
English: 
Welcome to the first episode
of Summer School.
Today, I’ll be talking to
Alastair McKimm,
and we’re going to be
focusing on the pitch.
The pitch is the way in which
you submit your ideas into
an editor to get your work
featured in a magazine.
We’re going to start off by talking
to Alastair about
how he got started in fashion,
how he got to where he is today.
At i-D, we call this
“Learn + Pass It On.”
Alastair is going to teach us
what to include
and how to put a
successful pitch together.
At the end of the lesson,
you’re going to have a chance to
send your concepts in to Alastair,
and that’s how you get a chance
to get your work in i-D.
So make sure you hit “subscribe”
to see if your work gets featured
and critiqued by Alastair.
Summer School starts here.
So maybe we can talk a bit about
Learn + Pass It On.
What does that mean to you?
Learn + Pass It On
is something that, you know,
it’s part of the i-D DNA, really.
When I got promoted to
editor in chief,

Japanese: 
『サマースクール』へようこそ
今日はアラステア・マッキムに
ピッチについて聞きます
ピッチとはエディターに
アイデアを説明する資料のこと
まずはアレステアに
ファッション業界に入った
きっかけを聞きたい
i-D流にいえば
〈学びを次に伝える〉
良いピッチを作るための
秘訣を教わりましょう
レッスンの最後には
彼にあなたのピッチを送れます
i-Dと仕事をするチャンスです
彼からの評価が欲しい方は
ぜひチャンネル登録を
では始めましょう
まずあなたにとって
〈学びを次に伝える〉とは？
これはi-DのDNAに
刻み込まれているもの
編集長に昇進したとき

English: 
it was something that we
had been working on
and that we really wanted to
put a lot of emphasis on
was the idea of mentorship
because it was so important
in my career.
You know, really anybody that’s kind
of involved in our ecosystem
can participate and
learn and pass it on
because it really is this
kind of never-ending links
in the chain of creativity
within the i-D family.
So how did you start out
at the very beginning?
I lived in Northern Ireland
in the 80s and 90s,
and then late 90s,
I went to university.
I went to Nottingham Art School.
Last minute decision,
I went to fashion school.
I got a degree in fashion design.
It was during those three
years at Nottingham that
I first started collecting i-D.
I didn’t even know
anything about styling.
I didn’t know that it
was actually even a job.
Someone came up from London and did
a lecture for us on styling
and fashion editing, and that was
really like a light bulb moment of
being able to work
with photographers and designers
and be somewhere in the middle.

Japanese: 
僕たちが最も力を入れて
取り組んだのはーー
メンターシップだった
僕のキャリアにとっても重要だ
ここで働いている全員が
実践できることだし
学びを次に伝えれば
i-Dという家族の中で
クリエイティビティを
永遠に繋げていくことができる
仕事を始めたきっかけは？
80〜90年代は
北アイルランドに住んでいて
90年代後半に大学に進学した
ノッティンガムの
アートスクールにね
でも結局は
ファッションスクールに進んで
ファッションデザインの学位を取った
i-Dを集め始めたのは 大学生のとき
当時はスタイリングの知識もなく
仕事にするつもりもなかった
でもスタイリングと
ファッション編集の講義を受けて
写真家とデザイナーの
中間の仕事もあるんだと知った

Japanese: 
夢が見つかったんだ
卒業式の翌日に
ロンドンに引っ越して
その翌日にポートフォリオを持って
i-Dを訪ねた
当時の僕は本当に世間知らずだった
信じられないけどーー
20歳で度胸だけはあったんだ
今じゃ考えられない
メールとかDMとか
他の方法で連絡を取るから
でも当時は2000年代はじめで
まだ若かった僕は
とにかくi-Dで働きたかった
引っ越して
テイバーナクルストリートまで行って
いきなり突撃したんだ
そのまま働き始めて
その年の11月にはーー
エドワード・エニンフルと
仕事をした
当時のファッションディレクターだ
それが始まりで
ずっとi-Dで働いてきた
20年前の話だよ
アシスタントは重要な仕事ですね
私自身も多くを学んでいます
当時の思い出は？

