My latest tour

Since the age of about 2 i have been lucky enough to be shown and taken to the most amazing places. From trekking through rainforest's in the deepest parts of Madagascar to sunning it up in Biritz.. (OK tiny bit spoiled i guess). However i never ever thought i would be given a tour on my own neighbouring town Harlow. when approached by Bridgette Ashton + Kitty Wingate to tour the town id been hanging out in for years, i was a little apprehensive.. what could they possibly tell me about Harlow?? Its got a dogey shopping center, a few manky pigeons and a club that is as popular as the cheeky girls. To cut a long story short i had never been so wrong in my life..

Both artists Bridgette and kitty toured around 10 of us through the town itself. The reason for their tour was to promote their new photo book ,Plan(available at www.bridgetteashton.co.uk).

During the tour i started to feel terrible about myself. I counldn't believe quite how much i had taken for granted. It does prove their really is a difference between looking and seeing. All those years and all i payed attention to was what was going on in Top Shop. In a million years i didn't think their was an essence of beauty to Harlow. (well .. anything worth leaving Top Shop for!)

Throughout the tour i started to think of Harlow as a jungle of shape, colour and character no longer was it the grimy shopping center i once thought it was. Ashton's and Wingate's expression and enthusiasm rubbed off entirely. i almost wish i had dragged all the passing public into this group of learning and shooouttt stopp loook at this look how cool it is.

From now on I'm not just going to look I'm going to see.

My fave shop in new york

When you do a course such as fashion communications and promotions its very hard to walk into a shop with out analysing everything about it. This is what i found my self doing throughout this trip. Sometimes you wish you could switch it off just so it doesn't ruin your dreams of the first time you walk into Tiffany's on 5 Th avenue. But the beauty of having this knowledge to Anylise and assess a shop really comes into play when you actually find a shop that ticks all the boxes. When you find this shop you get this burst of excitement that makes you want to ask a million questions and run around the shop taking thousands of pictures. This is exactly what happened when i found Charles Nolan, a small shop that stood on a corner of a what seemed to be an empty area in the meat packing district. When looking at the store from afar theirs nothing to get excited about, as all you see is the pale grey exteriors of the shop but as you walk closer the contrast of the bright window display against the building itself drags you inside. When walking into the store it feels as though you have just stepped into a home. In the foreground you can see various items of clothing hanging in between various eclectic objects scattered around the store . As you move further in you are greeted with a till area, on the counter stood what looked like a family tree made from a collection of ribbons. As you followed the ribbons down, your eyes are drawn to about 5 or 6 family pictures. I asked the smiley lady behind the counter who these people are . The lady smiled yet again and went on to tell me they were in fact her family.. Not only were they here family but they were in fact Charles Nolan's family. This was great! not only is Charles Nolan using family as staff but he was making the brand feel very family orientated. I think this is a great marketing technique as allot of people will warm to the thought of a family buisness an relate to the family idea. The lady proceeded to tell me that he used all of his grandchildren in all of his catwalks and "family are very important to him". Immediately walking around the store i felt as though i was walking around Charles Nolan's very own home. As you carried on through the store you walk into what seams to be a living room with a fire, sofas and a coffee table which held various Charles Nolan's catalogues and books he used for inspiration. The whole store had a kind of vintage feel as you walk round into the back room the jewelry was scattered into silver dish as though you were looking into someones jewelry box. I think this is a really good way of displaying jewelry to women, not only is it showing the consumer what it would look like when they store it for themselves but also what it would look like in the home its automatically triggering the consumer to think about owning it themselves. I think the public find great interest and pleasure in looking around other peoples home and watching how people live, why else would we watch big brother , grand designs and wife swap? I think stores have definitely clocked on to this and are applying it to their stores. Overall i believe Charles Nolan was the best store that i had been into in the meat packing district. With its clever visuals, homely atmosphere and gorgeous designs id definitely go back. I think its all very well putting a rusty old television into a shop to make it vintage but you must relate it to the brand and its values. And i found Charles Nolan did this very well, everything he put in his store had a purpose and also looked dam good.

Central park zoo

A Polar bear, a penguin, snow monkeys and a snow leopard were certainly not something i thought id be laying my eyes on in new york city.

