Charlotte Lewis
Word Count – 491
Level 1 – Group MJ1/2
Writing for Multimedia
Written 23/03/2011
Title – Blog Piece – “London Fashion Week – The Dark Side of Fashion”

In February, London was graced with the annual presence of the fashion glitterati and their army of suited and booted, stiletto-toed followers for the event known as London Fashion Week.

Being one of the few beings important or rich enough to attend this upper class event offers entry into a world of celebrities, fashion designers, beautiful clothes and a whole lot of Champagne. Sounds ‘totally fabulous darling’, right? However there is a dark side to this seemingly flawless week of decadence. Every year the press pick up on it, yet every year it stays the same. Women’s magazines focus on it and the women that read them fixate on it, the issue on everyone’s lips - weight.

Scarily skinny models are a subject in the fashion world that is widely debated over in practically every country, many of which have now adopted policies that prevent models with BMI’s under 18 from walking the catwalk, a very positive prevention if you ask me. According to the British Medical Association the media’s obsession the barely-there bodies of fashion models has contributed to the growth in eating disorders among young girls - There are an estimated 60,000 people in Britain with eating disorders. Nine out of ten are female.

With the increasing eating disorder-related deaths of models and people that are subjected to them through the media, you would think London Fashion Week would have been trying to follow other shows leads by using ‘normal-sized’ models and turning their backs on anorexic chic, right? Wrong. Liz Jones, anorexia survivor and a writer for the Daily Mail, angrily reported “...do they think we’re blind?” when she saw the zombie-like, stick-girls tottering up and down the catwalk.

One model involved in the Fashion Week that received particular media attention, and shocked me to my core, was Chloe Memisevic - A 17-year-old Swedish model, represented by Wilhelmina Models in New York, with a Body Mass Index of below 15. Yes, below 15. A healthy BMI is somewhere between 18.5 and 24.9, making it clear that designers hiring her, such as Mary Katrantzou and Marc Jacobs, are in no hurry to promote a healthy body image in their fashion shows.

I understand that designers often feel that the best way to showcase their clothing line is to hire models with bodies that will flatter the clothes without distracting from them, but designers have been accused of simply seeing models as ‘clothes hangers’ for their collections in the past. Does that mean that model’s have to weigh about as much as the hangers I’ve got in my wardrobe?

The big question is: Will the fashion world ever change? Will they ever see sense on this issue and stop promoting unhealthy lifestyles for young women the world over? Every year more promises are made but, as this year’s London Fashion Week proved, we will have to wait for any real action to be taken against the dark side of Fashion.

Hyperlinks:
http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/769290.stm
http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1359713/London-Fashion-Week-2011-Skeletal-models-super-sized-hypocrisy.html

Charlotte Lewis

Word Count – 635

Level 1 – Group MJ1/2

Writing for Multimedia

Written 22/03/2011

Title - Student Lettings Lottery

Students everywhere are feeling the strain of some of the most difficult months university life has thrown at them yet.

Finding a house for their second academic year often causes many students a large amount of stress and anxiety. The student house hunt generally begins for most during the semesters following Christmas, which are already difficult for students for all manner of reasons; exams, hefty assignment hand-ins, and financial instability. Are stressed out students getting the help and quality housing their money deserves?

According to the University of Southampton the average cost of renting a room for a student in Southampton in 2009/10 was £60 - £70 per week, excluding bills. However, many landlords appear to be demanding prices above this average and, although student rent may have gone up in the last year, often their quality does not seem to match their price tag. Many students may have to put up with problems such as damp, faulty appliances, pest infestations, lack of security and issues with landlords.

Elisha Kyne, a first year student at Brighton University, has already viewed 16 houses in her search for a reasonable standard of accommodation. She says:

“Brighton is the second most expensive city in the UK and I understand that I will be paying more, but for the quality of a lot of the housing I have seen I don’t think it is fair at all.”

Iwona Jankowska, Property Maintenance manager for Southampton based company ‘Posh Pads’, who specialise in student lettings, said:

“It is a sad truth that rent prices rise while the condition of some of the properties deteriorates, but it cannot be avoided.”

Iwona explains how ‘Posh Pads’ works hard to keep the quality of their houses up to standard:

“We carefully check each property after each year of tenancy. Each house gets a proper care and is constantly maintained to improve its quality. Every year we choose a couple of properties that require refurbishment most and we proceed with the works during Christmas or Easter time while students are away.”

