A Lecture From Meg Flather

Welcome back!

In a recent 'Faces and Places in Fashion' lecture, I was introduced to a lovely lady called Meg Flather. She has spent decades building a career in the performance, cosmetics and media industries. I have to say that she has been my favourite speaker so far this semester, she didn't hide behind the podium and made me laugh multiple times which isn't an easy thing to do. I absolutely loved hearing about her life story and how she got to where she is now. Her career in cosmetics began in New York City after her purse got stolen which had all of her makeup inside meaning she had to take a trip to a department store to re-buy everything. As a result she became special events captain for all metropolitan accounts for Clinique, resident makeup artist for Yves Saint Laurent at Bergdorf Goodman, held the highest national sales record for both Stila and Body & Soul at Barney's and raised customer service and artistry standards at all Face Stockholm locations. 

The one thing I loved the most about her was her overall passion and drive. Before her career in cosmetics she was adamant she was going to be an actress but she found herself never really getting anywhere fast. She was knocking on certain doors and consistently being rejected, so when she was offered a job on the counter at Clinique she thought, why not? I was surprised to discover that throughout her career she struggled when it came to her overall confidence. Throughout the lecture she came across so strong which for me made her even more admirable. Afterwards me and some of the girls had the chance to have a proper chat with her, she was so eager and interested to find out about us and what we've been up to which was so refreshing as some speakers haven't given us the same opportunity. 

There were 6 short and sweet lessons Meg taught us, being:

Make Lemonade

No Job Is Too Small

Earn It

Take It In

Take Care

Know Your Point Of Difference

I hope some of you find these as beneficial as I have! Definitely check Meg out when you have a moment, she has a book called 'Home Shopping Diva' that I can't wait to get my hands on!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Google Images.

Exploring NYC: The Cooper Hewitt Design Museum

Welcome back!

I'm slowly but surely getting through my New York City bucket list. One of the things I just recently ticked off was a visit to the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. One evening last week me and the girls caught the subway to the Upper East Side to see what all of the fuss was about. 

One of the main things that attracted us to go was the fact that it classes itself as an interactive museum. I completely understand that certain things are fragile and therefore showcased only to be looked at, but I get so bored of having to walk past things that are literally screaming to be touched. 

I think my favourite aspect of the museum was the immersion room. In there we took on the role of wallpaper designers, projecting them full scale on two huge walls using the digital tables in front of us. It allowed us to explore patterns and colours that instantly changed the ambience within the room. We definitely got a bit carried away creating our own designs, not noticing the queue that had formed behind us until after we'd had about twenty minutes of fun. 

Another section I loved was the Process Lab surrounding Citizen Design. In there we were all given the opportunity to design whatever we liked in order to benefit the community around us. The whole process was divided into steps, the first one being each of us picking a value we ourselves or our community care about significantly. They ranged from creativity to family making it so difficult to pick only one! We didn't complete the whole process as the museum was due to close which was a shame, I'm sure we'll be going back soon to try it out properly!

Love, Lana Skye x

Photo Credit: Myself.

A Night With Guess

Welcome back!

If you follow me on SnapChat or Instagram, you'll be aware that on Tuesday night I attended an 'Influencer Styling Session' at the Guess Soho store. This was a very spur in the moment decision and proved to be one of my highlights in the city so far. At 5pm I was in my comfiest clothes with my hair tied up wearing no makeup trying to complete an assignment. At 6pm I was mingling with so many interesting people and drinking champagne - what a contrast! 

It's situations like this one that make me fall in love with New York more and more by the minute. Never have I got ready so quick, at least now I know that when under pressure I can make myself look presentable in under 20 minutes! I love the fact that my days here are so unexpected and exciting; there's always something going on, all it takes is keeping an eye out for when and where. 

I arrived with a couple of friends a little early (impossible to believe, I know) but we instantly felt welcome being handed champagne on arrival. The showcase took place at the back of the store where the new 'His + Hers' collection was beautifully displayed. Although I was excited about seeing the clothing in all of its glory, the main reason why I wanted to attend the event was to meet the host - Shamari Maurice. I've followed him across all of his social media profiles for over a year now so when I found out he would be there I simply couldn't say no! 

Shamari showed up wearing Guess 'His + Hers' pretty much head to toe. He was so lovely and easy going, we talked about festivals, fashion, makeup and everything else in between. I ended up stealing his stunning pink coat for a while, it was to die for. As more and more people started showing up, everything got more and more exciting. The DJ was blasting out an amazing playlist and I was really enjoying chatting to some of the people there. 

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Shamari Maurice Twitter Page, Myself. 

My Thoughts On: Sunset Boulevard

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In my Mass Communications class last week, we watched 1950's movie 'Sunset Boulevard'. 

We've recently been learning about motion pictures and the transitional period experienced in Hollywood when movies went from being silent to including sound. It centralises around ageing silent film star Norma Desmond who refuses to accept that her fame has ended. She hires a young screen writer to help set up her movie comeback. Before long their relationship becomes confusing, ultimately resulting in madness. In the movie they're described as...

"An older woman well to do and a younger man not doing too well."

I didn't realise until looking into it more that the movie was deliberately shot in black and white when it could have been done in colour. Initially I found this confusing but have come to realise that its actually quite fitting. I wouldn't say it's an overly dark film but it's definitely not an uplifting one - so interesting nonetheless! The main theme explored is definitely unrequited love which instantly made me think of 'The Great Gatsby' - one of my all time favourite novels. 