English: 
And that’s really where I saw myself.
Right after I graduated,
I moved to London the next day.
And the day after that,
I went to i-D
and knocked on the door
with my portfolio.
And you know, that’s kind of...
that real sort of naivety
and, you know, just kind of....
just the confidence that you have
when you’re a 20-year-old.
It seems ridiculous now
because obviously now
you email people, you DM people,
you get in touch in different ways.
But you know, this is early 2000s,
and I was 20 years old,
and I really wanted to work at i-D,
so I just went there.
I moved to Brick Lane
and walked over to Tabernacle Street,
knocked on the door.
And eventually...
by November of that year,
I was working with Edward Enninful,
who was the fashion director
at the time.
And that really
started me on my journey,
and I’ve kind of never really
left i-D ever since.
And that was 20 years ago.
Yeah, assisting is so important,
and I learned so much
from assisting myself.
What was assisting Edward like?

English: 
I mean, assisting Edward
was incredible.
As I said, I grew up
in Northern Ireland.
I used to take the boat
to go to university,
so I’d never really traveled.
I had never really been on planes.
We were going to Paris all the time.
My first ever experience
of eating sushi,
which was terrifying for a young kid
who’d never used chopsticks before,
you know?
On set, sushi lunch comes in
and it’s like, “OK, how are we going
to not embarrass ourselves here?”
And, you know, it’s just
so many experiences.
And then obviously within the work,
it’s just the creativity
and learning how to research,
learning how to shop for vintage,
learning how to do moodboards,
learning how to work on set,
getting to meet photographic icons,
you know?
I really loved i-D, and it was
the first magazine where
I really felt connected
to the content.
And then to get to work with
the fashion director at the time...
was kind of like, you know,
beyond my wildest dreams, really.
Once I'd finished assisting,

Japanese: 
驚きの連続だったよ
僕は北アイルランド出身でーー
船で大学に行く以外
旅行もしたことがなかった
それが飛行機で
パリに行くようになった
寿司も初体験だった
若者にとっては恐怖だったよ
箸なんて使ったことがないから
ランチで寿司が出てーー
恥をかかないように必死だった
本当に多くのことを経験した
仕事面で学んだのは
クリエイティビティについてやーー
リサーチの方法
ヴィンテージの買い方
ムードボードの作り方から
セットでの振る舞いまで
大物モデルに会うんだからね
i-Dは憧れの雑誌だった
共感できた初めての雑誌だから
そのファッションディレクターと
仕事をするなんて
当時の僕にとっては
夢のようだった

Japanese: 
アシスタントを終えたら
今度は独り立ちして
スキルを磨いていった
まずは4分の1ページから始めて
ページ数を増やしていきーー
寄稿エディターになった
その次がファッションディレクターだ
i-Dのファッションディレクターは
僕のキャリアの頂点だと思う
ひとつずつステップアップしてきたんだ
今回のサマースクールでは
i-Dへのピッチを募集する予定です
ピッチの作り方は教わったんですか？
いや 教わってないよ
だから僕なりの
良いピッチを教えたい
僕たちにとって最も重要なのは
編集する能力だ
以前「君のポートフォリオはーー
長い交響曲じゃなくて
パンクソングにするべきだ」といわれた
良いピッチとは 簡潔でシンプルだ

English: 
obviously I was out on my own,
and I had to start honing
and refining.
It’s like I really started from
a quarter page, to two pages,
to four pages, to six pages,
and I became a contributing editor.
Then I became the fashion director.
I honestly believed that being
the fashion director of i-D
was the pinnacle of my career
and what it could be.
So it’s been a really step by step
up the ladder career story for me.
So, as part of Summer School,
we’re asking people to
submit their own pitches to i-D.
Did anyone teach you how to pitch?
No, no one ever
taught me how to pitch.
All I can give is my advice on
what I think a good pitch is.
The most important thing about
putting our work together
as creatives is being able to edit.
And I was told once that
your portfolio should be more like
a punk song than like
some long orchestral piece.
It’s really about something that’s
fast and furious and really edited