Students have often been stereotyped as ‘bad tenants’ to let to because of issues such as late rent, damage to property and noise complaints. Many students do not behave this way but are treated with less respect from landlords than a normal adult working tenant. Iwona agreed, saying:

“Students are still considered to be children by some of the landlords. The truth is they are adult, grown people who require treating accordingly.”

Some lettings agencies could offer more help and advice to struggling students trying to find suitable and affordable accommodation, a fact recognised by ‘Posh Pads’ too:

“Some websites contain lists of property and prices, which is helpful but it is hard and painful to deal with the staff of the agency, as they treat students in a bad manner just because of the fact that they are students. Some letting agents need to give proper attention to the students, knowing they are struggling to find their accommodation.”

With university fees set to rise in the next few years many students may find the hardships of renting private accommodation even fiercer. After 2012 universities will be able to charge tuition fees of up to £9000 per year, taking further education out of many people’s reach, especially when teamed with the high living costs.

Elisha Kyne expressed her concerns over the consequences of the difficult task of finding appropriate student housing:

“The stresses of finding a student house and then paying for it, with high deposits and rent often demanded in advance, can lead to students becoming depressed and even dropping out of university all together.”

“Finding a good quality, affordable, student house is like playing the lottery; it is very unlikely that anyone will win and if they do they are incredibly lucky.”

Living Prices info - http://www.soton.ac.uk/accommodation/privaterented/costofliving.html

Problems with rented student accommodation - http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/StudentHousing/DG_064419

Posh Pads website - http://www.poshpads.com/

Elisha Kyne – Email – elishakyne@gmail.com

Posh Pads Lettings Company – Email: iwona@poshpads.com

“Eating is cheating.”

Everyone in my flat was getting ready to head out for the night to celebrate a friend’s birthday and I hadn’t eaten any dinner. Deciding I did not want to become a drunken mess due to my empty stomach I made myself a couple of pieces of toast and spread them with butter. It didn’t take me long to realise I had an audience. One of my flat-mates had brought her friend round to join us for the night, her very skinny friend. As I bit into my toast, the skinny girl paused, looked me up and down and simply said one sentence, “Eating is cheating,” and then turned away.

This sentence haunted me. I was so surprised when the girl said it that I found myself speaking my mind and asking “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” Surely she couldn’t be telling me that I shouldn’t be eating at all, was it some kind of rude dig at my size (which is a UK size 10, thank you very much), had I misheard her? I wanted to know. In reply, she simply repeated her sentence and, with a triumphant smile on her face, told me she had eaten nothing all day. I was in shock and avoided her like the plague for the rest of the night.

This bizarre encounter really got me thinking, will women ever be allowed to be happy just the way they are? We constantly talk about how men perceive our bodies, but what about the pressure from other women? This particular ‘woman’ didn’t make me feel greedy or fat, just angry. Angry at the way society has created this army of anti-food fanatics who don’t just feel the need to shame themselves out of eating, but attempt to shame others too.

I know that it is a cliché to blame celebrity culture for this issue, but I certainly think that it plays a huge part. Take this famous Kate Moss quote for example, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” I have always had issues with my body, as every teenage girl does, and when you have an obsessive love for fashion and gossip magazines you're going to see your fair share of teeny tiny celebrity waists, all bound to make you feel like a size 10 is about a size 10 thousand. However, is being skinny really feeling good? What kind of message is this sending out to young women all over the world? Someone as famous and influential as Kate Moss should be making young women feel positive about their appearances, not instilling dangerous thoughts that can lead to diseases such as anorexia and bulimia.

We are fast running out of the inspirational celebrities that once went against the size zero sensation within the media, such as Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan, Kelly Osborne, Jennifer Hudson, Charlotte Church and many, many more, who have now succumbed to the pressures of being in the public eye. I am happy for them for losing weight, but I worry that soon there will be no celebrities left over 100lbs for young women to look up to. There has even been talk that Christina Hendricks, ‘Mad Men’ star and voted sexiest woman alive by ‘Esquire’ magazine, is not happy with her amazing curvaceous figure and aims to lose around 35lbs. It is so important to have poster girls for healthy and curvy women in this day and age and they are fast running out.

