How to write a fashion story

“You made me feel very happy today”

– Zoe Rudin, Politics second year at Nottingham, Spotted for The Tab’s Campus Style

“My dream is to be featured on Campus Style”

– Random person at a house party

Why fashion?

Fashion is one of the strongest sections that The Tab has. Fashion stories are also the easiest to do.

From weekly streetstyle stories to super professional photoshoots, fashion has been something The Tab does best. We even held our very own Tab Fashion Show.

You can be as creative as you want and brainstorm on different stories throughout the year according to what’s relevant.

The most popular fashion stories are:

  • Campus Style
  • Photoshoots
  • How-To’s
  • DIY guides
  • Do’s and Don’ts
  • Campus trends
  • Covering fashion events
  • Beauty stories

Photos

Fashion stories are all about photos. Like all Tab stories, photos must
be original. You should be the one taking photos, or have permission by the person who took it to use it.

Photos don’t have to be professional quality for day-to-day stories.
If you’ve got an iPhone 4 camera or higher, you’re covered for everything but photoshoots.
All photos must be at least 640px wide.

Always get people’s faces in photos.
If they don’t want their face in it, we can’t publish it.
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Campus Style

A campus style or streetstyle has the potential to be the most popular story of any fashion section – especially if done weekly.

What do you do?

Go ask well-dressed students on campus to take a photo of their outfit for The Tab’s campus style.

Spot people dressed in a stylish outfit and choose a nice, simple background to take the photo against.

 When getting people’s photos the only info you need is

  • Name
  • Year
  • Major

If you want to spice up your story you can ask the person about their outfit and write a brief description of it.

You can go to the same place every week or visit different places around campus. You know best what people at your college want to see.

Examples of places to visit:

Photoshoots

It’s simple.

Pick your theme, pick a location, pick up some clothes.

Anything can be turned into a fantastic shoot if you have a creative theme to expand on.

For photoshoots you’ll want to use a good quality camera, not a phone.
It’s also worth collaborating with a student photography society too if you can’t do it alone. We get a shoot – they get images for their portfolio.

  • Minimum 10 photos
    If you don’t have enough photos it’s not as interesting, but if you have too many it’s too repetitive. Choose the best photos with different poses, different background etc.
  • Write a small intro of the theme or approach of the shoot [50-150 words]
  • You can collaborate with a local shop and borrow clothes for the shoot in exchange for crediting them in the story
  • Even beer, collaborate with student designers at your college to promote their brand. In this case you can include an interview with the student designer
  • Choose a location nice enough for a shoot and relevant to your creative theme. Not just anywhere
  • Mention models / people involved / clothing and accessories worn


How-To’s

A ‘how-to’ is a style guide which explains different ways to wear a trend.

You can take any theme and add a college approach to it, from a
“How to dress for a specific night out” to “How to dress for a walk of shame”.

You know best what people want to read.

  • Pick a theme, trend, night out, style icon and expand on it
  • Give a brief intro on your topic before starting your guide
  • Describe each point in your guide briefly but thoroughly [50-150 words]
  • Document every section of the guide with photos
  • Minimum 8 photos


DIY

A DIY story is a step-by-step guide on, you guessed it, something you
do yourself. It can range from a fashion story on how to transform an item of clothing to a beauty story on the best homemade beauty products.

  • Give a detailed description of the procces and each step
  • Get photos of every step and before/after
  • Minimum 8 Photos


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Do’s & Don’ts

There are the trends that people get really right, and then there are the trends they get really really wrong.

You can help them.

  • Pick your theme
  • Describe each ‘do’ or ‘don’t’ and why?
  • Describe each point briefly but thoroughly [50-150 words]
  • Explain each point with photo
  • Minimum 8 photos


Campus Trends

Is there a specific trend that popped up around campus that EVERYONE is wearing?

It can be anything from a hairstyle to a pattern to shoes. There’s always something.

  • Briefly intro the trend
  • Get photos of the trend being worn around campus or do a style guide on how to wear the trend
  • You can even do a ‘Hot or Not’ of the trend showing the different ways it’s being worn
  • Minimum 8 Photos

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Covering events

Does your college have a strong fashion organization?
Is there a fashion show that students attend?
Anywhere you’ll find fashionable people, you can cover it.

  • Campus style at the event
  • Describe the event and what went down
  • Focus on getting great pictures from the night
  • Minimum 10 photos


Beauty story

Fashion doesn’t have to be limited to clothes.
Beauty tutorials can be a major part of the fashion section.

You can explore a different beauty trend, have a DIY, How-to or anywhing you can come up with.

  • Always get full faces in photos
  • Focus on good photos showing details
  • Minimum 8 photos