Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Style File - July 2012
The Style File - July 2012
The Style File - July 2012
uk
Juliet Hughes-Hallett
Photos L to R:
1. Dress for Success London client Emma Cleverdon with Juliet and Samantha Cameron at Downing Street. 2. Dress for Success London patron Betty Jackson talks to Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith 3. Samantha Cameron chats to Dress for Success London clients
Thanks to: Charlotte Clarke, The Style File Editor and Caroline Taylor, The Style File Art Director.
All content in The Style File is copyright of Dress for Success London. Please do not reproduce or copy any content without prior written permission.
Carolines story
Caroline came to Dress for Success London in February 2012, having been out of paid work for more than seven years due to mental health problems. This is how Caroline described the support she received at Dress for Success London: My rst meeting at Dress for Success was a surprise and a joy. A surprise in that I hadnt realised I would be afforded such skilled help and direction, choice of outts and accessories and genuine encouragement. The surprise was increased afterwards when a woman experienced in recruitment spent time with me looking over the job description, person specication and my CV. I came out to reception feeling truly nurtured and condent. That, and the fact that I knew I looked fantastic in what Id be wearing to the forthcoming interviews, created the joy. Years of voluntary work had been rewarding but they hadnt built my condence in the way this visit had. Ive been bowled over by Dress for Success. Im deeply indebted and profoundly grateful to the women who make up this company. Shortly after her visit to Dress for Success, Caroline was offered a job as a building and administration assistant with the charity Clean Break.
e recently relaunched our mentoring programme under a new name: the Professional Friend programme. It has been a great success and we now have some wonderful mentors on board. New training days will be coming up to train more Professional Friends. The feedback we are getting from the mentees is very inspiring and shows this is a programme that is very worthwhile. All our other programmes, including the Professional Development Day, Breakfast Club and Professional Womens Group are running well. We also launched the Open House Session which runs on a Monday afternoon. This enables women to drop in and get help with their job search, CVs and application forms in a friendly and supportive environment and gives our clients the opportunity to talk to other women who are going through the same experience. Further exciting news - we will be taking one of the women from the Professional Womens
Group to the annual Dress for Success Worldwide Success Summit in Minneapolis USA in July. This will be the rst time that a UK delegate will attend the Success Summit. Thank you to all our amazing volunteers who are involved in the Transitions Programme. Your help and support is invaluable to the clients and to Dress for Success London.
Pauline with clients and volunteers at a Computer Futures Professional Development Day in April
Case Study
Lucy joined the Dress for Success London Professional Friend programme in October 2011, after having been in and out of work temping. I wasnt really sure what to expect, having never really had a mentor before, she says in an interview with The Style File. She felt she did already know the basics for job searching so couldnt see what more she
could learn. However, she was pleasantly surprised. Meeting every ten days for 90 minutes, Lucys mentor, Marjon, made her realise she could turn her passion for IT into a career. The meetings would also motivate her to get a letter written or nd a certain number of jobs to apply for. My relationship with my mentor was so fantastic and supportive says Lucy, the feedback I got from Marjon was incredibly useful.
Marjon equally enjoyed the experience. Lucy had all the qualities she needed (for a job) already; she just needed the support and encouragement, she says. The biggest reward was seeing her ready to continue without me. Lucy now has a job working in admin for the Alzheimers Society and is starting to do IT programming for organisations in her spare time. The two women are still in touch via email.
Hi everyone!
