Brum's got no (fashion) talent?
Monday 02 February 2009, Birmingham Post:
"Birmingham's fashion talent needs more opportunities"
Well there's a revelation.
They're certainly not wrong, but I could have told you that years ago... in fact, the Post probably did, but no doubt a few people went " Yes!" then didn't do anything about it.
As you may (or may not know) I completed my BA (Hons) Fashion Design degree in Birmingham, with great designs on becoming a stylist. In fact I was aiming at 'stylist to the stars' status, and I reckon I would have done a darn good job of it too. But there were just a couple of hitches in my plan:
There was nothing in Birmingham other than my short (but nonetheless successful!) stint as Style Advisor, aka Personal Shopper in the fashion retailer I worked at to pay my way through university.
Nope - the best way to begin as a fashion stylist is via starting as a fashion assistant at a fashion or lifestyle magazine and working your way up... and most of these are based in London.
So London. That's fine right? Well, if you can afford to live in London in anything better than a cardboard box AND eat for a year whilst you do a year's full-time unpaid work experience at said 'glossies' before they offer you a pitiful salary then yes.
My answer was no.
I could go on but I don't think I really need to elaborate much further: in a nutshell, university left me broke, in debt (even more now - thanks Gordon), and living in a city where the only viable opportunity in fashion for me personally was the degree course I'd just done, or working in a retailer, which with no disrespect to those that do, does not exactly require a degree to qualify.
Welcome to Birmingham: the real world.
A handful of people have done alright out of Birmingham I have to admit: designers Jacob Kimmie and Gavin Douglas, award winning independent retailer Disorder, a couple of little businesses in the Custard Factory. We do have Fused magazine too, although that still hasn't truly lifted off the ground to mark Birmingham on the map when it comes to producing fashion orientated magazines...
So why not? And why doesn't someone do something about it instead of continuously just pointing out this fact that Birmingham is a little out of fashion where the fashion industry is concerned? It's not going to change if we all just sit here talking about it is it? DO something!
If this point continues to fall on deaf ears, fashion talent will continue to jump ship to London or elsewhere, just like many of my friends did, and Birmingham will remain fashion talentless.
Want an example? Cast your mind back to my somewhat controversial blog entitled 'Birmingham: No Style Capital'.
A certain 'commentee', cattily remarked: "Sweetheart, it seems you are more than delighted to hop on the Virgin Pendolino and travel an hour and a half to London but you don't venture out the city centre a grand total of (ouch!) 5 minutes..."
Well, it just so happens, that very same person has only gone and done exactly that herself... for good! Now, whilst she should consider retracting that remark, it kind of says it all really doesn't it: Birmingham's own pioneers are beginning to lose faith!
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Sarah Morris - the Sunday Mercury's resident fashionista: pulls no punches when it comes to style.
Ah, like rats out of a sinking fashion ship they flee. The SFS Birmingham is going down... aaarrrghhh!
Where is the little Dutch boy to stick his finger in the hole (tee hee) and save us all?
Harsh... but possibly true. Still, there are green shoots, and we have the opportunity to build an alternative fashion model.
Check out the remade fashion fair, for example to see maker-designers who produce clothing and accessories themselves from waste materials:
www.remadefashionfair.info
I agree with you Joe, there is loads of potential, but we need to hold onto it!
I'm also aware of the remade fashion fair but am gutted I'll be away over that weekend so unfortunately am going to miss it. 'Re-made' was the theme to my degree fashion show, entitled Rags to Riches, so it's right up my street.
If it's successful... which I hope it will be... maybe we should look at doing this on a more regular basis? Thoughts?
Great article Sarah and I agree with most of what you say.
I see some very stylish people on the streets of Birmingham, but are they wearing home grown threads? I'm sure that there are many talented people who study or originate from the region, however, I suspect the artistic-magnetic pull of places such as London and Manchester steal away many of our best. If Brum is to develop it's own modern cultural image (and I believe fashion is definitely part of our culture) then we need to nurture and then promote what we already have.
We spoke a while ago about a Bohemian quarter in Digbeth and I think this could be a hot-spot for up and coming fashion designers, a designated area for artists, musicians and designers to network, cross pollinate and ultimately prosper on a greater magnitude than is happening at present. There are many small boutiques dotted around the city but imagine all of those condensed into one easy stroll, maybe selling some locally designed clothes too.
I mean, how many people know of local fashion designers 'Disorder' tucked away up Needless Alley: http://www.disorder-uk.com/ or the fantastic 50fifty now stylising the streets of Leeds, Manchester, Bristol and London with their multi-cultural brand: http://www.50fiftyclothing.com/ or the Hat Man (albeit on a T-print tip) established 1972: http://www.thehatman.com/
We need some major pooling of resources to retain what we already have, and then hopefully, not just keep people here, but bring new blood to the city to share ideas and create an epicentre of artistic excellence. Thank you.
Thanks for the nod to 50FIFTY, to be honest if we had to survive on the sales of 50FIFTY alone we'd be dead in the water.
We survive on income we get from www.tshirtprintingbirmingham.co.uk and teaching young people Design and Enterprise skills... how to make money legally.
Anything we can do to raise Brum's fashion profile is more than welcome.
Nice one Lee! Well not sure if you know of this or not? but check out this place: http://bigcityplan.birmingham.gov.uk/ a chance for all corners of the city to have a voice on the way forward. I'm always a bit sceptical of such movements as in "is this just lip service to the people" but regardless, lets not waste the opportunity to have our say, I am sure those in privileged positions will have put their points of view across fully. ;)
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