Claire Foster, Associate Editor, Footwear & Accessories
Since gaining a fashion design degree at UCE in Birmingham, Claire has been involved in a number of creative and womenswear design-based roles and projects. She established a womenswear design collective and retail space, which culminated in running her own womenswear and accessories label No Dice.
This space was rented for a 6month period in Birmingham city centre, Claire along with her partner in the business sold vintage clothing, as well as securing some designer labels to sell alongside her own collection. This was a major learning experience for Claire and she believes it not only helped her develop as an individual but learnt about financing, buying, marketing, press, womenswear and accessories. With this knowledge she moved her collection to Manchester to embark on a 2-3 year long project. She had a shop and a market stall where she sold her collections seasonally and was gradually building contacts.
Claire also did freelance styling and journalism on the side and her main advice is: “Put yourself out there, Make as many contacts you can!”
Her work experience background was the most inspiring as she did a stint at i.D magazine and in the press office at YMC which allowed her to get an understanding for the different levels of the industry especially in Press and Editorial. It is ironic she had experience in editorial and PR as the WGSN office was described by Mark Tungate as similar to a ‘bustling editorial floor of a major newspaper with dozens of journalists tapping away at keyboards.”
However securing her position at WGSN was not a walk in the park, she had heard of the position from a friend who recommended her to it. Before her first interview she had to write a trend report, which then secured her the position as associate editor accessories, and footwear, which she has now been doing for three years.
WGSN has many different levels to the company including trend analysis and future trends, which Claire is responsible for contributing to each section in her specialized field. Time scales for each project varies and Claire can often be doing 3 reports a week along with the help of commissioning freelance and international contributors.
The London Headquarters currently has 100 people as part of the global WGSN team, which stretches to L.A. New York, Japan and Melbourne. It is important for them to have a grasp of what trends are happening around the world. They will often have assignments which requires them to visit a location whether it be home or abroad and then collect all findings from that city- street style, exhibitions, architecture, shops, films, magazines, events and report this all back to the team in form of a presentation. It is important for WGSN during these tough economic times that they report on worldwide highlights and trends as it is now believed many designers/ creative’s do not have the budget to do so themselves.
Claire had recently in June this year spent 5 days in Melbourne and 3 days in Sydney. She took an in-depth look at Australian Art, music, fashion and style and it was interesting because of the seasonal difference, 6 moths behind. Claire picked up that the street style was transitional and laid back casual. There was also a grunge aesthetic very D.I.Y 90’s feel. They had community Zines for the creative’s, and appeared to have a massive vintage obsession with well-kept specific shops. Punk street art was exposed through graffiti. The art scene there is very unique and everything is customized from t-shirts and sneakers to make shift galleries. Alternative music venues and gigs with bands called Bridezilla, red riders, SPUNK & Lions at your door.
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