Orla McMullan is a stylist/creative director/fashion events producer and graduated last year in Fashion from Leeds Arts University. Now living on the Isle of Man, we caught up with Orla about what pursuing a creative degree on the island has been like for her as well as her latest projects.
Q. What is your background in the arts?
I have always been creative, I dabbled in a lot of things when I was younger, taking art and lace making classes and doing ballet for a number of years. But, I really found my calling when I started doing textiles in secondary school. I pursued it right through GCSE and A Level, through into higher education, deciding on a fashion degree. It was a mixed course that allowed me to explore both design and communication elements of fashion before deciding on a pathway in second year. I had always had my sights set on design, but found I really thrived in the communication side of things and was encouraged to pursue it by my tutors, then when it came to choosing my pathway, at the last minute I got cold feet and stuck with design.
I graduated from Leeds Arts University last year with a degree in fashion design. But through extracurricular activities during my last two years I realised that design wasn’t the right career path for me and I found my niche in fashion communications, focusing on creative direction, styling and fashion events production, especially fashion show production. After finishing my degree from home due to the pandemic, my original post-grad plans were out of the question and I made the decision to stay on the island to keep safe and figure out my next move. Initially I thought that working on my creative projects and reaching my creative goals was something that was going to have to wait until I could move further afield, as I didn't think there was much in the way of a fashion industry on the island. But, since I began working on my recent project my eyes have been opened to a multitude of ways I can use my skills outside of the traditional career progression I had in mind. I have connected with so many wonderful creatives and I would jump at the chance to work with them again.
Q. How would you describe your brand? Who are your biggest influences?
This is something that I am still figuring out. I didn't get the chance to define this whilst honing my skills at university as I didn’t find my niche until my last year. But, as I start to define my brand more clearly I have chosen to focus on what core values my brand has rather than aesthetic components. They are still a work in progress but so far are as follows -
- Sustainability - Fashion is a hugely polluting industry and I want to contribute to that as little as possible. It’s important to approach sustainability holistically. So, alongside taking practical steps such as eliminating single use products at events and including many models' own and stylists own items in shoots rather than buying new, I also put a lot of careful consideration into the brands and people I promote through my work. I want to lift up and empower people who share my values and who want to give more than they take from this world.
- Inclusivity - Fashion is for everyone, there are no requirements that need to be met for you to love and immerse yourself in fashion and all the benefits it can give you. I see fashion as a hugely personal form of self expression and so the more varied and diverse the people involved in the industry are, the more incredible stories and unique points of view we will get the opportunity to experience and understand.
- Fashion as an artform - Fashion is often perceived as vapid and superficial which unfortunately can be true when you look up the ladder at companies whose biggest priority is sales. But when you look at all the incredible independent creators out there you find one of the purset artforms. The magic of being able to influence how you are perceived by others without having to say a word, to me, is truly awe inspiring. And I want to use my work to further the understanding of fashion as an artform, the art of putting your true self out there and allowing yourself to be understood.
Q. You’ve left the island to study fashion design at Leeds Arts University. What has your experience of the UK scene been like for you?
The industry in the UK definitely has its pros and cons, while there is no denying that there are more opportunities and a bigger demand for fashion creatives, the market is also far more saturated. I think the biggest downside is that, for most people, they will undoubtedly have to do unpaid work at some point. That and the fact that the industry can be very ‘who you know not what you know’. But, that is more on the industry as a whole, I absolutely loved Leeds. It's such a vibrant city that nurtures creativity. I was involved in a number of live briefs through uni with the likes of, the Batsford prize, John Lewis, Farrah and Redress. I was also lucky enough to be part of a number of exciting independent projects too such as Leeds RAG Fashion Show, styling a music video for the band DOMI, test shoots with local photographers and Graduate Fashion Week. Which is something that I'm very grateful for.
Q. You say that you had to adjust your post-grad plans significantly when the pandemic hit. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced professionally this past year? How have you adjusted your plans in light of this?
As I mentioned, I want to get into fashion events, and that has been hugely difficult considering events as a whole have been out of the question for over a year. So I had to focus on furthering other elements of my career that were more accessible under the circumstances. I spent time educating myself on my new career path, social media wasn't my strong suit so I have been trying hard to approach that more professionally and be more consistent, to try and utilise it to find opportunities. Then as restrictions eased but events were still unwise, I focused on creative direction and styling by pursuing projects such as my most recent shoot.
