In a media culture dominated by the ubiquitous voices of adult writers, bloggers, politicians and more it is incredibly refreshing to see a rise in the prominence of young and ambitious people, attempting to take some of the limelight, and shed it on their own important and equally interesting projects. It seems often that young people are overlooked as inexperienced, uninteresting and unoriginal, purely because of the lack of time they have spent on this earth, which we all share. This is why, when it is incredibly difficult to get their voices heard, it is brilliant that young people, like myself, are stepping up to the challenge, and creating their own ways to project their views and creativity in a world that does not always give them a chance to.
There are more and more young people that are breaking into these mediums, whether it is in the field of politics, music, fashion current affairs or any subject or topic, and one such example of this is sixteen year old Leonie Owiredu. I am fortunate enough to have studied in the same school as Leonie, but what really caught my eye about her was her brilliant and ambitious blog, Dress London. Leonie's idea was to photograph and write about the styles she found that were outlandish, eye catching but most of all original. She first noticed this when in London, when she noted that everyone seemed to dress in a similar fashion, she then sought to photograph those she believed were creating their own trends.
I had the chance to discuss Dress London with Leonie, and when asked why she felt what she was doing was important, she responded that "I don't think I'm doing anything particularly different. The only difference is that I'm young ambitious and I'm doing everything myself with no help and no sponsors, I am completely starting something new. I feel I am giving a more personal feel to street style. I'd say what I'm doing for the blogging, fashion and the arts industry in general is pretty similar to what large fashion retailers are doing, except I'm giving a direct look at odd, weird and outlandish styles. I'm giving the industry a chance to see the cool kids of London and come up with a new name for how London's style is perceived."
It's this independent thinking, and ambitious action that is leading teens and young people alike, to start recapturing some of the percentage of exposure that is taken up by large media outlets. Leonie is just one good example of a host of young people taking action, whether this is fundraising for a charity, protesting and standing up for what they believe in, or trying to highlight a city's identity, it is important that the voices of the young are heard. Ambition is the most important aspect of all of this and owing to this I asked Leonie what her ambition for Dress London, and herself was, and she responded that "I'd like to do more filming i.e. interviews with different people involved in the fashion industry. I did an interview with Mila Victoria, a YouTuber, and I've a new found love for filming and interviewing and if I could I would branch out to other cities. I hope to attend Paris Fashion Week and do a feature of Dress London there. Where I see my blog heading, I have no clue. I started it up in October 12' not even knowing how to take a photo properly, I set up this blog not knowing if anyone would even be interested, I just did it out of my passion for it. It's all about traffic with blogs, you wouldn't think so, but it is! To help with this I am starting a YouTube channel to allow people to see directly into Dress London. At the end of the day it's all about hits and what people are saying about your blog, so the future of my blog is in the hand of the public."
This is not just a post about celebrating the successes some have made, however, this is also a call for more young people to get involved and make their voices heard. If you have something you are truly passionate about, and you want to share your passion, tell people about it! Just because people seem to write off young people sometimes, it should not is a factor that you let dishearten you, because it is important that the voices of youth are heard, and more importantly, it is important that young people are starting their lives with drive and ambition to succeed. I wish the best of luck to the success of Dress London and to everyone who is striving to follow their passion, and I hope that the prominence of such young ambition and creativity continues to rise.