in conversation with alexandra shulman

Last Wednesday I was very lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend a Q&A like lecture with the one and only Alexandra Shulman, the current editor and chief of British Vogue. Within this lengthy and very inspiring session, Alexandra gave insight to her experience in the industry and what she'll miss and wont miss about working for Vogue. 
Alexandra began her budding career at vogue 25 years ago, which is absolutely insane to think since I wasn't even alive at that time. During this time, this modern day girl boss has celebrated the 100th year anniversary of Vogue, and wrote the book; inside Vogue; a dairy of my 100th year. 


Throughout the session Alexandra touched upon various topics, and we where even given the chance to ask her all of our burning questions..


> Absolutely fashion ; inside British Vogue documentary 
Alexandra shared her brief option on the documentary which took nine months to film, and then was edited down to merely two hours. She ultimate decision to go ahead with the documentary was to show the public that working in the industry is far different from how it's portrayed in various fashion films. As well as it being a very interesting experience for the people that work for the magazine. 

> The Industry 
Since Alexandra has been working in the journalism field for 25+ years she has been a great shift in the industry, she even touched on the fact that the industry wasn't as demographic 25 years ago. The impact of the role of a journalist has changed a lot, seeing as the action is given away by celebrity. As most celebrities are open to selling their own stories, and giving insight to their own lives through blogs and social media; and as this goes against journalism's motive to find stories their self. It's common that journalists will copy and paste tweets, instagram and blog posts onto their own articles to back up their point, as well as already give light to what the individual has already said; coming across as quite lazy. 
Since online magazines has had a rise within the recent years, Alexandra touched up in the point that a physical magazine doesn't have the same affect - "people have a relationship with the physical object, which says a lot of them". 

> Fashion Film & Fashion Inspiration 
Not realistic, pure fiction. Very little portrayal of reality. The industry is difficult to fictionalize so it's hard to make up anything, which is better than reality. In terms of Fashion, Alexandra doesn't particularity have a fashion inspiration and describes her style on that particular day to be a combination of things she's going to wear to the next stage. 

> How she stays motivated?
There isn't one principle to stay motivated, Alexandra stated that you shouldn't strive for perfection; as it means you can't face stating it; and the terror of starting makes it hard not to do - which i found particularly inspiring since I find getting motivated very hard. 

What's next? 
Alexandra empathizes that she's trying to have a long summer holiday. Despite being contracted by several newspapers to write weekly columns. 

I'm so glad I got the chance to have this very insightful opportunity with one of the most influential women in fashion, Thanks for Reading!


- Chrissy X 

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