EMMA CROYDON

In this interesting podcast Bridget Kendall explores the modern history of perfume, including both its ancient roots and the scientific findings that transformed it into what we know it as today. The podcast features scientist and critic Luca Turin, writer and curator Lizzie Ostrom, and the perfumer Thomas Fontaine. Personally, I found the conceptual part of this discussion more interesting than the scientific part, and found that it relates to my study much more. What is first discussed between the speakers is the open question: what defines perfume? It is referred to as a chemical poem, done by arranging chemicals with different scents to generate an idea, impression or feeling, which is what gives perfume the power to evoke emotions, influence us, awaken our senses or stir memories. It is explained that a smell has no intent, but a perfume does, and is shaped by peoples personal tastes. Perfume can also be more simply described as a cosmetic product that is part of our daily morni

PART 3, "THE SMELL OF FUTURE" What I learnt and thought... The key message delivered in this part of the documentary is that we like in a smell is determined by our culture and environment, for example, the Russians favour rich and heavy scents, and the Chinese favour a light and airy scent whilst the Brazilians most enjoy fruity scents. This is something I've always noticed, and I feel that as a British female the luxuriously strong and sophisticated perfumes are most favoured here. Because of this cultural preference, fragrances are made with the intention to be regionally appropriate to meet our perfume preferences based on our culture. In the past, scent fashion evolved much more slowly, and the Victorians loved rich, musky fragrances, then, the British fell in love with lighter perfumes. It seems that the future of fragrance is almost unpredictable as it all comes down to the dynamics of cultural change and preference shifts, so who knows what countries of scents w

PART 2, "BOTTLING THE MEMORY" What I learnt and thought... This part of the documentary taught me how perfumery is an esoteric artistry and forever will be. In fact, more astronauts exist than perfumers. The job of a perfumer is to capture the moment and take us back to past times in our lives by triggering our memories using scent; it is proven that scent and emotion interlink. "The message is romance, the language is is molecules"; this language is spoken by perfumers, our noses, artists, scientists and philosophers. Perfumers are some of the worlds most meticulous people, which is why the principle of the biggest school for noses run by the biggest chemical company in the fragrance world, 'Givaudan', just outside of France, looks for students that are cultured genius' with winning personalities. In these schools only technique can be taught, not creativity, which is why perfumers have such a rare and natural talent, and some year, literally no one i

This three part BBC documentary released in 2013 gives insights into the perfume industry, the artistry of perfume and commercializing it. I gained a lot of knowledge from it which is beneficial for my upcoming study and I found it extremely interesting and eye opening. PART 1, "SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW" What I learnt and thought... What I learnt from this part is how the adverts, bottle and name are all ingredients for the recipe on how to successfully sell a perfume, but for it to be made an icon in the market and be bought over and over again, it is the quality of the substance inside the bottle that truly counts. The largest question asked to fix perfume marketing executives is: how do you make a new perfume stand out from the crowd? This is because this market is so highly competitive, and so each stage of the production is vital and very carefully done by meticulous individuals. The industry is so competitive because nobody actually needs another perfume, so whe

SUMMARY OF THIS READ... The third edition of the book Fashion Brands by Mark Tungate is a book I have been indulging in over the past week, which investigates the popularization of fashion in society and in industry and explains how branding experts and marketers have transformed garments and fashion accessories into objects of desire worldwide. This read also explores ethical clothing, the impact of blogging, the burgeoning childrenswear market, and the rise of the celebrity-endorsed product ranges. Tungate also investigates logos, advertising, store design, psychology and the influence of the media. This book evaluates and analyses every single aspect of fashion from a marketing perspective, which is rather helpful for my study in Fashion Communication and Promotion and meets my personal interests. The writing style used is journalistic and concise and I enjoyed reading it and feel that it educated me a lot more on the fashion side of my study.

Now that I have finished my first term of studying Fashion Communication and Promotion (FCP), I wanted to reflect on the FCP process I have been learning and practicing throughout; we call it 'looking through the FCP lens'. The process is a strategic way of producing effective and successful outcomes to briefs, including all of the four key stages consecutively throughout: context, ideas, concepts and outcomes. I have used this several times over the past few months of studying my course and found that it is indeed very useful and important to know as someone who is being introduced to this industry. Along the way of this process we are challenged in multiple areas such as teamwork skills, time management, reflective practice, creative and academic engagement and attendance, which all combine to create our autonomy level as individual students within one dynamic and collaborative system. CONTEXT The context stage involves gathering primary and secondary research which inform

After a shocking note was found in a pair of Primark underwear by an Irish customer in 2014, which read a plead for help from a Chinese prison inmate making clothes for export under conditions of slave labor, and a woman found messages about slavery conditions sewn into her Primark clothing labels, another shivering incident occurred in January this year causing questions and chaos about the chain fashion label to be raised again; a customer at a Primark store in Essex found what is believed to be a human bone in a pair of socks they bought in December, causing distress and confusion. I was baffled when reading the news which was plastered over social media and I can only imagine how disgusted that customer must've felt when discovering this surprise when all they wanted was a cheap pair of socks. Although the company said that it was "highly" probable that the unusual object was "placed in the socks for unknown reasons", it becomes increasingly worrying when

Veja is a French footwear and accessory brand which creates a positive change in their production by claiming ecological and fair trade conditions. Unlike your regular footwear brand, their shoes are made differently with love and care for the environment and workers. After watching the Sarah Dooley documentary about fashion's dirty secrets which addresses problems surrounding fashion and sustainability, I was really impressed by this brands ethos and was inspired to research and write about it after being told about it by my mum who works in a footwear store. "Transparency is the future. Spread the word." Veja's canvas shoes are made of 100% organic cotton which is grown by cooperatives of farmers who have adopted agro-ecological methods; no chemicals or pesticides are used in the process and all farmers are fairly paid. Each Veja sole is made of 40% of rubber from the Amazon jungle which increases the economic value of the forest and helps fighting against de

Fyre Festival was an epic fail of a luxury, 'immersive music festival' used to promote the company’s luxury talent hiring app, which ended in utter chaos and complete danger, Founded by the once successful entrepreneur, or evil mad-man, Billy McFarland, in 2017. What this tragic event highlights are the immense power of advertisement and the influencers that rule the dominant world of social media today.  In summary, the elite festival promoted a luxury experience on the white-sand beaches of Pablo Escobar's private island in the Bahamas with hundreds of influencers and the some of the world’s most popular celebrities, a gourmet catering service, a customised private jet travel experience, the choice of multiple luxury accommodation options including private yachts with private chefs on board (priced at $250,000 each), private beach homes and VIP beach tents. Many of the world’s best models including Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin and Emily Ratajkowski were paid thousands