With the creative ideas on my board I started designing. I was given a leather sample book which I could cut out and use on my sketches. Also in the studio they have a whole wall of trims, from buttons, broaches, lace and feathers to chains to studs. It was crazy, as I was allowed to use anything I wanted for my designs."

Nadine's customised leather jacket

"Anoi then handed me a River Island leather jacket to customize. I have to admit I was really nervous, as it was already a beautiful jacket, but I was excited about bringing one of my ideas to life. On my mood board, I had used a combination of hard and soft images, including a Prada lace dress which gave me the idea to combine lace and leather together.

I was shown how to sand the leather to create a faded effect, and then I used an un-picker to scratch into the jacket. I wanted the leather to look like it has been worn through to reveal the lace underneath. To create the illusion of a faded leather, Anna-Marie suggested using bleach. I didn’t know you could use bleach on leather, but it turned out great. I spent three days working on my jacket, that’s one reason why I love using leather as you have to really work into it to mould it to your vision."

Close up of Nadine's customising skills

"I took a little break from designing to help sew garments that would be shown ‘in the looks’, which are days when River Island present their new collections to press. I was asked to create a style board of coats, something I never realised designers had to do. It helped me out a lot as I learnt the different names and shapes of coats.

Afterwards Rebecca and Alexia (the womenswear denim designer) asked me to customize a pair of jeans. I took hold of my trusty un-picker and started ripping the jeans, adding decorative studs and using bleach. For me customizing the jeans was hard; I felt I was just ripping and ripping and I wasn’t getting anything out of it but I think the end result was what I was aiming for - a Californian, beach rock, hip hop feel.

Next I customised a t-shirt. I started by adding lots of broaches and chains, but I was a bit stuck with the electric blue colour until Anna-Marie suggested it had an old English feel. She showed me one of the River Island mood boards, and we came up with the idea of having a Union Jack on the shirt, by cutting up strips of fabric. I ripped and tea bagged some white fabric to give it an old appearance and then played around with adding it to the t-shirt.

Nadine with her River Island design mentors, Rebecca and Anoi

"I really enjoyed creating this piece with Anna-Marie. I learnt sometimes you can have a creative block and you find yourself out of ideas. At River Island they play off each other ideas, like a ‘ping pong’ effect to create a collection or clothes which really demonstrates a great deal of team work.

Anna-Marie is the Assistance Designer in dresses and blouses. I asked her why she liked working at River Island: “I like the fast pace creative environment of River Island, everyone is young and friendly. I love creating the River Island girl”, which she says consists of flouriest pink, leopard print, dresses and those last minute party pieces.

I also learnt the designers at River Island go to ‘fits’, which is a day when models come in and try the clothes to check that the garments look good and that they drape in the right way. During my placement I also asked Albert, who works in pattern cutting, about his job. He said “I like the challenge of pattern cutting; I like to work on something you really have to think about.”

From left to right: Nadine with volunteer model at the 2008 FAD Junior Awards; Nadine's hand embroidered leather jacket; Nadine working hard at the FAD Summer School

"My last brief at River Island was to design an image for a t-shirt with an ‘indie street vibe’. I used Photoshop to create my designs, and came up with the slogan ‘Don’t read my newspaper’, based on people on the tube trying to read my newspaper over my shoulder. I ripped out images from the Metro Newspaper, scanning them into the computer, then distorting and layering them. I finished it off by using the River Island logo as a Newspaper headline.

I gained a lot of knowledge during my time at River Island, for example the importance of flat drawing, having a wider view on research and developing ideas, and the fact that every little bit counts to the overall finish of a garment. These are skills I will take away and continue to use in the future. The environment at River Island is really friendly, which makes it so much easier to produce designs and I have really learnt team work is key. When everyone is in the same frame of mind, working towards the same goal the outcome is amazing. This is something that College or University could never have shown me."