With less than 10 days to go until FS 2011, I interviewed a model who will be strutting down the catwalk on the 26th of February, Miss Janice Sommer.
CollegeFashionista: Why did you decide to get involved in student fashion?
Janice Sommer: I took a gap year before coming to St Andrews and did some modelling in Beijing, where I signed with an agency. I did a bit of work on a healthy eating campaign for them and a few other Chinese fashion brands. While in Beijing, I also met a BBC (British Broadcasting Company) photographer who gave me a lot of modelling advice. I learnt a lot from him and he had a great studio in Beijing. Joining FS 2011 was really the product of a gap year in which modelling played quite a big part.
CF: What do you think of FS 2011’s theme, ‘The Colour of Fashion?’
JS: I like it because in Asia, in China, in Hong Kong – everyone wears black, all the time. So, it’s a nice contrast.
CF: How would you describe your own campus style on coming to St Andrews?
JS: it has become more casual. In Frankfurt everyone wears button downed shirts, but in St Andrews there is less of a focus on being very loud in the way you wear brands. No one wants to flash brands here, which I like. There is a lot of Welly-wearing and very functional clothes, which, in Scotland, is understandable. To be honest, my street style changes depending on whether I’m in Germany or St Andrews.
CF: Who or what informs your sense of style?
JS: The Rodarte sisters, Karl Lagerfeld, Coco Chanel, chocolate, fashion, music, interior design, pop art, cupcakes, Twitter, poetry, economics, Armin van Buuren, Afrojack, David Maya, Frederic Chopin, Giacomo Puccini, Lee Konitz, Bill Evans. and Kanye West. Oh, and obviously my own fashion blog, 'The Sommerlier'!
CF: Does modelling after university interest you at all?
JS: No, I want to get a job!