Ben Evans: dedicated follower of fashion
From Heathfield CC to the iconic fashion magazine Vogue and beyond, Ben Evans has pursued his dream of working in fashion and made a huge success of it. He spoke to Hivda Aydogan about his journey so far.
Ben Evans left with HCC excellent A levels in English, French and Photography, then took two years out working with adults with disabilities – a job he enjoyed and learned a lot from – before he went to university in London.
Heathfield – as nice a place as it is – is potentially not quite as rich and diverse as other places may be, and Ben appreciated and welcomed the change when he eventually moved to a more busy city environment.
As for whether he knew from the start what he wanted to be, he had always had an interest in the world of fashion, which is why he chose to study Fashion History and Theory at the celebrated St Martin's College in the centre of London. He missed doing history in school as he had a real fascination with the subject itself, and with St Martin's being a place many great designers graduated from, he gravitated towards that as it seemed like “the perfect course” for him.
After he left St. Martin's, he went on to catch a dream job at Vogue, where he stayed for about seven years. After a couple of years working as a freelance researcher, his next step was as senior copywriter at the leading beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury, where he worked for another two years before going back to life as a freelancer.
‘I went to Charlotte Tilbury to gain some form of stability and a full time job,’ he explains, adding that he really liked the idea of working within a team and collaborating as that was the form of work he enjoyed the most. He has a knack for navigating and steering teams and appreciates decisiveness and clear communication in leadership roles. Working as senior copywriter is “the most formal, writing centric job” he has ever done, although writing has always been a part of his jobs. The responsibility was much greater at Charlotte Tilbury in contrast to Vogue where he had been the Art Coordinator.
Ben has really enjoyed both writing and doing the research that leads to the process of writing, as his great interest in finding out more about fashion is undiminished. One of his favourite projects involved researching gowns and looking through archives of British Vogue, which he enjoyed immensely as he saw the progress and difference of fashion throughout the past century, calling it “a really interesting education.”
His strongest memory of school is of a time he missed a homework assignment.
“I mean, she’s not going to thank me for this but Ms Savage will remember that when she was teaching me I was really bad with homework – always going right up to the deadline sometimes even over. It’s definitely not an attractive trait but there’s one time I remember Mrs Savage literally chasing me around the school to ask me where my homework was, and that was like – that was a real low, I was obviously really embarrassed – I didn’t even have it to give to her. I literally hadn’t done it. But I think that’s where we hit rock bottom; hopefully she’d agree that I made a bit of improvement after that, but that sticks in my memory. She was definitely my favourite teacher in school.”
His fondest memories of school are of being with really good friends that he’s still friends with now, and he looks back positively on that time – reminiscing about the freedom and lack of responsibly that he enjoyed.
Is there anything he would do differently?
“I don’t think I would. You just never know what the knock–on impact will be to things in your life and I’m pretty happy with where I am right now for the most part. It’s not my type of outlook to be particularly regretful about things. I definitely analyse things I did that I could’ve done better, but I know it’s impossible to go back in time and change things, so I just focus on mistakes I won’t repeat, but there’s nothing I would change.”
In terms of useful advice he would give to his younger self, he focuses on finances –“I really think kids don’t know much about money. I probably would’ve told myself, ‘No one is going to teach you this, if you want an easier life then get on top of how you deal with money and savings.’” He talked about the stigma around speaking of money and the amount of stress that could be reduced if people were more open about it.
His proudest moments from Heathfield were getting his GCSE results and his time as Head Boy. His least favourite moments were in PE. “Being a teenager with body issues, the whole thing – and being gay as well, but not being out at that time… I didn’t enjoy being in the changing room. The actual playing games I liked, but I found the other part quite stressful,” he explains. We discussed issues surrounding teenagers and body dysmorphia, and how difficult these are for young people.
His proudest achievement in his life so far has been co-authoring a book, something he thought to be very special to him as it was no easy feat – with a lot of working until 3am and procrastination.
His final advice for today’s students: “You can’t give everyone the same advice, but I would definitely say that it is worth thinking everything through. It’s a balance of two things that are going to sound like they’re contradictory but I think it’s worth thinking about what you’re interested in and what you’re good at, and thinking about your choices and pathways, but at the same letting yourself breathe and being easy on yourself… I don’t think people need to be any more self-critical than they are. It would be good for young people to bolster themselves up – because there’s a lot of things that can go against you so I think it’s good to be kind to yourself.”
