Helen Latimer

Part of our course, our tutors organise talks with people that are working in the industry for myself and my peers to get a greater understanding what the industry is like. I then have to write a report about the talk. This is very interesting and my report is below.

Also visit Helen's website at www.studiolatimer.com

Helen Latimer is a fashion designer; she qualified from Northumbria University seven years ago. Since then she has worked for companies and now works freelance since July ’09, from her office at home. Helen’s main aim was to talk to the group about the presentation skills, of a portfolio and how to present the work, to potential employers. She also gave the group useful websites that show potential jobs and placements that look for students.

Helen gave valuable advise on how to present your portfolio, on her own experiences. The first page in her portfolio is about her showing that she can draw, which is personal to her. She takes two portfolios with her to an interview one with the designs that she has produced for other companies and the other on research that she has collected. The research is presented in a professional way. Depending on the brief the research imitated the inspiration. Helen’s Portfolio changes with each interview depending on what the job is for. This shows that she is capable to create different designs. To stop the portfolio from becoming boring and monotonous she will have two pages from each project, so it’s punchy and fresh.

With certain clients they want Helen to produce a shop report. This shows, what’s in the retail market, it’s very competitive. Helen has also spoke to the people who are wearing the cloths she’s designing for, for example a football kit to find out what they want.

Helen shared with us aspects that I have defiantly over looked, in design. Consider all areas of the garment, how is it made? Where do the seams lie? What is the material like? Is it for a purpose? For example Helen put together a sheet of vest tops with designs all over these, although what would you put with the vest top? Where and how would you wear the garment? One-way to do this is to write a small explanation by the visualisation, like a ‘Dear Diary’ entry. Along with the design it is good to show the design in different colour ways or variations to the design. Other aspects to consider are what is the material inside the garment? Logos are another element to consider for example if it’s sportswear or with a brand how big are the logos and positioning this on the garment.

All her work is produced using Illustrator, when Helen came out of university she didn’t know how to use illustrator although the company she was working with gave her a two day course and she picked it up then. In fashion and packaging it is vital that you can use Illustration. Helen also likes to sketch her designs as well as computerizing them.

It was an eye opener talking to Helen, I have now realised that it’s not a 9-5 job with lots of money. She told us at one point that if she didn’t have her partner than she would not be able to afford the mortgage on her house, because the pay wasn’t every month it could be up to six months at a time before the pay, even though when completing the invoices she specified to be paid every two weeks. So although she’s working freelance it’s not always going to be easy with the hours that are needed and the pay.

Helen was friendly and willing to help the group out which was lovely.