Katie Greenyer, Creative Director of Pentland Brands

Katie Greenyer – Creative Director of Pentland Brands

Katie’s inspirational story of how she became successful and her background is really encouraging, and inspires us to be persistent and dedicated to our craft, and to seize all opportunities that come our way with both hands.

For me, the most inspiring and informative advice Katie gave was what she said about getting that first job, interview strategies, do’s and don’ts, and self-presentation. “Don’t wear a suit if it’s not you” Was one that stuck with me. Her point about making sure that when you get an interview you are authentic and genuine, “Don’t wear a suit just because your Mum told you to” really got me thinking hard about what I would want to wear to a job interview. I need to be professional, yet authentic. I have never owned a suit in my life nor do I intend on ever doing so but I do like a nice soft velvet blazer, and as a pattern cutter I think it’s more important than pretty much any other job to be able to say “yes, I did make it, oh you love it? Thank you” So making a job interview outfit for myself has made it to my immediate point of action to do list.

This is the blazer I would like to create.

I trawled the internet trying to find this shade of velvet in a non-synthetic fabric. I found only 2 velvet fabrics in this shade, a synthetic, and one that was 100% silk, but as I’d worked out I’d need 2.5-3 meters and the silk one was £30 a meter, sadly, my budget made the decision for me.