Hivda Aydogan, Y11
Ben Evans left with HCC excellent A levels in English, French and Photography, then took two years out working with adults with disabilities – a job he enjoyed and learned a lot from – before he went to university in London.
Heathfield – as nice a place as it is – is potentially not quite as rich and diverse as other places may be, and Ben appreciated and welcomed the change when he eventually moved to a more busy city environment.
As for whether he knew from the start what he wanted to be, he had always had an interest in the world of fashion, which is why he chose to study Fashion History and Theory at the celebrated St Martin's College in the centre of London. He missed doing history in school as he had a real fascination with the subject itself, and with St Martin's being a place many great designers graduated from, he gravitated towards that as it seemed like “the perfect course” for him.
After he left St. Martin's, he went on to catch a dream job at Vogue, where he stayed for about seven years. After a couple of years working as a freelance researcher, his next step was as senior copywriter at the leading beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury, where he worked for another two years before going back to life as a freelancer.
‘I went to Charlotte Tilbury to gain some form of stability and a full time job,’ he explains, adding that he really liked the idea of working within a team and collaborating as that was the form of work he enjoyed the most. He has a knack for navigating and steering teams and appreciates decisiveness and clear communication in leadership roles. Working as senior copywriter is “the most formal, writing centric job” he has ever done, although writing has always been a part of his jobs. The responsibility was much greater at Charlotte Tilbury in contrast to Vogue where he had been the Art Coordinator.
Ben has really enjoyed both writing and doing the research that leads to the process of writing, as his great interest in finding out more about fashion is undiminished. One of his favourite projects involved researching gowns and looking through archives of British Vogue, which he enjoyed immensely as he saw the progress and difference of fashion throughout the past century, calling it “a really interesting education.”
His strongest memory of school is of a time he missed a homework assignment.
“I mean, she’s not going to thank me for this but Ms Savage will remember that when she was teaching me I was really bad with homework – always going right up to the deadline sometimes even over. It’s definitely not an attractive trait but there’s one time I remember Mrs Savage literally chasing me around the school to ask me where my homework was, and that was like – that was a real low, I was obviously really embarrassed – I didn’t even have it to give to her. I literally hadn’t done it. But I think that’s where we hit rock bottom; hopefully she’d agree that I made a bit of improvement after that, but that sticks in my memory. She was definitely my favourite teacher in school.”
His fondest memories of school are of being with really good friends that he’s still friends with now, and he looks back positively on that time – reminiscing about the freedom and lack of responsibly that he enjoyed.
Is there anything he would do differently?
“I don’t think I would. You just never know what the knock–on impact will be to things in your life and I’m pretty happy with where I am right now for the most part. It’s not my type of outlook to be particularly regretful about things. I definitely analyse things I did that I could’ve done better, but I know it’s impossible to go back in time and change things, so I just focus on mistakes I won’t repeat, but there’s nothing I would change.”
In terms of useful advice he would give to his younger self, he focuses on finances –“I really think kids don’t know much about money. I probably would’ve told myself, ‘No one is going to teach you this, if you want an easier life then get on top of how you deal with money and savings.’” He talked about the stigma around speaking of money and the amount of stress that could be reduced if people were more open about it.
His proudest moments from Heathfield were getting his GCSE results and his time as Head Boy. His least favourite moments were in PE. “Being a teenager with body issues, the whole thing – and being gay as well, but not being out at that time… I didn’t enjoy being in the changing room. The actual playing games I liked, but I found the other part quite stressful,” he explains. We discussed issues surrounding teenagers and body dysmorphia, and how difficult these are for young people.
His proudest achievement in his life so far has been co-authoring a book, something he thought to be very special to him as it was no easy feat – with a lot of working until 3am and procrastination.
His final advice for today’s students: “You can’t give everyone the same advice, but I would definitely say that it is worth thinking everything through. It’s a balance of two things that are going to sound like they’re contradictory but I think it’s worth thinking about what you’re interested in and what you’re good at, and thinking about your choices and pathways, but at the same letting yourself breathe and being easy on yourself… I don’t think people need to be any more self-critical than they are. It would be good for young people to bolster themselves up – because there’s a lot of things that can go against you so I think it’s good to be kind to yourself.”
Hivda Aydogan, Y11
