KEY POINTS:
Fashion designer Denise L'Estrange-Corbet and her daughter Pebbles answer your agonising questions
Q. I am in my final year of a fashion design course and have been sent for work experience to different designers, but all I am told to do is tidy hangers, file, iron and cut out. I have not done any designing for them, and they do not talk to me or help me.
Denise says: They sound positively evil. How could they not let you design their new range? I'll tell you why, because you have no idea. I am sick of students who think they can waltz into a fashion house and know everything. Work experience is just that, experience and you just do what you are told, with a smile. Half the students I have seen cannot grade, cut a straight line, arrive on time, cost, use an industrial machine or hold a decent conversation.
The other half are brilliant, and they will go on to do great things because they are prepared to start at the bottom, which is where we all start when we finish school, so pull your head in and step off the pedestal, you are not Gianni Versace.
Pebbles says: Isn't that how everyone starts out? I doubt a designer would just be like Hey! How about you design my collection now? If you're passionate enough to make it big, stick out the rough bit. If you find yourself doing the same thing in three years, then maybe try something else.
