Sara dreams of being Editor-in-Chief of a fashion magazine

Sara dreams of being Editor-in-Chief of a top fashion magazine. While she thinks of herself as indecisive, Sara has an exceptionally clear picture of what areas of communications do and do not suit her and thought through a range of courses to find the right ‘fit’.

Sara joined Sedbergh in Year 9 and studied digital media, economics and english literature A-levels. She was offered her first choice of Fashion Public Relations and Communication in the London College of Fashion at the University of the Arts, London.

What is your ambition after leaving Sedbergh?

I’m not entirely sure what my end goal is! The university course [Fashion Public Relations and Communication] has a lot to do with advertising and branding; how the brand portrays itself to its target audience. The course does a lot with magazines and other forms of communication so I could be working with magazines, with billboards or even a video campaign. While the course looks at business models that apply to a lot of different industries but we look especially at examples within the fashion industry and we work a lot with PR agencies that work and specialise with fashion companies. A company that I’m hoping to work with a lot is Conde Nast which is the publishing company for Vogue and a lot of other fashion magazines.

While this was your first choice, what other courses did you consider?

All of the courses I looked at were in or near London. I looked at:

• London College of Fashion
• Fashion Retail Academy, which does a lot of apprenticeships and level 3 and 4 qualifications
• University of the Arts in Epsom
• Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts, which is quite a large school and I looked closely at this because of the performing arts component; I love to dance as well.

Have you always been interested in fashion?

I’ve always been interested in fashion; I’ve always loved styling. But I feel like the interest in advertisement only came more recently – in the last two years. I’m not entirely sure where it came from! I think it was just me being a fan of celebrities and looking at how they walk down the red carpet, how they get to that process.

Another thing that interested me a lot was different cultures, and that’s what I actually based my digital media studies on this year – the different ways that you communicate the parts of yourself in fashion; that could be your culture, your gender, your political views. I find it really interesting to see the different ways that fashion is important not just in what you wear but who you are.

Why didn’t think of going into fashion from a design perspective?

I’ve always admired it but, if I’m honest, I feel like I’m not that creative! It’s one of those places where I’d get stuck – there’s too many options and I’m quite an indecisive person!

Did you look at other aspects of communications?

Not so much, but that’s because I’m familiar with it. I do a lot of the communications for my family’s business; for example I work with the website a lot, I design the brochures, I do a lot of photography. I feel like I prefer communicating something more with a message. I also looked at graphic design but that didn’t fit right either.

Do you have any role models whose path you’d like to follow?

Yes, quite a few! The most Edward Enninful who is the current editor-in-chief of British Vogue. He’s a massive role model and I feel like that would be my most sought after achievement, my absolute top goal – becoming the editor-in-chief of a magazine. In general, in the journey he’s been on he’s done so many inspiring things to help people – most recently he created the first Braille issue of any fashion magazine ever. I thought that was really cool.

Was fashion journalism on your radar?

Its something I’m considering a lot more – especially since I did English Literature at A Level! Even when I was doing my digital media work, the part that interested me the most was writing and researching about it! So, that’s something I’m considering and it is an option that I can go into on my course. I can change to that as a more specific avenue.

How did you become aware of this pathway?

It was my sister who made it clearer to me. She has a friend doing fashion design and she made me aware that these type of courses are about. Initially I started looking at graphic design – which is why I was looking at the University of the Arts – and then I started to look at their other courses and colleges, not graphic design. Looking into the courses I realised how much of an interest I did have in fashion. So, really it just was my sister making me realise that these were courses available and the thing to do to get the job that I’ve dreamed of my whole life… which, if I’m honest, is a lot based off the movie “Devil Wears Prada”.

For your position at the University, did you have to submit any folios, do any interviews – anything extra?

The only place I needed where I needed a portfolio – although it wasn’t a portfolio, as such – was the London College of Fashion. I needed to submit one piece of work in response to the question, “What is your favourite fashion brand due to their communication?” I had to write a 1500 word essay (I think it was 1500 words) and then you design that page artistically in any form that you like. I used a lot of the tools that I’d used in digital media to help me create that.

How did Sedbergh School help you prepare for your applications?

Ms Rowland, the Head of Year 13 and also my tutor, was so useful. She helped me a lot with my personal statement and she helped me find other fashion personal statements so I had a better idea of framing my application. That was really useful. Because I felt my creative work wasn’t as good as my academics Ms Rowland also worked with me to find courses that relied upon an interview with academic grades, rather than a portfolio which I felt was my weakness. My digital media teachers helped almost as much as Ms Rowland. They came from art universities, particularly Ms Bell, who studied architecture, she helped with my piece for London College of Fashion because she knows how to comment on things.

Did you focus on any particular extra-curricular activities to help you prepare?

Yes, there’s quite a few. The most useful to me was dancing; I’m trained in ballet but I prefer to dance lyrical or contemporary. However, every Wednesday – middle of the week – at Sedbergh I’d have a ballet lesson with a teacher that I’ve had since before year 9. Recently I saw how far I’d come over the years and it showed me that when I want to get something done, I can. Even the little things, like when I was dancing in the School play and I helped choreograph a lot of the dances. I also taught all of the dances to everyone else and I had a solo. It was a confidence booster to show that other people are interested in what I do.

What are the things that you do to relax?

Sports and active things – like rugby – help me to get off steam and extra energy to clear my head. Photography helped me a lot too because it makes you focus on something that isn’t yourself.

Which of the School’s HARK values do you most identify with?

I feel like resilience is the most important and something that I’ve grown while being at Sedbergh. Learning to not give up; learning to keep your goal in mind when you come to a standstill and you’re not sure what to do. I am a pretty indecisive person and I like having a goal to work towards – that helps me push through. I feel like once you overcome the smallest thing, that gives you confidence to overcome the next thing – and then you become more confident. I feel like that’s really important.