Today I made my second college visit to London College of Fashion. Right in the heart of London off Oxford Street lies the John Prince's Street site which is their main exhibition space, providing a place for high-tech catwalk shows and lectures.
''London College of Fashion's rich heritage and responsiveness to changes in design practice have positioned it as a leading global provider of fashion education, research and consultancy.''
What stunned me was the wide range of courses available. These included fashion buying and marketing, knitwear, fashion styling, beauty and spa, photography,sportswear, womenswear, menswear...these are only a few of the long list of courses available. Something that I really picked up was the emphasis on the fact that fashion is not all just about dresses, but SO MUCH MORE !! Today the fashion industry is worth approximately £21 billion...which indicates how much fashion has become a part of peoples lives. Its important more people start to realise how big the fashion buisness is... Paula Reed, style director at Grazia magazine, said: "For a long time people have underestimated fashion in terms if its importance to the wealth of the nation. The general attitude often seems to be that working in fashion isn't a real job – but it is in fact lots of people's 'real jobs'."
On that note I shall leave you with a few interesting fashion industry facts and I thoroughly encourage any of you that are interested in the fashion industry to visit LCF, as I was blown away at their enthusiasm and expertise in their knowledge and love for the global phenomenon that is FASHION.
In 2008 consumers spent £46bn on clothes and shoes alone (not counting make up, glossy magazines and other related purchases)
London fashion week makes £20m a year for the capital and draws in orders of £100 million
The fashion industry's contribution – directly and indirectly – to UK GDP is estimated at £37.2bn in 2009. Of this £20.9bn is due directly to retail, wholesale and manufacture
xoxo