Japanese: 
企画の意図や
自分の視点と意見がーー
一目瞭然で伝わるもの
若いクリエイターが
陥りがちなのはーー
僕もそうだったけれど
作品への愛が強すぎること
イメージ１枚と
説明ひと言さえあればいい
初対面のクリエイターに
求めるのはーー
ポートフォリオ１ページ
ムードボード１ページ
それと文章での説明を１ページ
それだけでいい
要点を簡潔にまとめれば
他のクリエイターも理解しやすい
ではi-D向けのピッチとは？
いろんな相手に送っているとわかるような
メールはやめてほしい
誰だって嫌がるよ
もっと具体的でーー
送る相手に
特化した内容じゃないと
それから〈なぜi-Dなのか〉という
理由も書いてほしい

English: 
and gives such a strong, concise
point of view on what your work is
and who you are, what you stand for.
Something that trips up
young creatives,
and certainly I had this problem
when I was a young creative,
is that you get
quite attached to your work.
It could literally be one image
that is, “This is what I represent.”
If it’s a young creative
that I haven’t been introduced to,
I would want to see
a one-page portfolio,
one-page moodboard for a pitch,
and then one-page
written explanation.
And that's really all you need.
It needs to be really
focused and really clear.
And that's what's going to get
other creatives excited.
So you want a pitch that’s
more tailored for i-D.
I never want to see an email
that I feel has been sent to
multiple people, obviously.
Nobody does, you know?
So it has to be specific,
it has to be specifically to address
the person that you're writing it to.
And there should also be
some kind of context about
why you think that story
is an i-D story.

English: 
You and I have talked before about
having to study your craft
and seeking out the work
that speaks to you.
Exactly.
I just couldn’t get enough of it.
I love learning the history,
I love learning the references,
I love learning the nuances,
and I think that’s really important
in what you do.
It’s about having all the information
so that you can then decide
what it is that really touches you.
So obviously,
you came up as a stylist.
What advice would you have
for someone who's trying to
get into that as well?
My advice...
to young stylists is really
to just...
learn as much as you possibly can
about what's come before you
so that you can kind of
rewrite the rulebook.
I don't believe this stuff
can be taught.
I think it’s, like,
you’ve got to be into it,
you’ve got to learn it yourself,
you’ve got to be
in the books, like, 24/7.
You know, it’s not a race,
and it’s certainly not a sprint.
And I think everybody has different
peaks and troughs in their career,
but it’s a long game, you know?

Japanese: 
自分のスキルを磨き
心に響くものをーー
追求するのが大切なんですよね
そのとおり
僕自身もまだ勉強中だ
歴史や過去の作品の
勉強も好きだしーー
ニュアンスの分析も好きだ
そういう情報を集めることで
自分の心に響くものが
わかるようになる
あなたはスタイリスト出身ですが
スタイリストへの
アドバイスはありますか？
アドバイス…
若いスタイリストに
伝えたいのはーー
スタイリングの歴史を
できるだけ多く学ぶことかな
自分のルールブックを更新するんだ
これは教わることじゃない
実際に現場に飛び込んで
自分で学ばないと
リアルタイムでね
もちろん競争じゃないから
急ぐ必要はない
キャリアには山もあれば谷もある
長期戦だからね

English: 
So I think the stronger
your foundation, the better.
And then you just start,
you know, baby steps.
It’s meet a photographer,
find a subject that
you’re really interested in,
someone that you’re just
really inspired by how they look,
how they carry themselves,
what their personality is like,
someone you really feel like you can
kind of adapt your styling to.
And then you can just start testing,
shooting, build things, you know?
There’s so much to say right now.
It’s so important, it’s such
an important time in culture.
It’s kind of our responsibility to
really talk about important things,
even if it’s within fashion
and using fashion as a vehicle
to talk about the bigger picture.
That’s what we’re really into at i-D,
fashion is our vehicle
to talk about culture.
Do you have any advice for someone
who is not trying to be a stylist,
but is interested in other
areas of fashion?
Meet like-minded people,
hone your aesthetic.
If you’re lucky enough
to have great mentors,
take everything on board
they can give you.

