Hiya, I hope you're all doing okay! My name is Roxanne, and I am running to be the communications officer for Staffordshire's fashion society this year! I became a member of this society due to my love of fashion, aesthetics, makeup and other forms of visual expression. I am a huge fan of the fairy core aesthetic and style, vintage styles of clothing, the Disney princesses and Japanese fashion which have all influenced my current style. Fashion is not something I am studying (I am studying concept art for film and games) however this society has given me the motivation to explore fashion in my spare time and I would love to be able to help others visually express themselves with fashion, as it has boosted my confidence and happiness greatly since coming to university and trying new looks.
I believe I would make a good candidate for this role for a few reasons, I am fully aware of how to use social media to its advantage and know how to operate communication platforms such as discord, which can help society leaders and society members communicate with one another and enjoy online events (This has been rather prominent this year due to covid) as well as use these platforms to plan in person events when the time comes. I have over a year of experience running a discord server of my own, I assign roles, create channels and rules, moderate people's behaviour and create a safe and welcoming space for everyone to enjoy themselves in. Social media is extremely important to promote yourself in the current day (Anything fashion related is great to promote online) and I believe I would be suited for this. As well as this I have knowledge on how to edit photos to be pleasing colour and lighting wise in order to create certain aesthetics and to attract the desired audience.
As well as functioning online, I have very good people skills in person and am very sociable in nature. I love people and getting to know them as individuals and spending time with them. As well as the positives of spending time with people, I also know how to deal with questionable people which is something I learnt how to do whilst working in customer service for two years as you can come across difficult people in life and you need to be able to deal with them in a professional and appropriate manner in order to make sure everyone else is safe, comfortable and happy.
While fashion is an amazing thing, something I would like to maybe spread awareness of is fast fashion and the environmental and ethical issues it causes and help members of the society who would like to work towards reducing their carbon footprint by showing them places online and in person they can shop for clothing that is sustainable and affordable on a student budget if members are interested. I have struggled a lot in the past when it comes to buying clothes so I know it can be very hard and would like to help others learn about how to reduce their carbon footprint. I do not believe in shaming people for struggling to shop sustainably and believe that providing resources, workshops and information to help those who would like to be sustainable is the way to help. The fast fashion industry and the way it operates is something I am very passionate about and am interested in due to it being one of the largest creators of greenhouse gases.
I sadly was not able to experience the society in a covid free world, however as we are beginning to step back into a normal world for next year, I do have some ideas on what I would like to do with the society and for society members if I am given the role:
- I would love to look into possibly running photoshoots for members so they can show off their favourite pieces of fashion they own or have made along with any unique makeup looks they have done with cameras and lights provided, I have been to a photoshoot before to have photos taken and it was very special and fun for me and I would love for others to experience this as it gave me a huge confidence boost.
- Design contests where members can win fashion related prizes (Embroidery kits, textile resources etc.) for designing an outfit or costume that fits in with a brief created by society committee.
- Swap sessions is something I know the society was running in person before restrictions and I would love to continue this as it is a very fun and sustainable way of finding new items of clothing for your wardrobe.
- I would love to expand the society’s social media presence, in my time in the society I haven't seen much about it online and I feel that an online presence would help the society grow and promote itself and its activities. The ways I would go about with this is by creating a discord server for the society, every society I am in has a server and they are amazing for communicating and having fun online activities such as film nights, game nights, networking and socialising. I know it may seem like I am going on and on about social media and discord, but I genuinely believe it will bring the society closer and allow for a wider range of interactions and activities to take place.
If I am given the role I will also listen to additional suggestions from members of the societyand discuss them with the rest of the committee to make the experience in the fashion society the best it can be!