I am in my second week of classes at Central St Martins, and I am loving it. The first week was the perfect introduction to the summer, and I took a class on fashion in London. It was basically a curated tour of London, focusing on art, fashion, and inspiration in the city, and I loved every minute of it. We saw a million beautiful pieces and I learned a lot, but the thing that made it so great was the instructor, Daniela. She graduated from CSM a few years ago, and now works as a creative consultant for everyone from Jonathan Saunders to Selfridges. Having someone teaching the class that not only loves fashion, but is actively working in the industry, made a huge difference in the quality of the class. She had the enthusiasm of someone who had JUST discovered how cool fashion can be, and was visibly passionate about the art, effort, and creativity that goes into a collection.

Walking around the V&A with her last week was a blast, because she was having just as much fun as we were. Because Daniela has been in the field for a number of years, she was also able to share a lot of practical information about what it’s actually like to work in the industry, and how to grow as a designer.

My second course is Make Up for Fashion. I am about to head out the door to day two, and I have already filled up 8 pages full of notes on skin science, color balance, and everything I have been doing wrong with make up for the past 15 years. My instructor is Kristina Vidic, who has been working as a make up artist for the last 13 years. Easily identifiable by her bright red/pink Amelie haircut, and full of energy and sass. I like her already. Honestly, I never thought I would take a class on make up. I am extremely lazy with my own make up regimen, and a big night out is one with eyeliner. Starting at base-level has been good though, and I am fine asking a bunch of questions like “which brush is for foundation?” and “does contouring make you look like Kim Kardashian?” and ” what’s that?” We practice on each other and Kristina turns up the 90’s jams and walks around to help everyone. I can’t wait to see what crazy faces I will end up with this week, and will be sure to post any and all embarrassing photos here.

Photo via Kristina Vidic