Japanese: 
まずは基礎を固めるんだ
小さなことから始めればいい
写真家に会うとか
興味のあるテーマを見つけたり
ルックスや振る舞い
人となりがーー
着想源となる人を探したり
スタイリングしてみたい人もね
そしたら実際に撮影をして
作品づくりを始める
今の時代にとって
文化はすごく重要だ
僕たちには重要なテーマを
取り上げる責任がある
ファッションの文脈でも
より大きなテーマについて
話すべきだ
僕たちi-Dの仕事はーー
ファッションを通して
文化を語ることなんだ
スタイリング以外の分野を
目指す人びとにも
アドバイスをお願いします
気の合う仲間に会い
感性を磨くこと
メンター的な存在がいるなら
学べるものは全部学ぶべき

Japanese: 
常に学ぶ姿勢が大切だ
スタイリストでも写真家でも
美容関係でも舞台美術でも
プロダクションでも
キャスティングでも
肝心なのは 仕事に情熱を持ちーー
１時間でも１週間でも
時間を惜しまないこと
コネクションもすごく重要だ
例えば 記事を作ることになったらーー
友人の写真家に依頼するし
その友人は僕に
スタイリングを任せてくれる
みんな助け合っているんだ
アシスタント時代からの仲だから
愛と情熱さえあればーー
きっと諦めることはないはずだ
あなたはSNS世代ではないですが
SNSを活用するための
アドバイスはありますか？
気をつけるべきことは？
SNSは現代で最も重要なツールだ
シェアしたり
他の人たちから刺激を受けたり

English: 
It’s about an education,
it’s about constant learning.
And I think whether you’re
a stylist or a photographer,
or you work in beauty
or you work on set design,
or production or casting,
or whatever it is,
it’s really about
just having a passion for it,
and then being willing to put in
that extra hour or that extra week.
What I think is really important
is these relationships
because I would...
get commissioned to do a story,
and I would commission a
photographer friend of mine,
or a photographer friend of mine
would get commissioned
and hire me to do the
styling for the job.
So everybody's kind of helping each
other work their way up the ladder
because you’re really in the trenches
together when you’re assisting.
And if it's something you really love
and you have a passion for it,
you’re never going to give up because
you’re going to want to do it.
So, you obviously didn’t come up
through the age of social media,
but what advice
would you give someone
on how to use that as a tool?
How to and how not to.
It's the most important
tool we have today.
It’s about sharing, and it’s about
being inspired by other people

English: 
and being able to cross-pollinate.
There's so much communication,
which is incredible,
but then there's also so much noise.
So it’s like trying to
stand out from the crowd.
Would you say it's a bit more
professional to probably just email?
In my personal experience,
you get the most positive response...
emailing or texting or calling people
that you’ve already had
an introduction to somehow.
If you’re a young graphic designer,
it’s probably better to email
the art director
rather than the creative director.
There’s ways of
introducing your work to
different people within the team
that then will kind of crescendo into
getting a commission.
You just have to try
and use these tools
for positive means, really.
So Alastair, people are going
to be submitting this to you
as part of Summer School,
what are the exact things that you
want to make sure people include?

Japanese: 
アイデアを交換できる
情報は無限にあるけど
ノイズも多い
目立ちたいだけの人もいる
仕事の連絡はメールの方がいい？
僕の経験からいうと
いい反応が返ってくるのはーー
メールやメッセージ 電話かな
ある程度 経験があればの話だけど
もし駆け出しの
グラフィックデザイナーならーー
クリエイティブディレクターより
アートディレクターに連絡する方がいい
チームのいろんな人たちに
作品を見てもらえたらーー
仕事をもらえるチャンスも増える
ツールは良い目的のために
活用すればいいんだ
今回 みなさんから
ピッチを募集しますがーー
必ず入れてほしいものは？