Q. What surprised you when you returned to the creative industries here on the island?
Coming off of a design degree my first course of action was to approach fashion brands/designers and offer my help with styling and organising fashion shows, but there are a limited number of them on the island. This forced me to diversify my ideas about what my future career path could look like. So I began approaching textile designers, jewellers, boutique retailers and photographers. It was a great learning experience for me and has expanded my ideas about what my future in the fashion industry could look like.
I was also pleasantly surprised at how receptive and willing people were. As I began organising my latest shoot I was sure I was going to run into some problems when asking people to work for free. It's something that I wholeheartedly disagree with, more specifically when large companies and brands have a budget for their projects but try to get free labour in exchange for ‘exposure’. But as this wasn’t the case and I was doing the project unpaid as well, people we’re so willing to be involved. I also like to think that it was because I approached the project as a collaboration, I made it a priority to make sure that everyone involved gained something from it, be that content, connections or more creative freedom than they would have had doing a paid brief.
Q. You recently did a collaborative photoshoot with all local, female creatives. Tell us more about this and how it came about and why you wanted to do this project.
I had made a decision to take steps towards my creative goals and shake the idea that I couldn't because I was on the Isle of Man. I contacted a few people about collaborating with them, some respectfully declined and some just plain ignored me and I began to get a little disheartened. But then I got talking to my friend Georgia Dugdale and over lockdown she had started a jewelry business making the most gorgeous polymer clay earrings. I offered to help her with some promotional content and she was super into it. It started off as a small casual project, but then it started to snowball into an amazing collaborative project with a fab team of all local female creatives. There was no real budget and as I mentioned, I thought I was going to struggle to get people to give up their time and services for free, but to my surprise people were really keen to get involved. Approaching this as a collaboration and not just a project that served me added so much value and quality to the finished project that I didn't foresee. It resulted in an eclectic mix of shots, from close-up product focused shots for the jeweller and portraits highlighting our MUA's work to incredible editorial/more abstract shots that showcased the styling and photography. I look at the finished product and see so much more than my initial idea materialised, I see everyone's voice shine through, it's really special.
Q. What advice do you have for island fashion students looking to make it in the industry?
Honestly, I have read a lot of interviews/advice articles that ask this exact question and always felt disappointed with the vague pseudo-inspirational answers. I wanted instructions, tangible steps that I could take, so here they are:
- Sit down and spend time figuring out your niche. It can be a pretty daunting feeling thinking you have to commit to one aesthetic/concept for the rest of your career. This isn’t the case, it will change and grow as you do but everyone needs a starting point. I choose to focus on core values rather than rigid visual aesthetics such as cottagecore or grunge as this gives you room to grow. What makes you excited? What do you want to know more about? For me these things are sustainability, inclusivity and empowerment.
- Make a plan. So you have found your niche? Amazing! Now how do you execute that in a way that helps you achieve your goals. To figure that out, first you need to have a goal. I find it helpful to have a ‘hierarchy’ of goals, start off with the ultimate goal, i.e. becoming a famous stylist/designer/whatever. Then you break it down, how do you define ‘famous’? Maybe it means you have a big social media following, that's a more specific goal. Break it down again: how do people get a big social media following? They have an aesthetically pleasing feed and quality content. How do you do that? You make a social media plan, so you know what your feed will look like ahead of time and the structure will allow you to post more consistently. And just like that you have gone from this daunting, unattainable goal to a tangible step you can take to further your career.
- Network. This may be the most important and the one I am definitely still working on. Having a network of people you know in your chosen industry can make all aspects of your future projects run more smoothly. Cold emailing a photographer to help you with a shoot? Can be scary and you don't have a good sense of what their response will be. Texting that photographer that you connected with at their exhibition last month? Far less intimidating. And people are far more inclined to lend a hand to someone who they have an established relationship with. So go to that exhibition, that trade show, comment on their instagram and tell them how much you love their work. Your best friend's cousin is a really cool photographer? Ask for an introduction. Not only will it make it easier when you want to ask for something but the more people know about you and what you do the more people will think about you for potential opportunities.
Q. What’s next for you?
I really want to just throw myself into the creative industries on the island because I know there is so much more for me to explore. I am hoping to dive into organising some more shoots and using them as an opportunity to collaborate with even more local creatives. They are still very much in the concept stage, but there are lots of ideas that I am really excited about and I am always eager to hear from anyone who has a project that they think I could help them with.
Q. Where can we follow?
My instagram - @orla.mcmullan