If you end up watching it, let me know what you think in the comments below!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Google Images.

Video Credit: YouTube.

Text Credit: Wikipedia. 

Exploring NYC: A Lovely Five Days Off

Welcome back!

Due to Rosh Hashanah falling across both Monday and Tuesday of this week and me also having Friday's off, I've had five full days to do as I please. The weather on Friday wasn't the best, but me and a couple of the girls decided to spend the afternoon in Chelsea. After braving the horrible wind and rain (you know that really light kind that makes your hair go mega frizzy!?) we went for brunch in one of my all time favourite places to eat in the city - Bubby's. I came across this little gem when visiting The High Line with my mamma last year and would be happy to eat there every single day. It's that good! I went for the Market Omelette and a Pink Lemonade - both of which are to die for. 

On Saturday we all felt as though we could do with a bit of retail therapy. We've trekked up and down Fifth Avenue so many times already, so for a change of scenery we decided to explore the streets of Soho. The shops here are absolutely incredible, there's such a great mix of high end and high street. We spent time lusting in Acne Studios and Alexander Wang, but didn't get around to actually spending until we reached the huge Zara store on Canal Street. Luck was definitely on my side as a coat I had been planning on buying for over $200 was priced wrongly and I ended up bagging it for under $100. We all got hungry so decided to head to The Butcher's Daughter. Their motto is that they treat fruits and vegetables like a butcher would meat. Most if not all of the options on the menu were vegan which made for a nice change - I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed my meal. After this, we decided to catch the subway to Fulton Street and explored the newly opened Westfield shopping centre. We finished off our lovely Saturday with a Sprinkles cupcake sitting on the marble steps inside Brookfield Place - another of my favourite pit stops in the city.

On Sunday we did nothing but chill so we felt refreshed and ready for following day. We all woke up bright and early to catch a coach to the land of cream cheese, Philadelphia. It was a very spur of the moment thing so we didn't have a clue what we were going to get up too. I think we were all surprised to see just how spread out Philly is. Were so used to being in New York where you can get to pretty much anywhere within half an hour. Most of our day was spent in the King of Prussia Mall before heading to Shake Shack (because we haven't had enough of their burgers already).

We were all pretty tired on Tuesday so we had a lazy morning before heading out to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side of New York. We had a look round before heading up to the rooftop to get some Instagram worthy shots. We ended up being there until it closed, so we decided to head to Pinkberry to grab some frozen yoghurt before heading back to The Met steps for that iconic Gossip Girl shot (if you know, then you know!)

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Myself.

Text Credit: The Butcher's Daughter Website. 

A Little Update On My Life As An F.I.T. Student

Welcome back!

It's been a little while since I updated you all on what I've been getting up too whilst studying at F.I.T. so I figured that will be what I dedicate this post to. Yesterday I hit the six week mark meaning I'm more than a third of the way through my time here in New York City - I honestly can't get my head around how quick it's flying by!

Two of my classes are much more academic/not as exciting and hands on as my other three so I won't bore you all talking about those. Don't worry, theres still plenty to talk about! Faces & Places In Fashion is proving to be up there as my favourite class at the moment. As I mentioned in a previous post, every week we are lectured by somebody that works within the fashion industry. I got particularly excited about the lady who came in last week called Natalie Zfat. 

She's a writer, entrepreneur and social media influencer and has partnered with some of the largest brands in the world including Rolling Stone, Refinery29 and Food Network. It was so insightful listening to her story and how she got to where she is now. She was super friendly, dressed absolutely amazingly and was more than willing to answer any of our questions which I loved! Please please please check out her social media profiles to find out more about her when you get the chance if I've got you intrigued!

My second creative class that I'm loving is Styling For Visual Presentation - mainly because my Professor is hands down one of the funniest/most charismatic people I've ever come across. At the start of every class we have a 'gossip' session where we talk about what everyones been up too/what's been going on in the fashion world. At the moment we're working on a large scale prop shoot which I'm so excited about. One of the girls in my group has a really cool pink chair which sparked the concept of it coming from inside a 50's motel room. I don't want to reveal too much about our idea just yet but I can't wait to share the final shot with you all when it's done in the next two weeks!

This is one of the shots I found on Pinterest that sparked the motel concept!

Last but not least is Photographic Styling. This class is quite similar to SVP in the sense that it's very heavily shoot based, but this one is on a much smaller scale, it's all about perfecting the shot there and then. No editing allowed. We were recently set the task of shooting a beauty product, my group went with the Versace Eros Men's Cologne. 

Next week we're getting to work on food styling, shooting some products for premium cookware brand William Sonoma. Keep your eyes peeled on my SnapChat (LanaCx) and Instagram (@lanaskyecaven) for any sneak previews! Again, what I love the most about this class is my Professor. She doesn't sugar coat anything, if what you're doing isn't good enough she'll tell you outright and help you fix it. I already feel like I've learned so much regarding styling in general - she has a really unique way of remembering things and it's definitely working for me too!

Love, Lana Skye x 

Photo Credit: Myself, Natalie Zfat Twitter.

Text Credit: Natalie Zfat LinkedIn.