I think these are my favourite creations so far! (I did the three to the left in this first photo). 

As you can see i've tried to carry a brush of pink throughout the styles to get that continuity that makes a group of mannequins really effective.

CLOSE UP.

Back to the bodists and more sell throughs! Clearly it's a good thing is you're having to re-style a mannequin because it's clothes have sold, (it means you're doing your job right!). Here the three mannequins to the right needed a little looking over. The central one only required a new top, as did the second to the right but the final outfit was a complete change. The outfit possibilities really depends on the type of bodists you may have in store. Our brand spanking new ones are amazing and are basically a full mannequin  only missing the ends of their legs! This makes dressing them in shorts and skirts a dream! A lot of bodists are either from the waist up or hips up which means the bottom product isn't as easily visible. In this case high waisted alternatives are probably advisable as you don't want only a teeny bit of fabric visible. Not only does it look untidy but you'll have to hide the remainder underneath the bodist which can prove a little tricky when you want the bodist to sit flat. So here high waisted skirts, shorts and trousers have been utilised! The print offers maximum effect whilst the product type really makes best use of the mini mannequins!

So this was my second shift as a creative and this time I experienced the process of changing styles which had since 'sold through'. To save time, rather than changing the entire mannequin it's important to try and find alternative products for the one item that may have sold out. This not only challenges your own creativity but will illustrate to customers different ways of wearing an outfit, essentially driving sales! 

This was a completely new outfit build. Here I utilised two new products (the top and skort) and matched them with a contrasting jacket. The eagle eyed might notice that the deep greeny/blue in the skort is also present in the collar and hem of the top, it's ALL in the detail! 

This is a relatively standard outfit build but I wanted to experiment a little with layering so you might notice there is a racer vest beneath the bra let which reveals just a little bit of the staple 'sport stripe' edging. Again, this is a great tool for driving sales. Customers might not realise that not only can you wear a simple vest with jeans but you could pop it beneath your favourite crop and hide the ends under your skirt!

Here is an example of a 'sold through' style. The jacket before was a peplum shaped, nude/pink jacket. Clearly, this has been changed to something really similar with just a few different design details!

Here's an overall view of the mannequins, 6 in total (I only dressed the first, third and fifth). It's important to get that varying effect in colour palette as well as length, especially in a trend which so relies on contrast. Of course sometimes you might be commissioned to create mirrored styles where all of the mannequins are similar. However, small details such as accessories can help to tie all of the mannequins together (here there are consecutively coloured backpacks and consecutively added headbands and sunglasses!)

My very first shift as a creative was insightful! Our store has actually just received a re-mod, so we had lots of Creatives from all over the UK in to make it look incredible! The first few hours was spent stripping both floors and replacing them with brand spanking new mannequins, bodists, etc! I guess that seems like a ridiculous amount of time, but a lot of these mannequins are in tricky locations, and also we obviously have to take good care of them! The rest of the day entailed placement of mannequins. This was my first little learning curve. As a Creative you have to consider location in terms of customer sight but also be mindful of lighting, symmetry and overall look.

My first solo task was swimwear. Some might say 'thats easy' but it was actually quite challenging. Our swimwear trend is small so selection is restricted, also baring in mind that you CANNOT use product from another trend! After an hour or so stripping, tying, tugging and teasing I was quite pleased with my first attempt. I tried to maintain a varying display of bikini shapes and colours whilst tying them all together with co-ordinating gold jewellery.

I had some help from another Creative for my first trend mannequin styling. He completed three looks whilst I did two (as pictured). 

Here are a few mood boards I created before my first shift as a Creative. Doing some background research really sets you up for the day ahead. Once you get going you realise how quickly time passes, so having a vague idea of possible outfit builds honestly really helps. It is also important to know your trends, key products, and use them both to create variety! I plan on creating more of these mood boards for the staff room as a visual aid for everyone in store.

So this blog has been instigated as a way of visually documenting my transition from a Topshop Sales Advisor to a Topshop Creative. I've been a Sales Advisor at Topshop for two years now, and as I have the summer off for uni, I decided to delve into a bit more responsibility. After looking for a bit of reassurance through blogs, etc. I found that most of them covered Visual Merchandising, but few dealt with the role of a Creative. At this point in time I have only done four shifts as a Creative, so i'm a newbie at this however hopefully i'll be learning a lot as I progress through the role and will post all of my discoveries through this little blog. First things first however, the role of a Creative is often neglected as being understood as a visual merchandiser. In fact they are utterly different responsibilities. Whilst VMs deal with placement of product throughout the store, it is a Creative's job to inspire the customer through mannequins, displays, paintings, posters, vinyls, etc.