Brandcast UK

These coloured blocks changed colour as music played

Last Monday I was lucky enough to attend Google's Broadcast event at the ExCel Centre.

This amazing event was hosted by the very funny James Corden. He talked about how Youtube has helped his success in the States with 'The Late Show'. His show has a late airing time so Youtube has allowed his viewers and fans to watch their favourite parts on Youtube such as 'Carpool Karaoke'.

During the event, there were talks from the EMEA President - Matt Brittin and Managing Director Ronan Harris. Another talk came from Freemantle Media Group's chief executive Cecile Frot-Coutaz. Freemantle Media are responsible for shows such as 'The X Factor' and 'Got Talent'. Frot-Coutaz explained how Youtube will help play a big role in shaping global TV shows. The clip of Susan Boyle's audition on 'Britain's Got Talent' was watched by millions of people around the world on Youtube.

Rick Astley

There was a beautiful performance from Youtuber 'SuliBreaks' who specialises in the spoken word and spoke about his life like a chapter book. This was definitely one of my favourite parts of the night. There were lots of other appearances from other Youtubers such as 'Louise Pentland', 'Patricia Bright', 'Caspar Lee' and 'Humza' who took part in a 'YouQuiz' hosted by James Corden. There was a very special performance from Rick Astley. To end the main event the Youtube community sang the Elton John song - 'Bennie and the Jets' as Elton John has teamed up with Youtube for a new filmmaker to create a music video for 'Bennie and the Jets' and 'Rocket Man' as there is not a music video for these songs. After the main talk we all went to other room for more canapés and drinks whilst we waited for DJ Grand Master Flash to do his incredible set.

Soraya x

Subculture's Photoshoot

This week we had photoshoots for our final hand in next month. Over this term we were exploring subcultures as we were set a brief by Fred Perry Subculture and Defacto. My group decided to interview some bands from Nottingham who identified with the alternative punk subculture. Our concept with our photoshoot was to picture some of the items the bands mentioned in their answers. 

Here are sone of my favourites from our shoot

We will now choose our favourites as a group and they will be displayed in early February in Nottingham.

Soraya x

Lord Whitney Workshop - The Love Factory

Last week I participated in a set design workshop, organised by our course. We met Amy Lord and Rebekah Whitney who own a Creative Direction, Set Design and Art Direction Company. They own a studio in Leeds and have worked on advert campaigns, music videos and editorials. They gave us a lecture explaining their journey after university. I found it interesting that even though they get work they still like to create their own projects, which was something they did when they first started. I found this inspiring as they made time to do/ create something they were passionate about even though they had other work on their hands. This reminded myself that the creative work I produce does not have to be done for deadlines at university.

On the morning of the workshop we were set a brief by 'We Are Cow' Vintage. They wanted a concept for their window display in February in their Nottingham shop. We were in groups of 10 and were each given a different object that our story had to created from. Within the two days of our workshop we had to create the set/garment and film a video explaining our concept and storyline.

My group were given the object of an alarm clock and we had to create a set. After looking at our cultural calendar we decided that Valentine's Day was the biggest thing happening in February as well as tying it in with a speed dating event happening in Nottingham. We decided to create 'The Love Factory' where we would create a clock and the inside workings of a clock.

The concept of our film was to create a stop motion film where our speed date would take place inside the clock. Our models would act like robots as if they were the next people on the conveyer belt in a factory. When the two models meet they would both press the button showing that the date was a success and confetti and balloons would be released.

We had so much fun making our life size alarm clock out of cardboard, which we had to find and carry through the vic centre! The making of our stop motion film was technical but fun as we had a professional camera and lights to create our film. Normally with our photoshoots we have photographers taking our pictures and helping us with lighting.

The two day workshop was really enjoyable and the girls from Lord Whitney helped us so much and were so encouraging as we were unsure whether making a life size clock was going to be manageable! This workshop so a lovely change from our current briefs and it was lovely to experience set design and art direction. 

