Lou Jones: The Style Kaleidoscope

(Article Hello-Birmingham magazine & profile piece for News & Feature writing)

Meet Lou Jones. At 31, her career has gone from strength to strength-she’s blossomed from a fashion journalism student to a live music photographer, and now runs a successful style blog that has generated over 20,000 views...

Lou’s blog, ‘The Style Kaleidoscope’ presents Birmingham’s multicultural melting pot of fashion, and is a ‘vibrant street style documentary of Birmingham, UK’.  The site is what Lou likes to call her ‘little contribution to the fashion world’. Aiming to capture street style in Birmingham’s City Centre, she is always on the hunt for people with an attitude, and those with their own individual look. ‘I look for trends, or anti-trends- it’s important for me to have a mixture of styles on the blog,’ Lou says.

The blog was created in October 2010 following a Fashion Journalism course at Central Saint Martins (College of Art and Design in London). This course is where Lou first picked up the fashion baton. ‘That was all the petrol I needed in my engine to form the blog, and I’ve been working on it since,’ she explains.

Speaking of her experience at Central Saint Martins, Lou says she was worked extremely hard and learnt how to write pieces quickly under pressure while keeping a structure and strong content to them. ‘When I first went there, I felt totally inspired and awakened because of who'd walked those corridors - Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Barbara Hulanicki... and I need to add a non-fashion name here - Billy Childish - I could finally feel some fashion-related energy around me, and I got a sense of direction from that.’

The creation of the blog has opened up doors for this budding fashion journalist. Lou says the reaction to the street style blog has been ‘incredible’, with many people in the creative industries taking an interest, contacting her about the pictures.

 One exciting opportunity that has emerged from this hobby comes in the form of a well-known and exciting event- Style Birmingham. They proposed a feature to Lou, which involved taking some street style shots and writing about them for their magazine. This is her third piece of work for them, which is a wonderful achievement. ‘It’s fantastic, and amazing to see it all in print. This is exactly why I started the blog in the first place,’ Lou smiles. ‘I just wanted to write about fashion and see it in a magazine.’ Looks like her efforts have paid off!

In the past, Lou has also had some experience in live music photography, snapping Ocean Colour Scene’s pictures for 5 years. She got involved with the English Britpop band after seeing them play a gig in Birmingham. She enthuses, ‘the idea of taking pictures of them wouldn’t leave my head, so I made it happen. There was just something about them on stage that I wanted to capture on film; I can’t describe it any better than that – their fans will know what I’m talking about.’ Yet being able to do this required a lot of work- Lou first had to purchase a camera! After agreeing with the band, she got hold of a camera and learnt what to do with it at the first few gigs, experimenting with the films.

Lou says this period was the most amazing time of her life: ‘It was an absolute blast. Taking Ocean Colour Scene’s pictures was completely different to what I do now though, as most of my shoots with them were at gigs.’ She then progresses on to colourfully describe these concerts- excitedly discussing how the whole band moved around on stage, how lights flashed everywhere in changing colours, the smoke in the air... The way she affectionately reminisces about these events makes it clear she has fond memories of photographing these shows.

There was a good few years between Ocean Colour Scene and the formation of the blog. Talking of the transition from live music photography to fashion photography, it’s clear these fields are two opposite ends of the spectrum. For the gigs, Lou had to use a camera with film, so it took days before she actually got to see the results. With the fashion blog however, Lou has more freedom: ‘I can pose people, and I have time to get the picture I want.’

Also, the gig photography experience has helped Lou grow thicker skin, which is necessary when working in this industry. The seemingly daunting task of approaching fashionable strangers to ask if they mind having their photo taken is quite simply a walk in the park for Lou, who in the past has had grief from Ocean Colour Scene fans. ‘When you’ve had girls spit on you at gigs because you’re the band’s photographer, approaching people on the street for a shot is child’s play- and a spit-free experience!’ she jokes. She adds she doesn’t get too many issues, and some people she sees around town are now familiar with the blog, so are more than happy to be featured on it.

The blog has been running for over a year now, but lots of hard work was required to evoke (and maintain) interest in it. Lou claims months of networking was initially involved- to the point where she was ‘unable to feel the ends of her fingers on the keyboard!’

To fellow aspiring journalists, Lou suggests: ‘watch decent television and films, read books, including poetry, and listen to a lot of songs as well. Anything your mind recognises as a new word pattern or rhythm will stick in there.’ She also advises after writing your pieces, go back over them a few months later and pick out what you think could be improved. ‘You have to rip yourself apart to get better,’ she instructs. ‘And write constantly or you’ll never better yourself.’

The achievement Lou is most proud of so far in her career is, understandably, seeing her photos on Ocean Colour Scene singles on the shelves in HMV. ‘That was just surreal- I’m really proud to be a part of that, and to be featured in Style Birmingham magazine.’ It certainly is a fantastic achievement, and Lou is definitely inspirational- she is living proof that you can achieve your dreams with persistency, enthusiasm, and a burning desire to succeed.

So what does the future hold for Lou Jones and the Style Kaleidoscope? ‘I’ve got a few things happening at the moment but I’m keeping a lid on them until they’re ready to come out of the bag – it’s too easy for things not to happen sometimes. As for the future, never say never - you just don't know what's coming next!’

View Lou Jones’ style blog at: http://www.thestylekaleidoscope.com/