I'm a Fashion Graduate!

18:02

I am pleased to announce I graduated yesterday from Middlesex University with a 2:1 degree in BA Fashion Communication & Styling! I was so pleased with myself because I really worked hard designing a vintage magazine for final project and focusing in on branding and PR elements of it as well as the graphic design elements and pulling in contributions from submissions!

I'll be completely honest; university was a weird one for me. It wasn't really what I had expected: fun, friends and wild nights out for three years. I had a really good first year, a rocky second year socially with friendships taking a turn for the worst, and third year was a chance to rebuild myself as a person.

I won't go into the fine details, but to give you a jist of why university wasn't all fun and games for me I'm going to open up about this for the first time on the internet.

In second year I was bullied in a house I paid a lot of rent for, and to top it off all my so called "friends" at the time took the bully's side and I was pushed out of the social circle I had been in for the past two years, blanked and bitched about. I guess they found it easier to cut out and gang up on someone rather than see they are having a really hard time and give them a shoulder to cry on.

I never wanted to lose a particular friend in this group.
Infact, we joked about still being friends when old and wrinkly all the time. This friend watched me sob for hours over what was happening at home and watched me pack my bags and leave - but in the end, this 'friend' decided to turn her back on me completely.
Ignorance is bliss, right? I felt then, and still feel, she took the easy way out of the situation.
I'm facing this now and I'm telling you this was NOT the right decision.

During third year, life around the campus felt like a scene from Mean Girls, (of course they wouldn't see it that way - although it's different when you are in the circle and when you are clearly out, and I'm sure somewhere in the back of their heads somewhere they must know that ignoring me at point blank range was wrong).

On reflection, if it hadn't been for the things that went so catastrophically wrong in my personal life around this time, I wouldn't have become this mature and I would still see things with rose coloured spectacles. I believe I was an easier target back then for this bully who clearly had something of a narcissistic personality, and I'm sure of it, still does today.

I have toughened up, that is for sure, and even though it was absolutely horrible to deal with at the time, anyone who has been bullied will know what I'm talking about by feeling mentally stronger once you face it and get on with your own life. I made a decision to finish what I started at Uni and turned the negativity into working hard and achieving my goals in the final year.

I know that if anyone ever tried to treat me like that again I'd tell them exactly where to stick it, that's for sure!

I am coming through the other side now and entering the real world, and I'm happy to leave those negative, mean people behind.

So I'm holding this degree up and I feel like I've been in and out of a war zone emotionally, but I did it. As Janis-Ian quotes, "Suck on that!"

Graduation day, 17/07/2014

I am wearing a 1960's pale pink prom dress (which was tiny.. I lost 4lbs to do this dress up at the back! I shall post how I lost weight!) and I teamed it with a vintage bangle and shoes from Rocket Originals, which I post about ALL THE TIME. But I love them, so why not? I was robed by Ede and Ravenscroft in our Middlesex colours red, white and black.


Stay Foxy,
Sarah

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4 comments

  1. I'm so proud of you princess :) x

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  2. Hi, I have been offered a place at Middlesex to study fashion communication and styling. Just wanted to ask, What are your views on the university as a whole? Was the course worth the debt? Living in halls? and is the Hendon area safe? also is the course a BA Honours or just a BA? It would be so helpful if you just give me a brief idea so I know I'm making the right decision in choosing this uni. x

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    Replies
    1. Hi Elise, thank you for your comment.
      I have to say it was a good exploritory course, however the student life in North West London wasn't for me. Middlesex failed for me as a really social uni because Hendon is out by itself! Freshers was practically non existent!!!! We spent a lot of money because we would go out in central London, mostly Soho, and club there.
      I would join socities if I did it again to make a bigger friend group because with Fashion we all stuck together which aint always a good thing, as you may have read, i suffered with a fall out with a girl I lived with who was also on the same course which made life hell.
      But, in saying that, this course was one out of many I looked at that provided the chance for me to explore many different creative areas with fashion and had good university facilities.
      Tutors I felt sometimes could have been more organised but supported me and pulled it out the bag in final year. But all of us felt like we needed to keep connected via Facebook groups to know what was going on with lessons during first and second year, however this may have been down to the course being new in a brand new campus.
      I think people who got jobs in bars in and around the area like Camden really seemed to 'settle' into the city, wheras people who stuck as just students have all really moved home because they can't afford the rent!
      Also, do as many internships as you can whilst on your student loan. I have two under my belt in fashion and design PR and I still can't get a job. I know this all sounds brutal but I want to give you a clear picture of the course and industry xx

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