On set, on brief and in the industry

Rosalie McGilloway, a second-year Fashion Styling and Creative Direction student, and Lily Herbert, who graduated this year with a First-Class degree in the same course, have both been working with ARWEC, a professional creative production studio based in Southampton.

Both students were introduced to ARWEC through Sasha Halsey, Senior Lecturer in Fashion, who put them forward when the studio needed support on upcoming shoots.

For Lily, that first day as a studio runner quickly turned into something more sustained. "I continuously expressed my interest and availability for more projects," she says. After a year working with the team, she has now transitioned into a Production Assistant role, having assisted on campaigns for clients including L'Occitane, Harrogate Spring Water, Aveeno and Floral Street.

Lily now supports the studio across the full production cycle, from sourcing props and preparing the set through to post-production returns.

What both students describe most vividly is that on set, the expectations are the same as any other professional in the room. "They know I am a student," Rosalie says, "but you are not treated like you are still learning. You are working in the industry for them."

For Lily, the time at ARWEC has sharpened her understanding of the degree itself. "It was exciting to see how software such as Capture One, Adobe Suite and Excel are integrated into real-world applications. It has granted me the perspective of how each step of my course modules would look in an industry brief.”

Beyond the practical skills, both students speak about the contacts they have made and the confidence they have gained. A second-year module on Professional and Personal Development helped Rosalie identify her direction more clearly. "I would like to work in fashion PR," she says, describing a role that now spans campaign strategy, creative direction and social media alongside the traditional press side of the industry.

Lily, meanwhile, is working towards a career in campaign production and fashion trend forecasting and credits the breadth of her course with keeping options open while building genuine depth. That support extends to the lecturers themselves. "My lecturers have been in or are still in the industry," Rosalie says. "They still have their contacts. If I say I would love to get into PR, a lecturer will say I have got so-and-so's email, or I can help with your CV.”

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."

For Lily, it was the Summer Degree Show that left its mark. "It was a joy to celebrate my class, each other's work, and the event that our whole experience at Solent has led to."

Their experiences reflect something central to how Solent approaches creative education: that the most valuable learning happens when students are doing real work, alongside real professionals, on real campaigns. They are leaving with portfolios, networks and the kind of hands-on experience that employers are looking for.