For our second year so far, we have been focusing on shoes and handbags after hearing of the shortage in the Dress for Success London wardrobe and were extremely pleased with the results so far. Shoe expert, The Shoe Consultant gave our members a personal tour of Covent Garden boutiques, who in turn donated a pair of shoes each. And LoungeLover Cocktail Bar invited us back to host an accessories drive, headlined by Decstyle Jewellery. The big question: which accessories boost your condence? We also hosted another stall at the WOW Festival for International Womens Day and have been increasing our membership base and leadership team - who have all been working hard towards our 10,000 target, which is currently at just over the 3,106.75. Finally, we would like give a big thanks to one of our members in particular, Emily Heap, who successfully organised two fundraising events at her workplace, Computer Futures, last month despite her hectic schedule. Please do contact us if you would like to get involved, our next event will be in September when we plan to have guest speakers giving advice on how to climb the career ladder!
ership
Dre
Do you read the Su nday Times Style Magazine? Style has been a big supporter of Dress fo r Success London since 2011. Keep yo ur eyes open for news about the ne xt Style shopping event for Dress fo r Success London which is due to take place at a fabulous central London loca tion in the autumn. The partnership wi th fantastic for our pro Style has been le bringing in lots of new supporters as well as companies that want to get involved through workshops and suit drives. So many people read Style Magazine - the response has been amazing. ~ Delyth Evans, Exec utive Director www.dressforsucces s.org.uk/Sunday_ Times_Style_April_20 12
of the sale popularity ho came ith the lighted w eople w e were de the number of p e supporting the W and whil far, this year bargains l sale so up great ur most successfu of 17,000. to pick l his was o ing a grand tota charity. T rais
signer Sa
le
amme
Dress for Success London is now working with all the lead Work Programm e providers in London, as well as over 100 other charities and referral agencies. Well done to CDG, A4e and Ingeus (in that order) for being our top three referral partners in May.
p until a year ago I didnt use Twitter. I didnt know what it was about, I didnt know what a tweet was and I certainly didnt understand what all the hype was for. I refused to be sucked in by yet another social media channel. BUT when I researched a company I was writing for and came across their Twitter prole, they had mentioned me in a tweet. So that was it. I saw potential, signed myself up and have been part of the Twitterati ever since and what is more it is proving useful! Here are a few things to look out for if you too decide to jump on the Twitter wagon:
-You can post website addresses in tweets, just make sure that you include the entire address. Twitter will then automatically shorten it for you. -You can include photos and videos in your tweets. -If you are a whizz with computers you can add a tweet feed to your blog or website that will update in real-time showing your activity. -Dont get sidetracked with how many followers you have. Its all about the information out there. -Have a look at who your favourite users are following, chances are there will be a few more people that interest you.
WHAT IS TWITTER?
Twitter is a real-time information network connected to the internet. The heart of Twitter revolves around tweets: little pieces of information restricted to 140 characters posted by Twitter users. You can follow users and receive a feed of what they are tweeting 24 hours a day.
Twitter isnt for everyone, but some people will love it. It is worth having a nose to see if you do or dont! You can create a brief prole with a picture so people know who you are. -You dont have to create a Twitter prole to view peoples tweets, You can always navigate to a users Twitter page via a search engine like Google. -You dont have to tweet if you dont want to; you can just follow people and absorb all the information. -Millions of companies use Twitter to interact with their customers as it is a really quick way of handling queries, compliments and complaints. -You can use it as a professional prole with links to your website, Flickr images, YouTube videos etc to gain more brand awareness. -LOTS of jobs, competitions, discounts and free events are advertised every day on Twitter, so you never know what you will nd or whom you will network with.
