Update: Fashion Buying & Management Postgraduate Diploma

To say I've been missing in action over the past few months would be a major understatement! So why the blog neglect I hear you ask?

In January I began a Postgraduate Diploma in Fashion Buying and Management. Something which I took a year out to save up for, which left me little time or energy to keep my blog updated. (For those who aren't in the know, a Postgrad. Diploma is a Masters Degree minus the thesis)

I actually get asked a lot of questions about my course, what's involved, how did I afford the €12,000 fees - which is something I wanted to briefly touch on in this post.

I was very lucky to do a work placement in Dunnes Stores Head Office as part of my Postgraduate Diploma, which was an internship in the Fashion Buying department. If anything it further fuelled my passion to work in this area of the fashion industry.

Two other key elements of my first semester were a trip to Paris in February to Premiere Vision - basically a trade show of fabrics with sections broken down into the upcoming seasons key trends, but imagine this taking place in an ENDLESS space, yes literally endless. There was a strict no photography policy in place inside, I actually witnessed a few people have photos deleted from their phones by security. We also had to write a report on the SS15 Fashion in Paris, the above photos are some I snapped for mine.

Our second overseas trip was to Leeds, where we got to visit two fabric finishing companies. One of which deals with luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Lanvin. We also got to visit some smaller scale textile manufacturers in Ireland.

All of this on top of a HUGE amount of assignments, group work projects and presentations for 6 subjects plus working 20 hours a week in retail made for little or no time for myself, let alone maintaining a blog. When people hear 'fashion buying' they instantly conjure up images of flicking through the pages of Vogue and pointing to pretty outfits. How wrong this perception is! My course is very much business based, which I love.

In regards to affording the price tag of the course, I took a year out to work full time and save up as much money as possible. Another way I generated a significant amount of cash was selling my old clothing with Siopaella (whilst also managing to acquire a Louis Vuitton and Prada handbag.. I'll leave that for another post). Meanwhile I continued to work 20 hours per week on top of my full time postgraduate course, which was intense.

This semester is my final one, after being delighted with my grades I decided it would be best to cut back on my work commitments and focus solely on my course. Sometimes a short term loss (in this case financial, I'm on a spending ban) is better for a long term gain. I don't think many people would be comfortable paying €12,000 for something, only to feel they were not getting their money's worth due to constant time constraints.

I plan to do a more detailed blog on my internship, and of course Siopaella as well as a few other topics, so stay tuned.

Mia x