're not going to become more worldly and aware of the etiquette of the creative industry unless you put yourself out there and make a fool of yourself. I want to hear about your final project next.

Una: I did a print magazine called Pollen Zine. I'm obsessed with print, I love graphic design, and I’m not really fussed about the digital stuff unfortunately. I envisioned it as a biannual or annual publication because I'm really interested in sustainable content, I'm sick and tired of journalism that is disposable. I just want to write something that doesn't expire quickly and that has some meaning. It's pretty to flick through, and you can pick it up two months after it's published or two years, and it will still be relevant. The key audience was expats living in London, so it has a human focus about their stories and what’s it like being away from home.  

Mimi: Are you proud of it?

Una: I am actually. It's a culmination of all the skills that I've acquired over the three years. I showed my friends from back home and they were amazed. They’re not creative at all, so I suppose that was a nice reminder that not everyone can do what I do.

Mimi: Definitely. Going to UAL is such an echo chamber of amazing people. Our skills can seem normal when surrounded by people that also have those skills. But in a wider context, we’re pretty cool.

Una: Yeah, I think I am proud of it. But what did you make for your final project?

Mimi: I did an anti-internet magazine called Read Only, which refers back to Web 1.0. My screen time is awful and I'm really, really addicted to my phone. And as a kid, I was addicted to my laptop, addicted to fandoms, and I've been such an internet person my entire life. I've just come to this point where I'm like, this sucks. I think a lot of people don’t realise how bad a habit is until it gets to a tipping point, like how some people only quite smoking after a health scare. I’ve reached that tipping point with my tech dependency, and I want to act as a guide out of this massive issue. There are a lot of people who are passionate on the subject, and I wanted to elevate and curate their voices in one place, thread them together to form a narrative. We should talk about our roles as content creators for the communication team here at LCF, how has it changed your student experience?

Una: I can't stress enough how much it's changed. I got so many more opportunities to practice the skills I’m leaning on our course. It's not a situation where I'll just submit a piece to pass the unit, this is going to be published and be associated with myself. It helped me gage the standards I want to hold myself to. It’s been good practically too, leaning for how calculate my rates and working hours. I’ve become much more confident. I’ve also become so much more involved with LCF. I have friends on every single program now. I feel very much a part of LCF. I just remember writing the first article, and being amazed that I was being paid for writing and using my brain. It’s great.

Mimi: I really relate to that. Because LCF and UAL are so big it can be kind of hard to feel like there's much of the community. It's quite easy to just avoid getting involved and keep your head down. But when you search it out, there’s so much cool stuff going.

Una: I’ve discovered so many interesting communities from writing these blog posts. Threes this massive organisation of climate advocates I never knew about, for example.

Mimi: This next question is the worst question that anyone can possibly ask either of us at this stage in our lives, but I have to ask, do have any future plans now that we've graduated?

Una: To be honest, I thought I would be a lot more scared about the future than I am. I’m doing a PR internship at the moment, which I love. I might want to head more towards PR than writing, but I still love fashion. And I definitely want to do a master’s at some point in my life, but I think my plan at the moment is to go out into the job market to say, ‘guys, I'm here!’. I'm fearing rejection, of course, but I want to see what's out there. I'm a very optimistic person. I'm very excited about what's to come and I'm really curious to see what our classmates are going to do as well.

Mimi: I'm sure you're going to send those emails and get hundreds of job offers just like that.

Una: I hope so. How about you? I know you've been working a lot alongside studies as well, right?

Mimi: Yeah. I've been working, doing internships, and freelancing for the past year and a half, maybe two years. It’s interesting that for you, the course has shown that you want to head away from writing but stick with fashion. Whereas for me, I've really found my love of writing in general. I’m sticking with freelancing, but I'm actually taking a slight step back for my career because I've been doing my craft for quite a while already, I've got a great insight into it. I'm moving back home to the countryside for a few months, saving up to go traveling, focusing on having some experiences away from the laptop screen. I want to write as an art and less of a commercial thing. I was just hustling so hard my entire university career, and then as soon as I handed that final project in, I realised that I have complete freedom. There's the slow living backlash to hustle culture, and LCF has given me the confidence to do whatever I want to do. If I can handle the fashion world in London, let’s see what else I can handle.

Una: I think it’s great to catch a breath, collect yourself, and come back when you’re ready. We're all so future focused, running towards something all the time, we rarely take the time to just stop and reflect. I had a bit of a personal crisis after submitting my final project because I was like, okay, it's submitted, what's next? I didn't even have time to process that this has all come to an end. You're not going to miss anything by slowing down and just being more mindful. It feels like everyone is telling us to hustle, but why? What's going to change if either of us come back a year later, when we’re ready? Its great to slow down and be more mindful.