Soraya x

NOW Gallery - Molly Goddard 'What I Like' Exhibition

I recently visited this interactive exhibition. This exhibition consisted of five different coloured long tulle dresses that were hung from the ceiling. Visitors to this exhibition could add their own embellishments to the tulle dresses. We sat down next to one of the dresses and started to sew. I found this incredibly relaxing and reminded me of doing textiles as school. We did not get to spend long adding our contribution to the dresses as my course mates and I had to meet the rest of our course at another exhibition. I would definitely recommend visiting this exhibition, which is on till February to add your own contribution to the exhibition and see all the other amazing creations added by other visitors.

My Contribution:

Other People's Contribution:

Soraya x

Photographs are my own

Wishlist: The Design Studio Hawarden Jacket

Anyone that knows me, knows I love a good fluffy coat especially in a pale or dusty pink. I have recently seen an increase in fluffy bomber jackets filling my Instagram feed. I am now in love with them and will hopefully get my hands on one soon! The brand I keep seeing over and over again was 'The Design Studio Hawarden'. Their jackets look beautiful! I first came across the brand when I saw Stephanie Pratt from Made in Chelsea wearing a sequinned bomber jacket in April. I then followed them on Instagram and having been crushing on their jackets ever since. 

These jackets look so comfortable and warm yet fashionable all at the same time. Hard part now is o just choose 1 that I want!

Soraya x

Photo Credit: TDS Website

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Lumos Charity Gala

Last week I was lucky enough to go and watch a special performance of the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to support JK Rowling's charity Lumos. We watched both parts on the Sunday and it was incredible! I won't reveal any spoilers but the story line and acting was really good and definitely worth a watch! Before the performance started JK Rowling gave a speech explaining the great charity, Lumos. It was eye opening and made everyone think about the role of orphanages and made you question whether they were even helping orphans at all. It was a great day and I would encourage everyone to look into the great charity. I have left links to the Lumos Charity in this blog post. 

If you can, definitely try and grab some tickets for Harry Potter and the Lost Child!

Soraya x

Budapest

Last week I was in the beautiful city of Budapest. We arrived early afternoon on Tuesday and decided to walk around the city to see where everything was and not to too much as we had an early flight so and an early night was definitely needed. Our hotel was in Pest and we took the metro every morning to get into the city centre. We then walked along the bridge to go to Buda which is the more traditional and cultural side of the city and Pest is the where the hustle and bustle of the workers and where the majority of tourists are situated. 

As we were relaxing on Tuesday we decided to visit things in Pest such as the Hungarian Parliament,  the Shoes on the Danube Promenade Memorial and the Basilica of St Stephen. 

Basilica of St Stephen

Hungarian Parliament

Wednesday was dedicated to exploring Buda which included the Fisherman's Bastion, Buda Castle, Liberty Statue and finally we relaxed at the Gellért Thermal Bath. Walking around Buda involved a lot of steps so if the queue for the funicular isn't too long, then I would advise using that instead to get you to the top. After a long day we decided to take the night cruise along the river which separates Buda and Pest.

Fisherman's Bastion

Liberty Statue 

At the highest point of Buda

Gellért Thermal Baths 

Hungarian Parliament at night

After a busy day on Wednesday we decided to take it easy on the Thursday, which was also my friend's birthday. We hopped on the tour bus (which was a nightmare to find on Wednesday) and saw the sights we had not managed to see yet and then we took the metro to Heroes Square. After that, we went to the Szenchenyi Bath, which had 14 different baths. I think we managed all of them. This was lovely and relaxing and we noticed that it was a lot busier than the Gellért Thermal Baths the previous day. There were lots of teens from the UK who had probably stopped off in Budapest whilst they were inter-railing. To celebrate my friends birthday we decided to out that night for a proper celebration. Friday was a long day of waiting for our evening flight so we just relaxed and ate a lot of food!

Heroes Square

As a typical Brit, I will obviously mention the weather! It was extremely hot, especially when you're walking around all day. It's exactly like the beautiful weather we are having at the moment.

If you're in need of a lovely city break with a mix a sightseeing and relaxing spas then Budapest is definitely the place to go. 