English: 
So, yeah, we’ve been thinking a lot
about the pitch
and about what resonates the most
with myself and my team.
And as I said, it’s this
really kind of focused,
short-form introduction
into your work,
which can be a one-page portfolio.
Then it should be a moodboard
to describe visually what it is
you would want to create.
And then one page of text
or bullet points on
how you conceptualize the idea:
who the photographer might be,
who the cast might be,
what the fashion might be,
what the location might be like.
That’s kind of all you really need
is these bullet points.
I would always refer back to
the written text
and how that relates to
the moodboard,
and then the moodboard and how that
relates to the portfolio work
that’s already been created.
And those three have to
have a synergy,
so that I can clearly understand
what result I’m going to get,
within the best of my ability,
from that pitch.
You know, I always love
seeing new content
and great new work
from young creatives,

Japanese: 
いろいろ考えたけれど
やはり僕自身やチームが
共感できる内容であること
先ほども伝えたようにーー
簡潔に自分の作品を
紹介してほしい
まずはポートフォリオ１ページ
次にムードボードで
ビジュアルのイメージを伝える
それから文章か箇条書きでーー
アイデアについて
具体的に説明してほしい
写真家の候補やーー
キャストやスタイリング
ロケーションについても
それだけ書いてあれば十分だ
僕はいつも文章を読み返して
ムードボードやポートフォリオとの
結びつきを確かめている
その３つに相乗効果があれば
企画の完成形が
はっきり頭に浮かぶ
何を実現できるかわかるんだ
若いクリエイターたちの
作品を見るのが好きだから

English: 
so I’m really excited to see what
everybody puts together for us.
So short and sweet. It’s exciting.
Thank you so much, Alastair.
That was amazing.
Is there any final
advice that you want to share?
I mean, as I said before,
I think  the most important thing
as young creatives is to not give up
on what it is you really believe in,
and just keep pushing
and you will find the people that you
really connect with aesthetically.
It’s about building those teams
and building that family,
and that’s what we’ve done
successfully over 40 years at i-D
is build a family and build a
community and build an ecosystem.
And I think it’s really important to
not give up on
what you really believe in.
So, speaking to Alastair was
super informative and interesting.
I normally send him
really long, detailed pitches,
but I know now that he likes
them to be very succinct:

Japanese: 
みんなのピッチを見るのが
楽しみだよ
簡潔にまとめるんですね
ありがとうございました
最後にひと言アドバイスを
お願いします
さっきも言ったようにーー
若いクリエイターにとって
大切なのは
自分が信じるものを諦めずーー
前に進み続けること
そうすれば同じような
感性を持つ仲間に出会える
仲間とチームになり 家族になる
それこそがi-Dが
40年間 続けてきたことだ
家族 コミュニティ
エコシステムを築く
そのためには
信じるものを諦めないで
面白くてためになる話ばかりだった
普段 彼には
長いピッチを送っていたけど
簡潔な方がいいとわかった

English: 
shorter is better.
I love the analogy of the punk song,
it’s like an explosion of energy
and not an orchestra.
Making sure you do your research
and honing in on your aesthetic
is really important.
And yeah, doing the work.
So here’s how to get your work to us.
What we’ll need from you is
a PDF which comprises of:
an example of your work,
a moodboard,
a written description of your concept
and how you think you’re
going to make it happen.
To submit your work, click the link
in the description below.
In the next episode of Summer School,
we’ll be critiquing some
of the submissions,
and one of them will hopefully get
a chance to be featured on i-D.
See you at Summer School.

Japanese: 
短くシンプルにね
パンクソングの例えが良かった
交響曲じゃなくて
エネルギーの爆発
しっかりリサーチをして
自分の感性を磨くことが大切
もちろん作品づくりもね
ピッチを提出するにはーー
PDF形式で次のものを
送ってください
過去の作品をまとめたもの
ムードボード
コンセプトの説明と
それを実現する方法
提出は下のリンクからどうぞ
次回のエピソードでは
提出されたピッチの批評とーー
i-D編集部が採用するピッチを選びます
また会いましょう