-Twitter is not private unless you direct message someone (DM) and even then, Twitter-shortened links in your messages can be viewed by all, they are neither private nor public. So be careful what you share with the worldno phone numbers or addresses! -You can always delete a tweet if its sent accidentally; it will be removed from Twitter -You can block a user if you receive spam, they will no longer be able to contact you and Twitter will be notied if you also report a spam incident -People can see whom you follow and who follows you. Having joined the Twitter world only three months ago, the amount of support has been astounding. With the help of our patron Jennifer Saunders, were now just over 700 followers. Twitter has been fantastic for us because it means people can keep up to date with information from Dress for Success London as it happens - whether its tweeting about an event, some great client feedback or a request for help! - Louise Mann, Ofce Manager Follow Dress for Success London on Twitter for all the latest news and goings-on at our busy ofce @dress4successUK
Juliet Hughes-Hallett Chair of Trustees Joanna Hunter Treasurer Sherri Snelson Company Secretary Maggie Darling Trustee Donna Millar Trustee Lexie Sims Trustee Caroline Hamblett Trustee
OUR VOLUNTEERS
ydd Helen K , City la wyer
Verity Hosken speaks to Helen Kydd who assists our clients with interview techniques
my own business. I work as an executive coach, mainly with lawyers. My working life complements the interview volunteering as much of my professional work is about building condence and helping people manage their careers. As a volunteer, I wanted to nd an organisation where I could use the skills and experience I already have and make a difference. What do you like to wear to work? Im the lady in black. On the whole I wear very, very simple and tailored black clothes. Ive got four children so my aim is to be up and out with minimum fuss. I go for clothes that are well-cut, simpleand black. It isnt always as boring as it sounds! Whats it like volunteering? Its rewarding and fun. It is great to work in a professional organisation that is friendly, well-run and centred around the needs of the clients. From the moment women walk into DFSL, they are treated with professional courtesy and as an individual. Women leave walking tall, usually optimistic and better prepared for their interview and with a better chance of securing the job they are seeking.
How long have you been volunteering at Dress For Success London? Around 18 months - I work in the City and Id heard about the suit drives. Id been looking for a regular volunteering opportunity so I got in touch. I dont have anything to do with the dressings at all, I help clients prepare for their interviews. That could mean anything from a full-on mock interview with feedback, if the clients up for it, to more of a chat about what to expect. If you had to pick one, whats the main interview tip you try to impart to the clients? To be prepared: make sure you know about the jobs youre going for and prepare the narrative of what youve done in your life. Many women say at the start that theyve never done anything, because theyve never done a proper job, but when you begin talking to them it turns out that many of them have done quite extraordinary things and they actually have great transferable skills. Whats your day job? By profession, I am a lawyer. I used to be a partner in a City law rm but now have
Helen Ruff writes about the history of the handbag and her appreciation for its constant presence
I might need for the day ahead: makeup, my diary, a notebook, a pencil case, tissues, Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour cream, sunglasses, keys, my mobile, my memory stick, a deodorant, a bottle of perfume and my Kindle. On my way back home, being a teacher, I even manage to stuff 10 childrens maths books into the mix! And the beautiful thing about my bag is that when I nally, after much struggling, manage to zip it up, the absolute chaos inside is hidden behind a rather fashionable and respectable looking black leather facade which happens to go with every outt I own. The look of the bag and the fact that I could potentially save the world with its contents, gives me great condence. Forget diamonds, handbags are a girls best friend and may they stay with us for evermore!
handbag was adopted and all manner of these popular accessories emerged. Even the outbreak of World Wars I and II did little to stem their popularity. Though new designs were curbed due to the lack of material available, women took to making their own bags out of scraps or started to re-use old ones. Post-war, new handbags were back with a vengeance and styles continued to develop according to the popular culture of the times: the colourful box and basket bags of the 1950s, the hippy beaded cloth bags of the 1960s, embossed leather and ashy glam glitter in the 1970s, and the iconic pattered holdalls of the 1980s and 90s. Today, handbags range from the inexpensive to the exorbitant and come in all colours, shapes and sizes. They are now status symbols and fashion statements but most importantly, like those created centuries ago, they remain incredibly useful. Mary Poppins famously pulled a lampshade, mirror, tape measure and coat rack out of her bag but let me tell you, she still has nothing on me. When I step outside each morning, on my way to work, my big black bag houses everything
Avoid ashy rhinestones & ornaments Opt for bags with simple, tailored lines & solid colours Black, white, navy & brown handbags are always extremely versatile Large leather briefcases work well for travelling between meetings
10