Soraya x

Photo Credits: Myself and @jproths

  

Interning at Yumi International

Last month, I was given an amazing opportunity to join the Online Trading  team at Yumi International, a fashion brand sold in Debenhams, House of Fraser and on their own website. Yumi sells beautiful trend-inspired clothes with a unique twist. 

I was in the office twice a week writing blogposts for their 'Yumi Journal' for their upcoming AW16 collections. In addition, I was also writing posts for their various social media accounts and creating boards for their Pinterest account. I loved writing the blog posts explaining their inspiration for each collection and writing about the key pieces from each collection. 

One of the mornings, I got to attend their last photoshoot for the AW16 collection as I was taking behind the scenes images for their Instagram account. This was amazing as I had never seen what a photoshoot for a fashion brand was like apart from our own FCP fragrance brand photoshoot which is not quite the same. It was so interesting to see how much detail went into a fashion photoshoot and how a single crease or out of place hair would change the shot and not look right or as professional to be put on their website.

I learnt so much at Yumi and had great fun writing blogposts and social media posts. Thank you so much to everyone at Yumi for an amazing experience. I'm sure I will be sharing the posts on my social media when each one goes up!

Love Soraya x

I'm off to Budapest tomorrow so follow me on Instagram - soray_ray to see my adventures :) and next Monday's post will be a series of pictures from my trip to Hungary.

Photo Credit: Yumi

A Chanel and Stella McCartney Bag in one?

Last week I went on a much needed shopping trip to London and I went into Zara and I fell in love with but I found a beautiful bag which I knew had to mine. The bag looked like a hybrid of the Chanel Boy bag in terms of the shape and structure of the bag and the embellishing of the bag - a silver chain around the edges if the flap of the bag really reminded me of the Stella McCartney Falabella bag. Both of these bags are iconic and ones I would love to own, but seeing as I'm a student both of these beautiful bags are definitely out of my price range!

I thought that this Zara bag was a perfect bag as I got the best of both worlds with the shape of the Chanel and the embellishing of the Falabella bag in one. I think this bag is such a lovely all day bag as it has two pockets to fill up. I must say the bag itself is quite heavy so you definitely can not overpack this bag too much or it would would be too heavy to carry round all day. With the chain and leather panelled strap, I can have it long with the leather strap or double the strap up for an evening bag. The strap is not long enough for a cross body but is a perfect shoulder bag. The material of the bag on the interior and the bag is a smooth leather and there is a patterned velvet on the flap pf the bag.

Link to the bag

I have been wearing this bag everyday since I bought it and I know I will wear this bag to death.

Soraya x

Photo Credit: Zara Website

Summer Must Have: Espadrilles

This Summer I have noticed that espadrilles have been a Summer must have. Luxury and high street brands have come out with their versions. I think espadrilles' are a great alternative to always wearing flip flips and sandals during the warmer months; and in England it's not hot enough to wear flip flops or sandals so espadrilles cover your feet but still look summery compared to wearing trainers all the time! I thought I would share what I have bought and some of my favourites that I have seen in the shops.

Last summer, I bought some beige and silver pair from Zara and I wore these to death last summer and they still look brand new.

This summer I thought I would buy another pair but in leather. I saw these Kenzo espadrilles with an embossed tiger on the pink leather in the Selfridges sale and thought these were perfect for summer as they were bright and would go with anything from jeans to dresses.

Now for the ones I'm loving in the shops but just haven't bought... yet!

These Chanel espadrilles have been all over my Instagram and I think they are beautiful with the classic and understated colours which allows you to wear them with anything. Chanel have two options either leather espadrilles or canvas.

Kurt Geiger have come out with some beautiful espadrilles in different colours with a black toe cap.

I also love the espadrilles with the lace ups around the leg. I think these ones are perfect for holidays and also dress up your outfit as it looks like the wrap around sandals that are on sale.

River Island

Soludos

Soludos 

Check out my Pinterest board - Espadrilles for more of my favourites

Love Soraya x

Photo Credits: Myself and Pinterest