Vogue Teen Festival 2024

The Vogue Teen Festival took place 6-7th July at the College’s Bedford Square campus, hosting 15-17 year-olds for a jam-packed weekend of inspiring talks and workshops.

Dena Gianini

This year’s headline speaker was Fashion Director at Large for Vogue Hong Kong and international stylist, Dena Gianini. Dena has had an illustrious career styling covers for many Vogue’s across the globe including;  British Vogue, Vogue Germany, Vogue France, Vogue Italia, Vogue Spain, Vogue Greece, Vogue Mexico, Vogue Australia, Vogue India, Vogue Hong Kong, Vogue Singapore, and Vogue China. Additionally, she styles covers and

stories for numerous other international titles, including GQ, Vanity Fair, Architectural Digest, Paper magazine, and Rolling Stone.

For over a decade, she served as the right hand to Edward Enninful, collaborating with him on the concept for his new British Vogue, and moving to London in 2017 to become the Fashion Market and Accessories Director for the revamp of the historical publication. She was subsequently promoted to Style Director, a position she held until 2024. She now divides her time between Los Angeles and Paris, working across Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

She currently serves as the fashion director-at-large at Vogue Hong Kong. During her tenure at British Vogue, Dena styled and conceptualised iconic covers such as Billie Eilish’s transformative makeover and the November 2023 “Goodbye Vogue House” cover story and portfolio.  Her work can also be seen in the recent Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue where she styled inspiring Hollywood power players and creatives from Kris Jenner and Rich Paul to Donna Langley, Sofia Coppola, Kirsten Dunst, and Elle Fanning.

During her talk, Dena emphasised how important it is to be able to write well, as well as being able to pull together a good page layout. Vogue Teen Festival attendees also had the opportunity to ask Dena questions.

Alumni Panel

Attendees also had the pleasure of hearing from four of the College’s alumni, including; British journalist, editor and digital creator Alexander Ron, who is currently Digital Editor of Condé Nast Johansens, where he oversees and creates all digital content for the title, Myriam Baldi who works in Global Entertainment and Talent Casting.  At Vogue, she works on special projects such as Vogue World leading talent casting. She also started her agency in 2023, Kesh Communications, where she works with talents on fashion week projects in Milan and Paris. Also on the panel was Rebecca Evans-White –  a Freelance Fashion stylist and Assistant Stylist who works across various sectors of styling – commercial, editorial, music video e-commerce, talent, and red carpet, she has also worked on editorials for Elle and The Inspired Co, short films and catalogue work. From the luxury perspective, we were also thrilled to have Martha MacMullen who works on VIP Services for Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. 

Each of our alumni spoke about the importance of tenacity in the fashion and luxury industries, as well as working hard, going the extra mile, and networking at every opportunity. They recounted career highlights as well as the more challenging parts of their jobs, giving attendees a real snapshot of what it is like to work in the fashion, lifestyle and entertainment sectors.

Vogue Teen Festival 2024 Workshops

Using Dena Giannini’s talk as an inspiration point for the activities for the weekend, attendees took workshops on moodboarding for trends and fashion shoots, as well as coming up with their very own proposal for the September issue of British Vogue. Teens also got to style a still life shoot using products from footwear brand, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, bags by Neri Karra, as well as enjoying goody bags packed with products from Lipcote, Browcote, Lipton Ice Tea and their very own copy of British Vogue and a College sweatshirt.

Leading the event, Senior Lecturer Hannah Shakir said, “Every year we see so much talent coming through the Vogue Teen Festival. It’s always heartening to see young people using their free time to further their own knowledge of a future career or area of study. This year they created some truly outstanding work during the workshops!”

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Photography by James Mason