THE BLOG
There's a lot of fluff on television. That's a fact. The emergence of reality TV in the last 20 years has seen documentary style work transition from the high brow, to a level of deterioration much lower than many of us will allow our standards to drop. This is why I am adamantly more of a catch up TV kind of gal, only making time for things I think are worth wasting my hours on. More recently this outlook has manifested itself in binge watching niche documentaries and TED Talks (not strictly television, but you know what I mean). Unless I feel that a particular show is going to feed my soul, I have no interest in letting my brain turn idly to mush in front of it.
This outlook was at the forefront of my mind when I sat to interview the powerhouse that is Davina McCall. Her new show, aptly named 'The Davina Hour' is a break away from this 'fast TV' trend that has become so common. To my surprise and delight she openly spoke about her rebellion against this type of superficiality in the media, over a cuppa, of course:
What was the inspiration around The Davina Hour?
I had an idea along time ago, to do a sort of daily talk show. But it kind of morphed into this. I've been on talk shows like This Morning or Loose Women and stuff and I've always really really enjoyed that, but just as you're getting really into something, you change topic and go onto something else. I wanted to go forensic - like really really forensically deep on something. I wanted to get the best minds in an area and bring everybody together and maybe people who are having a tough time and see if we can help. Really at the back of everything I do, I'm always trying to help people. I love this kind of idea of - I don't know, making everything better. It's like a mission! And at the same time, learning bits about myself. Every single show, even the ones I probably thought I know what I'm doing in this area, I'll have a ta-da moment when I'm thinking oh god! Or I watch someone else have a moment and I think wow this is amazing, I'm really enjoying this. It was so exciting.
With all the experts that come onto the show, you must learn things all the time...
Yeah I mean watching somebody that has potentially never had any therapy or hasn't met a councillor or a therapist, and to see them listen to someone and go - oh, oh right, oh my god.
There was a guy we had on the perfectionism episode for example that was so fantastic - he had vitiligo and he was beautiful, but he just didn't see it. And having somebody sit beside you and say wow I've never heard people talk like this, people be honest at this level and just put it all down there on the table for people who are suffering the exact same issues as I am. It's really empowering!
It's like a therapy session but it's not as turgid. We always try to have a bit of fun with it and there's always a test involved in each episode - hilarious! I've never done so many tests in all my life. A stress test, parenting test and a technology test - oh god the technology test was scary. Testing how long I was on the phone for - I was on it for something like 4 hours. I mean it's mostly car journeys and stuff like that because I often get driven place - the moment I'm in a car, I crack out my phone!
In the technology episode, you compare technology addiction to heroine addiction - do you think it's really that bad?
It is, it is. It is because it's a hit of dopamine and I realised from doing the show that it's an actual chemical reaction. Since I've done that programme, I've realised that when I post something on Instagram, I do check in the first hour quite often to see if it's going down well or if it isn't. And that's weird! Since the show, I'm monitoring myself a lot more. And I've also got a bit stricter with the kids. Chester, obviously I'm quite strict with because he's only 10, but my 15 and 13 year old, I've been getting a bit more involved. I really do try to map out family time now where we can all sit down. Obviously meal times are a no technology zone and all kind of stuff but just making sure we have time to do things together - watch that thing called television, do you remember that? Television! Kids just don't get it anymore, and making an appointment to view - I don't know, I can't keep up!
The really big thing for kids is to turn it off an hour before they go to bed. And that is all screens! I don't, but I should. I think that makes a big difference to their sleep patterns and we might all be asleep for 8 hours but we aren't getting the depth of sleep that we need.
Do you give yourself time to go completely offline?
Hmmm I don't take my phone with me to certain places. Like if I take the dogs out for a walk, I leave my phone inside. And I don't have mobile phone reception in our house. And we contemplated getting a booster thing to get us signal, but we said no. So people can't phone me on a mobile, they have to phone me on my landline and most work people don't have me on a landline so that's quite good!
Do you have an open dialogue with your kids about social media and how to use it?
