Polo and Fashion

The title sounds like I am about to write a piece about the influence of polo on the fashion world.

But actually, thus far, my interest in polo and fashion are passing like ships in the night.

As a volunteer for the Compassion Fashion Project, I accepted the invitation from the directors to plan a charity fundraiser event this year. I am in the process of researching venues and sponsors, and planning the event.

It’s odd how planning is an integral part of every day life, and how knowing how to plan, helps even small projects to be successful. Thinking about the tasks you’ll need to do before you even start, often identifies tasks that you had not even thought of, and that may be critical to your project. Putting the tasks into a logical order steers you away from starting tasks you are more comfortable with, and leaving other less interesting tasks to last. As a planner and project controller, I have of course put my plan into Ms Project! The benefit of having it in this format is that you can share it with others on your project, and they can see at a glance how the project is progressing. A plan reminds you of not only what needs to be done, but at which point a decision (otherwise known as a Gateway) is required in order to move forward.

For example, after I had drawn up my initial plan, and included the elapsed time between tasks, it was clear that if the fundraiser was to take place this Summer, we had to start work in January. That was a bit of a surprise even to me, but the plan made it clear that we had to start then or end up in a panic in the Spring! Already I am finding that venues are getting booked up for the Autumn, so starting early suddenly seems a smart move!

Thinking about it, I do have a link to polo fashion after all. Two friends from FHM Polo, Sam and Antonia Morris-Warburton, started Stickhedz Polo apparel a couple of years ago. You can find their website here www.stickhedz.com.

The arena polo season starts soon, and for me it kicks off with Gaucho Polo at the O2. Last year was the very first Gaucho Polo event in London, and  I won a competition to meet Nacho Figueras, polo player and the face of Polo Ralph Lauren. Yes girls, he was even more gorgeous in person!