Behind the scenes at London Fashion Week

Fashion Styling and Creative Direction students Rosalie McGilloway and Jaime-Lea-Lea Begg took their studies from the classroom to London Fashion Week last month, working with some of the industry's leading PR teams.

London Fashion Week is one of the world's most influential fashion events, bringing together designers, press, stylists and buyers for days of shows and presentations across the capital.

Rosalie, a third-year student, joined I.DEA PR, a female-founded and female-led company, as an intern. During her four-day placement, she worked across 11 events, including one for London-based womenswear brand SDCA Studio. Her work included supporting guest arrivals and representing the agency at events:

"Welcoming guests, speaking to them and giving them a personable experience is something I really enjoyed," she says. "By recognising them and asking about previous shows, I could help them feel comfortable at our events."

Watching her colleagues was just as valuable. "I learned so much from the other women at I.DEA PR and how they communicated. It has been so beneficial for me, as PR is a career I would like to progress into."

One introduction led to Rosalie attending London Fashion Week, through a connection made by an alumnus who reached out to her lecturers asking for volunteers. "It is the type of thing you don’t think you’ll get to do at university, and it happened at the start of my second year. I could not believe it."

She says the support of her lecturers has been key. "They have been in, or are still in, the industry, and they still have their contacts. If I say I would love to get into PR, a lecturer will say, 'I've got so-and-so's email,' or 'I can help with your CV.'"

After volunteering with Fashion Scout in her first and second years, final-year student Jaime-Lea returned to London Fashion Week this year working with PR agency Cellar Communications after an initial interview for a short-term assistant role led to an offer of a full PR internship.

Cellar had four shows lined up, including Myat, Kyle Ho, Geordie Campbell and Grete Henriette. "Each show had incredible features, set designs, talent and sponsors," Jaime-Lea says. Between shows, she has also been learning to work with the agency's other clients, including Duke & Dexter and Daniel Simmons.

Her experience goes beyond PR. She has done backstage dressing at London Fashion Week and assisted at Graduate Fashion Week, and her creative work is shaped by visual storytelling. "I'm drawn to fashion's ability to communicate identity, mood and atmosphere through image-making," she says. "I'm eager to keep developing my practice and gain more experience in styling, creative direction and visual editorial production."

Placements like this sit at the heart of Solent's Career Ready Revolution, the University's commitment to redesigning every course around real-world experience, industry connections and employability. For Fashion Styling and Creative Direction students, that means working in live industry environments, building portfolios of industry-recognised work, and networking with the professionals shaping their future careers.