I speak to the kids about social media from the get go but I'm not anti-social media compared to some others. When I was young, I spoke to my friends on the telephone for 2 hours after spending all day with them at school so for my kids to be on social media to their friends for 2 hours a night after seeing them all day isn't weird... It's just what I did, but on a telephone. But I am very uptight about their privacy. They're all private on all of their accounts; no one can just follow them obviously, these are all things I've learned. But once they get to 15, you have to hope that you've done it all really; that you've given them all the tools that they need.
〰️
"Women are the ones who really engage in social media - when we want to sink our teeth into something or when we see a petition that needs signing. I think it's had a really profound effect."
〰️
With social media fuelling our perception of perfection, do you think it's had a negative effect on women?
To be honest I think it's a great place for activism for women. Would say Twitter is the place for activism, particularly for women and for comedy. I think social media is an amazing place to come together, to spread ideas and to spread ideas really quickly. Women are the ones who really engage in social media - when we want to sink our teeth into something or when we see a petition that needs signing. I think it's had a really profound effect.
What's the biggest thing you've learned so far from doing the show?
I've learned that we all want to be better. We're at an age in time where self-improvement seems to be really important for all of us. And this idea that I can have 2 men sitting and talking about perfectionism when 20 years, that would have never happened is really special, and questioning whether we're seeing all these problems like stress because we're talking about them, or if we're making them as a result of talking about them.
It's taught me that I don't know everything, there's always a tonne more to learn and that life should never be a constant state of happiness because that's like flat lining. It's just a boring flat line. Like how your heart monitor goes when you're dead. You can only feel true joy in my opinion when you've known sadness, and to not fear sadness or discomfort or grief because that will make your highs feel even sweeter.
This interview originally appeared on W Channel's Website. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest or drop me an email: jlouisemontgomery@gmail.com
I've always found the term 'portfolio careers' quite an odd one. When I think of a portfolio I picture a large glossy black file full of immaculately presented items. In reality, my career looks more like a battered up old A5 diary full of post it notes and tea-stains. That being said, a portfolio career it has been, chopping and changing, moving from one thing to the next, gathering traction and gathering skills. Something us millennials are becoming increasingly familiar with.
I have learnt a lot on this route. When you are a freelance editor, a social media manager, a content creator, working in events and multiple business development projects all in less than three years, it's a lot of up and down, a lot of failure and a lot of mini cries in the shower (and on the tube and in club toilets at 3am). A fledgling start it might be, but time isn't everything (more on that later) and it's really given me some food for thought on not only why we crazy Gen Y, digital savy kids structure our careers this way, but also on how we might best go about navigating this portfolio approach.
Skills Are More Valuable Than Qualifications
Education has always been really important to me. When I learn something new, when I master a new bit of knowledge, that’s when I thrive. I light up. In my teenage years I would have told you that getting an education is the most important thing you can do. Now, I know that’s not strictly true.Getting a degree, getting qualifications is important if you need those to do a particular role. To be a lawyer, a doctor, a surveyor… they are all quite tricky (and frankly dangerous) to do if you are just making it up as you go along. But to do any of the jobs I have had (see silly long list above) I haven’t needed my degree. It was simply the springboard to launch me into a certain direction.
What has mattered is the skills I have nurtured. The software I am now able to use. The people that I have met during my degree. Essentially, understand that education is not something you can complete, it’s a lifelong process. If I was looking to hire someone to work with me, I would take the person with solid people skills and work ethic over someone with a first class degree in an instant. Being good at what you do beats having a certificate hanging on the wall any day of the week.
It's Who You Know
That old saying. At first glance unfair, but at closer look it's the most powerful thing I have learnt. Yes you need skills to get a job. Yes you need to know what you’re doing (for the most part) but knowing about the best opportunities in the first place, is the real trick to getting what you want.
The big secret? Companies, big brands, that industry that you have been trying to ‘break into’ for years, they are all run by people. People just like you and I. Gone are the days when only the wealthy and connected could get through the door. You can rock up with your big smile and personality and knock that thing down yourself.
The internet has meant that even those without privilege (be that social or economic) can meet amazing people. Starting this blog for one thing has brought me a wealth of opportunity, but I have also flittered around London the last few years like a social butterfly, chatting to and picking the brain of anyone I can find. Actresses, editors, social hackers, PRs, makeup artists, consultants - everyone has something interesting to say and who knows when a common connection could result in something magical.
