Shannon McKenzie

The Course:

I chose this course because I knew I wanted to work in the area of promotion but I also loved the Fashion industry and it gave me the opportunity to combine these interests. I did not expect the course to be so much fun, of course, it was hard work but the topics that we covered were so interesting and it provided so much variety that it was never boring. The three years that I spent at Manchester Fashion Institute flew by and they taught me so much about the industry and the area I wanted to work in. It allowed me to have the creative freedom to take my studies in the direction that I wanted to and allowed me to work alongside other students with different skillsets to my own – I loved every minute of it.

In my second year, I took a unit called Creative Fashion Direction and we were given a group project where we had to create a campaign with the brief of making an out of style product ‘cool’ again. We had to make all elements of the campaign including; videography, photography, packaging, websites and online promotion on social media. It was so in insightful and helped me to understand how much actually goes into creating a campaign.

Similarly, in my final year as part of a group project we created a campaign focusing on brightly coloured jeans for GSTAR RAW. We designed a new logo, created a promotional video, had a photoshoot, and used all these elements for a social media promotional campaign. Our campaign was shortlisted for the boohoo.com Social Media Award at Graduate Fashion Week, and my project group travelled to London to present our project to the panel of judges! It was an amazing opportunity. 

Student Support:

I loved all of the tutors! Throughout my three years at Manchester Fashion Institute, both Jennifer Richards and Zoe Hitchen were always there to support me and were such amazing and interesting lecturers. They always believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself, and that got me to where I am today. They really helped to build my confidence and made me think outside of the box. Anna Fenlon and David Leathlean were also lovely, they helped to make the trickier topics much easier to understand, and were always there to help and support me.

After Graduation

As soon as I finished studying for my degree, I went straight into a three-month internship at Harper’s Bazaar magazine in London. Upon completing my internship, I had an interview at Rebellious Fashion, a contemporary British fashion brand, and was offered the role of Social Media and Blogger Outreach Assistant.

Top Tip:

If you love being creative as well as working hard academically then this course is for you! I’m so glad I chose to study at Manchester Fashion Institute and that I chose this specific course. It is so much fun and so rewarding and you always feel well supported.