Central park

Central park was so good i went twice, once by horse and cart and once by foot. My first experience of central park was limited to seeing a small section whilst sitting on the back of a horse and kart. sitting under a blanket that seemed to have been there for a good few years ( and needed a good old wash) this matched well with the dated plastic flowers that hung from the horse. The mini trip was a fun experience but something that should be done very light heartedly .. you don't see much and the man that drives you gives u information such as " that's were that scene on home alone was shot ".
My second experience was definitely the best of the two. A group of us decided to spend our 3rd day exploring the sights of the park. We started by getting a cab to drop us off at the top of central park this meant we could walk our way back through the park down to fifth avenue. whilst exploring the park flashbacks of being 8 kept recurring in my head .. every Disney film now made sense! "This is were 101 Dolmations was set" and pretty much every other film i could think of that involved a fairytale princess or talking animals. We all felt as though we were in some kind of secret garden that was just ours. When we came across the Alice in wonderland statue my trip was complete i found myself acting like a 5 year old climbing all over the beautiful statue insisting that people should take pictures of me sitting with the mad hatter. After about 20 minutes of Alice in wonderland pictures the girls decided it a good idea if we got moving again. After the statue we couldn't find much else apart from allot of ice coverd puddles and massive rocks. Once we had clambered up a fairly steep hill we had nearly lost the will to live, Until we were greeted with the most amazing views across a icy lake surrounded by tall trees which were surrounded by even taller buildings of the city.wow.
After taking a million pictures of this view we were getting to the end of our journey around the park and found that thier was one place we must visit .... central park zoo.

The subway

The subway was an exciting experience for us girls, as we had heard of how people had made life long friendships and seen the selection of "Borat" scenes filmed in the very carriages we had sat. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to meet some fashion editor and we could be best friends, or maybe we too could be featured in one of Sacha Baron-Cohen's new film. When we entered the subway it wasn't as glamorous as id previously thought. I found myself comparing it constantly to the London underground. And to be honest the subway won on the practical front. Its spacious carriages meant that everyone could travel comfortably which is a rarity when travelling the underground. although the subway won on that front i found it didn't quite have the character as the London underground supplies. each station in London is plastered in thousands of brightly coloured posters even the brick work is usually designed with the brightest pallet. The subway had none of this, it almost felt as though we were rattling around in an empty (but spacious) tin can. i suppose it all depends on what you want from your source of city travel .. do you want speedy spacious (quite boring) travel or do you want a journey through the very crowded humid but very aesthetically pleasing underground i know what i would probably prefer ...

Nyc Graffiti

some i found ...

The meat packing district

By far my favourite place in the city, this place is a parade full of the very best designers and the best atmosphere. Walking through the cobbled streets of the meat packing district you feel as though you have unreeled a hidden gem. Each shop bounces a vibe of culture, glamour,eccentricity from window to window. Each shop itself felt like its own little world with stores thinking majorly about in store visual merchandise and architecture. Matthew Williamson's store in particular was mind blowing. Walking through the store your greeted by separate booths displaying each collection at its best, but as you move further through the store your eyes suddenly are sucked towards the back wall. This back wall was glass, But obviously Williamson knows better than to just have a boring glass wall at the back of his glamorous shop , instead there is a whole jungle of tropical trees and exsotic animals something you could look at everyday and find something new. The changing rooms were beautifully decorated each room unique. when i tried a dress on i found myself in the golden room. This room was small but still something i was impressed by . The walls were encrusted in metallic insets as well as diamante birds on a sea of golden wall paper. The seating in this room was anything from normal. The chairs arms seamed to curl over forever with a red Velvet cushion seat. The hooks in this room were brass hands making you feel as though you had your own butler holding your clothes. It wasn't only the shop that impressed me , as soon as i tried this dress on i felt amazing . My friends couldn't quite believe that i was standing in a Matthew Williamson dress but i definitely could. Each aspect of this dress felt as though i had put on something special, from its bejeweled neckline to its floaty hem .. i could only dream about owning this dress for myself.

After wandering through the likes of Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen,Dvf, and many more we decided it was time to go and check out the views on an old railway track that looked over the water to Brooklyn. A little warning this should not be done with out a massive coat and gloves when venturing out here in January. We managed to find a pier to walk out on to look at the view .

I Love food !!!!

My second favorite thing to clothes is food!! and what better way to take in the American culture than to eat our way through the city . My friends and i managed to try pretty much try everything that new york had to offer from pasta in little Italy to extravagant breakfasts in Soho. Here's some i managed to get snaps off.....