My advice? Find yourself a few events, take some business cards and go and chat to people. Don’t expect to get anything from them, just listen, learn and who knows where that will lead you.
Millennials need to spend less time Facebook stalking their ex-boyfriends (unfollow their posts and let that be water under the bridge my friends) and more time discovering people in their field via twitter. Looking for people with the same passion for embroidery/clay-pot making/coding on Instagram. The internet isn’t getting in the way of your success. You are.
Digital Platforms Are Powerful
I wouldn't be where I am professionally today without the internet. That's a cold hard fact. I secured some of my great internships through seeing posts about them on Facebook. I got a big break in social media through my own at-home efforts. I recently got head-hunted to work at my dream company (a creative but smart start-up run by amazing people) by someone discovering me online. The internet is not a distraction, social media is not 'ruining' people's lives. It's a powerful, FREE democratic tool that can get you where you want to go. People are just using it in the wrong way.Millennials need to spend less time Facebook stalking their ex-boyfriends (unfollow their posts and let that be water under the bridge my friends) and more time discovering people in their field via twitter. Looking for people with the same passion for embroidery/clay-pot making/coding on Instagram. The internet isn’t getting in the way of your success. You are.
Work 'With' People Not 'For' People
In the current climate of ‘fake news’, general trust of big business and ‘the man’ has never been lower. When our parents were working, they knew that they could get a job and be set for life. Their bosses would take care of them, they were in charge for a reason, right? Well decades on and things are completely different. We know that companies are run by people just like us, meaning that they can f**k up. They can royally f**k up. So it’s no surprise that hierarchies in the workplace are dying and collaboration is the new buzzword.
Young people have a lot of insight and knowledge that is crying to be heard. In the new digital landscape employers need to understand that their newest recruits are not just employees, they are innovators and can contribute serious value. Also, we don’t want to work ‘for’ someone we want to work ‘with’ people. Millennials would rather work in a place they feel that they are making a difference, than a place that makes them lots of money. In a dystopian future where a sexist, racist tyrant is president of the USA, who needs money anyway?
Age Is Just A Number + Gender Is The Silent Killer
In most of my jobs I have managed people who are older than me. Trained people who have at least 5 years on me. Given workshops to rooms full of people literally twice my age, and do you know what? No-one cared. I didn't care. They didn't care. We are just people wanting to get s**t done. If someone does pick up on you being younger than them in a professional capacity, that says far more about them than it does about your abilities. Experience is measured in depth not in length.That being said, being a woman in the workplace is another matter entirely. When working at a young startup company, the female CEO and I were constantly asked if there were any men in the senior management team. 'Oh just all girls then?' they would try to ask innocently. I have had emails directed at male colleagues instead of me because they assumed the man was heading up the project. In true guilty feminist style, I have also had some fantastic opportunities because I am a woman and sometimes I smile nicely. It’s not right, but it happens. I try and check my privilege on this all the time.
So yes, the 'modern world of work' has come on a long way from pencil skirts and secretarial jobs, but sexism is still rife and we are foolish if we think that our work here is done.
So, why do we have portfolio careers, us crazy commitment phobic millennials?
There has been a shift in perspective. We aren’t scared of commitment, we just trust ourselves to be in control of our careers. Rather than trusting one organisation, our parents or the government to advise us on the best route. Since the last generation there has been an increase in transparency in the system, through the internet, the deconstruction of traditional industries and the economic crash in 2008. We want to invest our time and energy into our own skills, our own progression and growth. We will give and give (and give) so long as we are receiving more than just money in return. We don't want to contribute less to society, we just want it to matter more.
After chatting for some time about
individual pieces from her new collection – I admitted my slight obsession with
her A-line skirts – we moved on to talk about her creative process. In 2011 she
developed a book with the head of design at the London College of Design Paul
Bailey ‘he’s a friend’ which was then bought by London College of Fashion and
nominated for the British Book Design Awards. ‘It’s kind of about process and
about everything you’re thinking about and listening to and looking at while
you’re thinking of design and the next season.’ I mentioned the Cat Stevens
lyrics that were in the book, are they a big influence? ‘Yes! And Cat Power!’
she declared with a grin. And aside from her mother’s influence on this
collection, has anything else she designed been overtly personal? ‘I think if
you are making something it always comes from a place that’s personal – it has
to if its going to be something that’s original.'
