style is like wine...

... it just gets better with age. I love these ladies and their attitude. Its put me in a good mood for today!

i want a pet lion

matted hair, wilderness, whites, ruffles, crochet and my pet lion for company. absolute perfection.

Aleksandra Nilsen for Elle Norway May 2011

Catch up..

This past year I have been running my own company. After graduating and going to countless interviews for a variety of jobs no one wanted to hire me... sob, sob.

So I decided to hire myself. I live with my husband in the idyllic town of Bury St. Edmunds. We have a variety of gorgeous boutiques but were missing an independent children's clothing store. A mother and daughter team were quickly allied; researching brands, attending trade shows and putting together a business plan. Whilst working for Six a designer menswear store in Bury St. Edmunds (yes someone did hire me eventually) I worked on their online store styling outfits, writing descriptions, processing web sales and just generally boosting their online status. www.sixwhitingstreet.co.uk

Millie (my designer kids wear & shoe boutique) was born/ started trading in March 2011, and sadly died in January 2012. The shop unfortunately does not trade any more due to manyreasons, the main being a massive increase in the business rates. However its not all doom and gloom as I have loved working with my customers, their children and grand children, and have grown so much as a person and as a professional. www.milliesclothing.co.uk

I have learned/ become:

• feisty, its not in my natural character but have learned how to stand up for myself!
• developed my styling skills, as thats pretty much what i did online and in the shop all day
• gaining a sense of what the customer wants and buying and selecting clothing and shoes appropriately
• often taking a risk pays, people want something thats different and are prepared to pay for top quality brands
• how to be cheeky and jump through some loop holes (sshhh!)
• gained some serious tips photographing as i photographed most of the clothes myself
• social media junkie, tweeting, facebooking, pinteresting and blogging about designer children's clothes
• visual merchandising
• the correct way to dress a mannequin
• how to iron correctly (yes in the vm world there is a wrong way to iron!!)
• designing an ecommerce website
• boosting internet presence
• a researching master
• negotiating prices
• designing bags & boxes, how my clothes were purchased was very important to me
• liaised with press

And now my brain hurts... I am currently on the job hunt again, but am enjoying some time off after working 6 day weeks, 12 hour days.