Summer Holiday In Dubai

Hi Lilys,

 

So I had an amazing time in Dubai. I'm back home and I have the holiday blues.
I went with my family plus my auntie, 2 of my cousins and my grandma. 
The weather was extremely hot around 40 degrees. We stayed at Jumeriah Zabeel Saray it was a beautiful hotel, I could not ask for more. It was like a dream.
 
We did a lot of relaxing by the pool and on the beach and did some paddle boarding and kayaking. Went to Dubai Mall, Emirates Mall which are the biggest shopping Malls I have ever seen! Shopping heaven! We were hoping to book a Sky Dive over the Palm however it was fully booked :( maybe next time though!!
 

Here are some of my favourite photos from Dubai:

View from the top of the Burj Khalifa - Tallest building in the world

View from the top of the Burj Khalifa - Tallest building in the world

Ready for the beach

Cool head jewellery - at Madinet Souk

Burj  Al Arab - such a beautiful hotel

Jumeriah Zabeel Saray Hotel

At Mina A'Salam Hotel

 Thanks for reading everyone!

Love LilyLish x

New Beginnings

Hi Lilys,

When I started this blog it was because I love fashion - trends, fabrics, colours..you name it! I was using my blog as a tool to enter the clothing world and fill my time with something positive whilst looking for work. Well, I found the job I was looking for and enjoyed my time there. But having worked there for over a year I realised it was not something I wanted to purse as a career.  I am starting a postgraduate course in September called Psychology in Counselling. I am really excited to start this course but I am also really frightened because it will be a lot of hard work for the next year!!

Because it has been a long time since I last updated my blog I didn’t get to share with you some of my experiences, so I will fill you in a little now. I finished working in May and I ended up going to Germany and staying for a month. Specifically, I stayed in centre of Cologne (Köln) which is a very cool and fun area.

I used the time there to relax and learn about a new culture/country and it was great. I did so many things whilst there. I went to the cathedral this is the main historic landmark, went to Köln Zoo and Aquarium, went to a theme park called Phantasia Land, went to a lovely cute town called Aachen and travelled to a city close by called Düsseldorf. We did something fun and different by going to Belgium to watch a Le Mans race called 6 hours of Spa which was great because Toyota Motorsports won. I also went for countless coffees in different cafes and went for walks around the city, around parks, by the river Rein and went for many dinners and drinks with new friends.

I had such a wonderful time there and I miss the place and certain people a lot. All in all it was an experience I won't forget.

Here are some pics :)

My cute Cappuccino

In Spa, Belgium having a photo with this Ferrari in the Pit Lane

In Rudolfplatz

Relaxing with an ice cream in Aachen

Phantasia Land - Theme Park

Cool street art

River Rein

 Love LilyLish x

Becoming A Buyers Admin Assisant

Hi Lilys,

So I have been working at Sainsbury’s Head Office for 11 months now as a Buyers Admin Assistant. My first few months working here I was on Toddler Boys, then I moved over to Children’s Essentials. My product area is nightwear, hosiery and socks for boys and girls.  I love the product on this department, we work with different licensors such as Disney and work with so many different characters such as Moshi Monster, Angry Birds, Peppa Pig. The product we produce is fun, cute with a bit of fashion.

For anyone interested in going down the clothing buying route, I started off with going to university studying Fashion Buying at Manchester Metropolitan University. When finding a job or work placement companies prefer if you have had a fashion related degree. I must say however that the course does not prepare you very well for the real world of buying. Its important to have an eye for colour, understand print techniques, how to negotiate, understand the critical path, understanding of yarns and fabrics and their properties. Most of this I have learnt whilst working (however it would have been good to learn this at uni).

My day to day role:

·         It is really important for the buyers admin to manage the critical path and hold critical path meetings. This means asking the suppliers to send you weekly critical paths and you need to check the dates so that each stage is looking on time and if something doesn’t look right or something is running late then you need to bring it up with the supplier and let the team know.

·         To review submissions i.e. strike offs of prints, trims, lab dips, bulk fabrics and send comments of approvals/rejections to suppliers.

·         Raising contracts

·         Sample management

·         Imputing information to the range plan

·         Conducting regular comp shops, either checking online or store visiting. Checking if competitors are doing anything different or new, check prices and how they compare to your own prices

·         Prepare for meetings such as range plan meeting, selection meetings, trade meetings on a Monday morning, press meetings.

·         Supporting the Buyer and Buyers Assistant on a day to day basis

·         Answering queries from suppliers, visual merchandising, merchandising and other colleagues from other departments

The route to become a buyer starts with a Buyers Administrator Assistant (BAA), some companies have different levels of BAAs such as Senior BAA, then Assistant Buyer, Junior Buyer and then a Buyer. If you are really driven then you could be a Buying Mangager/Director.

My advice on key skills:

·         You need to be really driven

·         Understand your customer

·         Be organised

·         Know what your competitors are doing

·         Be hardworking

·         You need to have commercial awareness

Good luck! Hope you find the buying role you love.

Love LilyLish x