‘When I did my second collection I was kind
of chatting to a friend of mine and was laughing about how I had been going out
with guys for years and years and years and I had never gotten any jewellery so
that’s where the name for ‘All The Jewellery I Never Got’ came from. I thought
it would so much fun to draw all this jewellery that I had wished I had gotten
and kind of do a print from that - but I got one since!’ Natalie said this as
she pointed at her wedding finger, laughing.
I had actually met her husband, a graphic
design lecturer, a few days earlier at the first interview attempt when Natalie
was otherwise engaged at Selfridges. I wanted to find out what kind of
influence he, as a more technically focused designer, had on her work. ‘We are
kind of separate although we’re married and everything – I’ve lived in New York
and Iceland and different places, it’s only now that we are living in the same
place. He’s great to talk to because he understands things from the design
perspective – he’s a different species to talk to so its kind of interesting to
get that man’s point of view.’ Although from the small smile creeping into the
corners of her mouth I gathered that Natalie usually only took his advice out
of politeness, she has a clear vision for her label which she launched in 2011.
‘Basically I want to make clothes that you
can wear, you can get up in the morning and if you had a night like me last
night,’ we both laughed heartily at this comment as we could tell her hangover
would no doubt be kicking in soon. ‘You can just put something on and feel good
and not have to think about it. People look at you and go ‘It’s good but not
too much’ but there’s still something interesting.’
She tells me that the NatalieBColeman woman
is understated, cool and confident but this hasn’t stopped the likes of Rihanna
and Marina and the Diamonds from ordering her pieces or from her clothes
attracting media attention. ‘I was at home in the countryside in Ireland and I
started getting all these things about this guy on twitter called Rick Ross?’
Stares at me quizzically as if she isn’t even saying the right name, she shrugs
and says: ‘I hadn’t even heard of him but this girl was singing in his video
and it was number one in America and she was wearing one of my pieces in it – I
had sold some stuff to a shop in LA and a stylist had picked it up there.’
Although this is great news for the brand, Natalie admits that she doesn’t seek
out celebrity attention. ‘I don’t really
care too much I just prefer people who come and make a purchase and wear it
because they love it. ‘
However, when we moved onto the more
lighthearted topic of who would she have lunch with living or dead, she seemed
to care a little more about celebrities than she had originally let on. ‘Dolly
Parton – I just love Dolly Parton! I went to see her when I was in Radio City
in New York. I just love her she is so funny- so camp!’ Her face lit up as she
told me all about the show and her time in New York, but it was her years spent
living in Iceland that seemed to hold the fondest memories for her. ‘I’ve been
over and back to Iceland quite a bit, I love it. I was working for a textile
designer there before so I have a lot of friends over there and I try to make
it over there as much as possible. It’s really beautiful, it’s like being on
the moon!’
And what about her time here in London? ‘Well,
I always show in Paris but it’s been really nice to be here and I have met some
nice buyers and nice press and been to some good parties! Hopefully next year I
might do runway.’ Looking over at her vibrant Be Still My Beating Heart collection in the corner of the showroom,
I can already sense that there is no might about it. The catwalk is the right
place for Natalie’s designs, designs that are so full of fun, colour and
energy.
‘I love the way clothes can transport you.
A dress can make you feel better, you know when you feel rubbish and really
crap but you can put on a dress to make you feel really fabulous it just
uplifts the mood – that’s what I like.’ Natalie herself would no doubt be throwing on
a dress very soon – she had a drinks thing with fellow designer Una Burke to
rush off to after we were done – but not before she explained to me where her
love of fashion came from.
‘I have always been a bit of a dreamer. I
always liked drawing and loved clothes. I mean I know everyone probably says it
but growing up you have this fantasy. Watching your mum or your granny or
hiding in the wardrobe feeling all these beautiful fabrics.’
And if you would like to see more of
Natalie Coleman’s beautiful fabrics please head to www.nataliebcoleman.com
*this interview originally appeared in IHT Magazine The LFW Issue: http://bit.ly/1KpAGZk
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