The Bread for Life Campaign surveyed just over 900 Young Women In 1998, aged between 18 and 24 and created the ‘Pressure to be Perfect’ report with their findings. The results found that 61% of women feel inadequate compared to the media’s image of beautiful women, 91% thought it was bad that the media always portray so-called perfect women, 89% wished more average sized models would be used in magazines and 63% wanted fewer dieting features. I think that it is largely the fault of the media that young women are thinking so negatively about food and their bodies and I feel that these statistics back up my opinion.

As much as I despise the size zero culture, I am not by any means suggesting that obesity is a positive. 300,000 people a year die from obesity; this is considerably higher than the statistic for deaths from anorexia. There is definitely a limit on how heavy a weight can be considered healthy, but there is certainly a limit on how low a weight can be considered healthy too. However such weights are all too commonly celebrated on popular TV shows, such as ‘90210’, one of the stars of which, Shenae Grimes, is estimated at just 90lbs. I would most likely have to cut off one of my legs, and maybe an arm, to weigh that little.

One of the worst things about the world’s obsession with skinny is that young women are caring more about what they look like than about who they are. They are being taught that being thin and attractive is more important than personality, than intelligence, than happiness or health. How are girls ever supposed to believe that they will find a partner who will love them for who they are, inside and out, if larger girls are basically being told they are unlovable?

All of this in mind, I do not dislike or blame the skinny girl that uttered the sentence that started my whole debate. She is simply another young woman who has been brainwashed into thinking that food is some kind of enemy that must be avoided, she probably thought she was doing me some sort of favour, but I’m going to stick to eating how I want and when I want. Eating nice food, enjoying life and being happy is more important to me than the numbers on my scales. Thanks very much Mrs “Eating is cheating,” but go preach your diet advice elsewhere. Now where did I put that bar of Dairy Milk?

The Holiday - Southampton Local Band Profile

Leaping around the stage, sweaty and full of enthusiasm and a room full of girls eagerly watching them; The Holiday are in their element. Jamie Smart is on vocals, moving and dipping the microphone stand as if it’s his dance partner whilst he sings his lungs out. Daniel Cobb and James Broderick are on guitar and look as though they are putting their heart and soul into every chord. James Harding is on vocals and bass, multi tasking both fantastically, whilst his band mate Jonathan Royston-Claire smashes out beats on the drums. You can just tell when a band really enjoys performing and this is definitely one of them.

The Holiday formed in Spring 2010 and in less than a year have transformed into a popular local band. With their happy-go-lucky songs such as ‘Cue the Sun’ and ‘The Weekend’, The Holiday have headlined and sold out Southampton venues such as ‘The Joiners’ and supported the American band ‘Fun’ in Brighton. But is this tight-knit band content with simply local success? Absolutely not. These boys have big personalities but even bigger ambitions.

“Where do I see the band in five years time? The dream is to have a major record deal with someone like ‘Universal’ and a truly devoted fan base,” Jonathan Royston-Claire, a self-confessed Mcfly fanatic, explains, eyes wide, brushing his hands through his fly-away hair, “We’d really like to get some buzz going in America. That would be amazing.” Jonathan, at the back of the stage behind his drum kit and his band mates, could quite easily be over-shadowed; however his height, at well over 6ft, and his extrovert personality do not allow this to happen.

When Jonathan is asked about his height, band-mate James Broderick, guitarist, eagerly gets up out of his seat and encourages Jonathan to stand back-to-back with him. This is the first real sign of off-stage confidence in the small brown haired boy, who rocked it on stage but seems very quiet and shy in person. James Broderick’s main input into the interview is “Don’t try and get into the music business in a heavy metal band, I’ve tried it and it’s near impossible.”

So, how did this group of young men meet and combine to create indie/pop band The Holiday? Four out of the five attended university together at Southampton Solent and starting hanging out through the local music scene, however the band did not form until one fateful day in Wetherspoons, when the boys finally managed to convince vocalist Jamie Smart to leave his then-band to join theirs. So, The Holiday was born.

Jamie Smart is the life and soul of the party when he is singing on stage - bounding around enthusiastically, smiling at his band-mates, winking at the audience - however when simply sat, talking with the rest of The Holiday he seems like your typical brooding, ‘too-cool-for-school’ kind of guy, looking vaguely bored with the whole conversation. However, he perks up when the band is asked for interesting stories about themselves, “When I was born my brother and I were one of the heaviest set of twins the hospital had ever recorded,” he says stroking his stubbly chin and a smile creeping across his face as he recalls this anecdote. When asked about the band’s style in terms of clothing, Jamie talks about how a man once mistook him for a girl and this is not too difficult to imagine when looking at his unbelievably tight choice of skinny jeans. “This is not necessarily how I always dress, we like the band to look like a unit, bound together by one basic style.”