Pizza bigger than my head !!!!
My American breakfast ,, this made me smile ... who knew eggs Benedict came with chips and melon ?
Vanilla malt milkshake mmmmmm .Here's a tip DON'T ask for chocolate milk apparently you get Nesquick in a glass :) .
pink lemonade ,, This was a very exciting prospect for me :)
bagel. Its got to be done!
roasted peanuts yyyyyyyyyyuuuuuuuuum
My green wrap this confused me allot !?

Time square

Stepping out of the limo ( THAT'S RIGHT LIMOOOOOOO!) into time square was surreal. If you could dive into a lake of colour light and noise this would be the lake Baikal. With very step up the red stairs i thought to myself wow i wonder how many people have seen this? I wonder how many people stand in this very spot everyday ? .Even though it was about 10 o'clock at night the lights from the billboards made it feel as though you were stepping into broad day light.
My favourite experience time square was definitely having our faces on the billboard this is truly a time square experience that's unique to our trip. Not only was this a great experience but also a great advertising idea. This is how it worked ..

1. step inside store and buy a product ( this was American eagle)
2. have your picture taken
3. choose your own personal message
4. take some Nivea samples
5. peg it outside to see your face on screen in TIME SQUARE

why this works

1. making you buy something from the store ( American eagle)
2. enables you to try samples of Nivea products
3. the brand attaches itself to a memory
4. placing an ad in one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world helps majorly with publicity.
5. making the brand more of a personal experience (making consumer feel more emotionally attached to product).

Canal Street

I'd call this place the Camden market of new york or if your from Essex the north wield market of new york. This place is the land of the fakes, you cant walk down this road with out being hassled by a small Chinese lady saying " Prada Prada Gucci Gucci Tiffany Tiffany ". Or a gang of rather scary huggge men with big black plastic bags filled to the brim with the latest mulberry or Cartier watches. This place is not one to go alone .. if your hunting for the fakes you need to look hard, and handle walking into a secret rooms in dodgy shops. For any student who cant afford the real deal this place is perfect.However being one of around 80 students that went for this trip it was slightly obvious that nothing we bought was real as nearly all of us entered the plane on the way home with a new channel or coach bag.. oops :)

My biggest surprise..

Here in the UK Juicy Couture is seen as the height of tackiness, something worn only by the "want to be" wags and 'past it' celebrities. When i personally think of juicy couture i see pink Velvet's, hideous diamonds and plastic golds, it all screams " YUKKKK" to me. Well these were definitely my views before i came to the states. These soon changed when i was walking down 5Th avenue on the other side of the road from the Juicy store. "WOW" i wasn't expecting to be drawn to a window display as i had to this one. (" its gotta be pretty good to grabs someones attention from across the road"). As i walked over i was drowned with the amount of fascinating different object that were showcased in this window. I found my eyes were swimming through various concoctions of flying pigs, show girls and giant diamond rings. I don't think anything could drag a teenage girl into a store as well as this.
In-store was like walking into a teenage dream with a huge "princess like" stair case featuring a giant juicy couture gold suit of armour (very fairytale). As you walked around there would be various animal heads bejeweled and laced in pearls and diamonds. The products were also a surprise to me all in fact quite quirky ,, nothing like the tacky wag vision i had had before id walked into the store. All in all i found this store to be the biggest surprise to me and has definitely made me think twice about the brand.

Something small i noticed ...

Circles Circles Circles everywhere!! Tiffany, Louis Vitton, Diesel, Prada and Victoria secret. In the shape of stamps, window displays, stickers, lifts, boxes and look books.

The NYC Eclectic trend

Pretty much everyone used the paper trend or the do it yourself "home made" trend. Anthropology's window displays were made from recycled plastic cups and thousands of straws which from far away looks pretty good however i didn't believe it was original enough for their brand(this is just the Soho store ). However walking into their store it's another story all together. As soon as i took my first step into the store i found my face constantly glued to the camera. You find yourself not just wanting to take pictures of there over the top visual merchandising but a picture of their surreal funky products. This shop makes you want to have a wooden giraffe in your lounge ,import snow into your sitting room and Tye orange string around your bedroom. This mix of the eclectic wasn't just adapted with this brand but i noticed this throughout the city.. it some how seamed as though each store were competing with who could get the most random object in their store. Anthropology had a giant wooden giraffe in the middle of the store .. juicy couture had various animal heads around the store draped with jewelery and smothered in make up. I wonder what this brings to the brand? why do these stores want to do this? maybe it brings a sense of fun to the brand? maybe they want to create a talking point about the stores so people go in there? Maybe they just did it so people like me will write about how their stores should be visited? Its probably all of these and to be honest i think it works its certainly made it memorable for me.