Joanne Watkinson

By Elleven - A hand picked curation of vintage with a modern perspective, Designed to inspire more women into shopping second hand clothing with beautiful styling and a premium browsing experience.

I write a fashion and style column for the shared content dept at Trinity Mirror, my relationship with the editorial team at Reach Group (formerly Trinity Mirror) spans 20 years and my column now features weekly in around a dozen regional newspaper titles

I work with both start up and established fashion retailers and brands to develop their business. Supporting on look & feel, product selection, customer profile, website curation, styling and creative direction. I have a wealth of knowledge and experience in both buying and fashion creative and can help brands to refocus and keep pace in the fast changing world of online retail. Clients include : The Very Group (Very Exclusive and Very Brands) Rumpus Resort (Multi branded Luxury resort wear website and stand alone boutique) Kirsty Doyle Womenswear THG

Co-Founder of Slow Fashion Street Style inspired fashion brand, with a focus on sustainability

I joined Shop Direct prior to the launch of their first stand alone Designer Website Very Exclusive.co.uk as a Freelance creative consultant reporting to the MD. My role was to ensure the Designer brands were given the luxury creative treatment, from gallery styling to product copy and editorial, I approved all styled imagery before it was live on site, this was to ensure the relationships with the brands were protected by respecting their adjacency and brand vision. I built and led the studio team responsible for the luxury brands on the Very Exclusive website. My role was to ensure the Customer Journey from Still Life Photography, Model Gallery, Aspirational Imagery and Product Copy maintained its premium feel, from continuity to styling, brand adjacency, art direction and Aspirational imagery. I recruited and managed a team of photographers, stylists and copywriters, I also was responsible for the Art Direction and Styling of all VE seasonal trend shoots, (model & still life) and Campaign imagery for on and off site content. When VE was merged into the Very platform as part of the Designer Brand acquisition strategy i worked across the Very and Very Exclusive platform, reporting into the Head of Branded Fashion. I am a creative who is commercially driven, my role at Very was as a conduit between the buying, trading and creative teams, working along side the buying teams to get the biggest commercial wins from the assets we create for gallery, onsite and digital content as well as across our social media platforms. I was also responsible for creation and curation of the Very Exclusive Instagram account from January 2018 - March 2020

Starting with the business at its inception in 2006 gave me an understanding of the my-wardrobe business, customer and emerging e-commerce market that was invaluable as the business grew. My role covered all Womenswear categories, RTW, Footwear & Accessories for all brands, including Acne, Mulberry, Joseph, Helmut Lang & See by Chloe, but also finding new independent brands we could be first to market in the UK. It was a fast paced environment from which I thrived, as well as managing the growing OTB, managing new and existing supplier relationships, and curating the buy, I was involved in defining stories and trends from within the buy for the PR team & editorial team to build the seasonal content. I was also present at all seasonal press days talking journalists through our edit of the collections.

Womenswear Buyer and Visual Merchandiser

Arcadia launched their complementary in store personal shopping service in 2001. I joined the Liverpool store as Style Advisor when they rolled the successful scheme out regionally.