It is common knowledge that the music business is extremely competitive and there is definitely a need for something special in order to succeed. Does The Holiday think there is gap in the market for their kind of sound? Daniel Cobb, one of the guitarists, thinks there most certainly is. “There is a lot of buzz surrounding guitar bands at the moment; it’s a bit of a 90’s revival. I’m talking about bands like The Vaccines, that’s what we are like – cheesy pop but with really well structured songs.” Jonathan Royston-Claire, nodding at what Daniel is saying, adds, “I think we have a fresh take on music. At the moment everyone is writing sombre songs and we want to bring the happy vibes.” Jonathan and Daniel’s friendship in particular appears prominent within the band and Daniel reveals that they are house-mates as well as band-mates. Daniel also reveals that he shares Jonathan’s love for Mcfly and that their secret addiction led them to Guildhall to see the band live in action. “My taste in music might not be considered particularly cool,” Daniel chuckles, “I mean my ringtone right now is Michael Buble.” When asked if he has any interesting stories about himself, Daniel tells of how his Great, Great, Great Granddad patented the latex balloon and then lost all of the family fortune by gambling on horses. Let’s hope that The Holiday isn’t so reckless if they end up becoming rich and famous.

James Harding, the backing vocalist and bass player in the band, also had an interesting story that, for some unknown reason, he decided to share - most likely shattering every girl in the room’s perception of this attractive and seemingly quiet young man. “I once went on a three day bender and somehow managed to urinate myself twice during this time,” says James, resulting in uproarious laughter from his band-mates, “I really shouldn’t have said anything, should I?”

Self-confessed musical failures in their teenage years, The Holiday have come from bands with names such as ‘Anal Dave’, ‘Weasel Wedge’ and ‘Nine Months Waiting’ and their advice to anyone who wants to succeed within a band is to know exactly what you’re about before you even start writing the music. From peeing in their pants, to being mistaken for a member of the opposite sex, The Holiday certainly are an intriguing bunch with a bright looking future in this industry. Keep an eye out, they may be more popular than Mcfly one day, who knows?

My Passion.

Definition:
Passion is an emotion applied to a very strong feeling about a person or thing. An intense emotion compelling feeling, enthusiasm, or desire for something.

I have had many passions through out my life... horse riding, reading, painting, acting, singing (I thought I was the 10-year-old equivelant to Britney Spears). Many of these passions ran their course as I grew up and matured, realising that I wanted different things as I chose which paths to take in life (turned out popstar was not my destiny... who knew?). However, when I think about the definition of 'passion' I realise that I have one passion that has forever stayed with me, the desire for happiness.

Happiness is the reason we create and persue passions - if you are passionate about mountain biking I am assuming you do it to make you happy, right? After all, no one is passionate about being miserable, I hope...

The things that make me happy come in a very lengthy and varied list: my family, my friends, my boyfriend, my dog, sunshine, the gym, shopping, nail varnish, steak, laughing, Cougar Town, holidays, long hair, high heels, wine, cheese, Centre Parcs, childhood memories, to name a few. So, does this mean that all of these elements that aid towards my happiness can be counted as passions? If so, I am one passionate person.

Quite often if a person is passionate about something they will go above and beyond to achieve what ever it may be, perhaps within their career, health, relationships etc. I constantly think about my future and although it would be lovely to be financially comfortable in later life, I worry more about my happiness, and my aims in achieving it are constantly changing.

Coming to university, for example, was definitely a decision made out of passion. I have always loved writing and the thought of finding a course that could let me write my way towards a possible career made me very happy indeed. However, now I am at university hundreds of miles from home I feel I have had to compromise some of my passions to fulfil others.

To come and take part in my Magazine Journalism and Feature Writing degree I have had to leave my family, my friends, my boyfriend, my dog and, with current money issues, holidays certainly seem out of the question. So that is already five passions I have had to leave behind.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the bigger picture and about my happiness. My question is, is it more important to be happy in the here and now, or to work towards a future where you hopefully will find eventual happiness?