Office Style Blog: H&M PR Showroom

Victoria Chappell, PR Manager

Victoria wears off-the-shoulder top, midi skirt and boots, all H&M

"There isn’t really a typical week for me - but generally my role involves working with both the press team and the marketing team really closely on our strategy, and often reporting back to head office in Sweden on all the media coverage H&M has received in the UK press.

There are so many H&M stores, and I work closely with the people who do the same role in France and America, and we travel to Stockholm 3-4 times a year looking at strategy and helping develop the plan for projects like David Beckham and designer collaborations."

"The thing I love about PR is the fact that I can work with people every day to communicate on a brand I really care about. H&M is special because it's so affordable, yet so 'high fashion' - you see amazing collections in every store that you go into. It's so forward thinking with amazing models but bargain prices  - you could go on the website and see Jourdan Dunn wearing £7.99 leggings! On top of that, we have great initiatives like Conscious Collection and our designer collabs... it's such an exciting and diverse brand."

"Before I worked at H&M I was at Arcadia, working on Miss Selfridge and Wallis. However, my career started out as an intern - and I worked my way up as a Press Officer joining H&M in 2012, (just AFTER David Beckham launched unfortunately!), and then just over a year ago I was promoted to PR Manager."

WHAT TO WEAR TO WORK - THE WARDROBE ESSENTIALS YOU NEED

Claire Wakeman, Senior Press Officer

Claire wears dungaree dress, stripe top & boots from H&M, jewellery by Laura Lee

"This is my tenth year here at H&M - so you can tell I love the brand! I originally wanted to be a stylist on a magazine, but I came here on work experience whilst I was at uni and then just kept bugging them all my holidays to come back. When I left uni, they made a press assistant role for me initally, then I worked my way up to Press Officer and Showroom Manager, and then Senior Press Officer."

"The best bit about my job is working in fashion, seeing early samples, the pride you feel when the press place one of your features - it's an exciting role and the social aspect isn't bad either!  One day I could be working on a designer collaboration launch or I could be taking press over to our Head Office and giving them tours for brand features, another day we could be working on a big opening in Dublin, or working on the Design Award in Stockholm for example - I can't complain!"

"Travel is another huge bonus of my role - I've been to Kuwait, Lebanon and South Korea to help start up the press department and showrooms, New York & Paris for designer launches, Stockholm for tours and for Stockholm Fashion Week, as well as all around the UK. I’m going to Edinburgh next week, its really amazing that as part of my job I get to do that. H&M has 55 different markets, but when we get together at a designer launch, everyone is like a community, we are one team."

Zelta Denham, Showroom Manager and Press Officer

Zelta is wearing H&M shirt, skirt and boots, and her jewellery is Monica Vinader stacking rings and Tiffany earrings

"In London, half of the PR team are based in the showroom and half of the team based down the road in Head Office. I head up the showroom here, where we house all the amazing clothes, and it's where we welcome press, stylists, bloggers and celebrities - we've got an amazing lounge and dressing area.

This is where all the clothing samples sent out from to magazines - and as it's brand new, we even have a bar, kitchen and can host events here - in fact we're having a blogger denim event here this week and I love that where I work can have a party atmosphere!"

"I've been in PR for six years, and started at a couple of PR agencies where I got to work on lots & lots of smaller brands, before coming to H&M just over a year ago - I've already been promoted once which proves H&M is a great company to build up your career in.  The other amazing thing about H&M is we have so much variety; womenswear, menswear, kidswear, homewear, and we also have lingerie, swimwear in the summer and a sport range, so there is a bit of everything!"

"I got to meet David Beckham last summer so thats the highlight of working for H&M so far! But there are always exciting things going on, there’s never a week goes past that we don’t have a news story - and that goes on top of all the amazing products that we’ve got. And everyone always seems to love the brand so that makes my job a whole lot easier!"

Hannah Kingsman, Press & Showroom Assistant

Hannah is wearing dress and boots from H&M, jewellery by Monica Vinader.  

"I'm always on the phone or email pitching news stories to press from any of our new collections that we might have, checking magazines for coverage, sending a lot of samples out, and taking appointments for stylists and VIP dressing. Thats when different celebrities or their stylists come in, try on different things in the dressing room on the back and decide what they like - either for a specific event they're going to or just for them to have whilst they're out and about for London Fashion Week! It's a great way to showcase our brand."

"I was studying medicine at university, but after two years I decided that it wasn’t for me. Then I moved to Australia for a year and a half, and when I came back I decided I wanted to be in fashion, so I started looking for internships. I went to BPR and after interning for three months, ended up staying in a permanent role for a year before I came to H&M."

"Initially I didn't even really know what PR was, and I tried to get internships at magazines - but that proved really difficult, especially not knowing anyone in the industry. Luckily my internship enabled me to learn loads about PR - I then realised how much I loved it and was able develop my career from there. From a PR perspective, H&M is really exciting; there's always something new - a new story or a new collection out - and never a dull day!"