So it’s your final year at school and you’re graduating soon? What’s a girl to do? Well, take some advice from Hannah Almassi, the Fashion News and Features Assistant at Grazia UK.

*       What did you study at school and where?

I went to Nottingham Trent University which has a great art and design school. I studied Fashion Design, it’s a good place to study fashion for the real world – you can be creative but also understand the commercial and business side of things.

*       Were you always interested in fashion?

I have been interested in fashion since I can remember! Both my Mum and Nan have always made their own clothes (and mine too when I was younger – I had a great purple and black checked taffeta prom dress, very PPQ!) As a kid I’d always consider what I would wear for the day and would be really picky, then at about 10 years old I started to draw little fashion sketches and spend hours with my nose in fashion magazines. At secondary school I was always really creative and went a bit crazy with my outfits (much to my headmistress’s disgust!) I’ve always been a bit of a shopaholic and love putting clothes together. I can remember the moment that I felt fashion was for definitely for me, was when watching a TV programme on John Galliano and just being so entralled by his flair for creating extraordinary fashion – it looked so fun, so glamorous and sexy.

How many places did you apply before finding a job?

During my final year at uni I applied for hundreds of placements and kept a really open mind about where I could try out working. I was organised about it all and already had a years worth of different work experience placements all set up for when I graduated. But then I came to Grazia first, adored it and was luckily offered a longer internship at the time to be Melanie Rickey’s assistant… which of course, I snapped up!

*       What’s a typical day like?

It really varies, being on a weekly mag it’s incredibly busy all the time – every day has a major deadline so that the magazine can go to print. My work spans from doing product call ins, to coming up with stories and ideas for the print magazine and also the website www.graziadaily.co.uk , going to fashion weeks, writing copy and interviewing people to style hunting the public. It’s never boring – I’m always involved in something different.

*       What been the most exciting part of your job?

There have been loads of stand out moments. Probably one of the most memorable so far was being backstage at the British Fashion Awards and interviewing the winners on camera – meeting people like Luella, Matthew Williamson and Stephen Jones was an incredible honour. On a daily basis the Grazia fashion team are so knowledgable and talented, so it’s really encouraging and inspiring to be around them. But the best feeling has to be seeing my name in print on Grazia’s masterhead each week (yes, I’m a loser and still look at it each time!) Oh, and working from a perspex pod in the new Westfield shopping centre for a week was pretty unforgettable too!

*       What is your official position at Grazia?

Fashion News and Features Assistant

*       Have you been promoted since you started your job?

I was originally meant to do one month, then six and now I’ve been at Grazia for about 15 months! Although my job position hasn’t changed, the longer I am there the more I am able to do and contribute and develop.

*       What advice do you have to graduates?

The best advice I can give is to just work your socks off. If you don’t turn up for a placement keen and eager and willing to get on with the job, people just won’t remember you – or want to keep you there. Sometimes being an intern can feel awful, but it’s a process to get to somewhere amazing. I still spend hours in the fashion cupboard returning clothes – but I wouldn’t give it up because the perks of doing a job you love in a brilliant, lively industry are immeasurable.

*       Who is your fashion icon and why?

I have different fashion icons for different moods – more like fashion moments… I love Marlene Dietrich for her androgynous style which was so revolutionary at the time. I adore the model Verushka for looking so darn gorgeous in YSL’s safari collection. If there’s anyone I channel the most – it’s Dot Cotton! And right now, I’m obsessed with Faye Dunaway in the film The Eyes of Laura Mars – fantastic 70s outfits full of two piece skirt suits, giant throws, fabulous knee high boots and enough hair crimping to make me consider doing it again!

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I don’t like to break the illusion of fashion. It’s beautiful, fun, even unobtainable; it’s the dream. I love fashion and everything about it. I’m not the kind of girl who skims a magazine – I read magazines cover to cover. I like things that are aspirational. It might be a beautiful photo shoot, or an image that’s so raw it makes you shudder.  Like many jobs, the secret of fashion is to make it look easy – you don’t see the effort. Lots of jobs are like this. A while ago I did a shoot with gymnast Beth Tweddle. Watching her work is amazing, it looks so effortless and beautiful – I told her that and she said it’s not true, there’s lots of effort and hard work, and she told me that she had metal pins in her ankle. Most athletes have survived so many injuries but you probably won’t get injured working in fashion.

Whenever I’ve attended lectures about fashion, the speaker always mentions how hard fashion can be and how competitive it is. I’ve always thought the playing field was even, so if everything is hard what’s the difference? I’ve come to realize that there is a difference. It’s very fashionable to work in fashion. It looks easy: anyone can do it. Whoo, the digital camera – anyone can be a photographer…ya right…. what’s difficult about our jobs, at least for me, is that it’s hard to explain what I do and what my skill set really is. I’m often asked how I became a stylist. It’s a normal question but it doesn’t have a straightforward answer, and it’s the same with most creative jobs. So finding a job in fashion and trying to figure out what all the jobs are in fashion is actually quite a challenge…

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I love going for coffee and reading the latest magazine. Each month there are several new magazines on the shelf and you just wonder how many of them will make it to their second issue. .. A new bi-monthly magazine Distill just hit the shelves and you know that since the editor in chief is Colin McDowell it’s going to be around for quite a while.  If I worked at an advertising agency I would want a copy as it’s a collection of the best fashion and art photography from different magazines around the world. For those non-magazine junkies this saves you the time and introduces you to magazines, fashion or websites that you might not have found on your own.

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The secrets inside a stylist’s kit are really not so secretive – sometimes there are just subjects that we don’t talk about too often – like nipples. You’ll notice in different magazines and advertising women with and without nipples. In Sex and the City you see lots of nipples and in M&S advertising women don’t have nipples. There was even a Sex in the City episode where nipple enhancers, Bodyperks were used!

I don’t have nipple enhancers in my kit, but maybe I should… Anyway I was on a shoot ages ago; the client was upset that they could see the model’s nipples, the photographer assured them that they could easily be retouched, but the client still showed some anxiety so the model wore nipple covers.

These nipple covers are only £5.00 from M&S!

Quote:
Victoria Beckham helps her mates when she can, and new pal Kate Beckinsale is no exception. Kate said: “She gave me nipple covers. You don’t want your little peas sticking out, do you?” Er… no.

(Source Mirror.co.uk)

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Mitsukoshi is a great restaurant: lots of kaiseki course meals, shabu-shabu and sukiyaki, and sushi. Downstairs they have a magazine shop; you can find lots of inspiration there!

14-20 Lower Regent St, London SW1Y 4PH

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