(I was papped 4 times through out the day by various bloggers and style snappers - heres a pic)
I got my groove on and it was out the house and straight to the tube station - picking up a packet of pringles on the way - always a good source of energy at 8.30am! I was among the first to arrive backstage for the Krystof of Strozyna show... taking place at Somerset House in our trusty Portico Rooms (I told you this was home). Krystof - is a short , relatively shy Polish designer who's clothes are short of perfection. His pieces are so well constructed it leaves you in awe...
Not only are they well constructed, detailed and simply beautiful they stand out. He greeted me in his broken english accent and we lingered around backstage viewing the collection and his amazing line of over exaggerated FUCKING ENORMOUS wooden jewellery - AM.AZ.ING!
The models were all dressed 20minutes before the show was scheduled to begin and Krystof was fixing and styling each look to perfection before the show kicked off - I love his attention to deet!
As amazing as Krystof is , he unfortunatley scheduled his show at the same time as another front runner - Basso & Brooke - an english design duo with a lot of attention at the moment. In my opinion , Krystof is cooler however these things happen and I was suddenly sent to wait outside the main tent in hopes to invite people to attend the Krystof show. I put my best PR skills on overdrive and really did my best to rep Krystof , managing to get quite a lot of cool , influential people up to see the show. Doors closed , me by the paps as per usual , ready to snap the show!
The show was amazing - a combination of Krystof's signature sculptural aesthetic with some introduction of bright color and superbly tailored seperates. These were my favorite looks!
After the show I approached a few of the people I had managed to pull from the tents to thank them and get some feedback about the show. One of the girls I had chosen was an eclectically styled (think brown velvet oversized dressing gown-style-coat in an interesting tapestry like fabric , fedora hat and vintage trinket jewellery) , freelance stylist , an aussie girl from Sydney. She absolutley loved the collection we got chatting , exchanged numbers and before I knew it were discussing opportunities for me to come assist her on photo shoots that she styles - this is why I love London , an endless possibility of whose path you're going to cross. Amazing. As I walked backstage after the show , tall gorgeous fellow Goodley staffer Jane pulled me to the side 'Right , Deni we have an assignment' - I was intrigued. 'Basically , Carine Roitfeld (EDITOR OF FRENCH VOGUE aka GOD) is at Somerset House and Kara has instructed me that we can not leave Somerset House until we find her and get her to have a meeting with the Meadham Kirchoff boys' - all I heard was Carine Roitfeld and I was up for it. We grabbed our stuff and made a mad dash for the TOPSHOP NEWGEN pop-up exhibits , Jane new Carine was there looking at the Mark Fast pop-up so we were two minds on a mission. As we walked through the maze of exhibits my heart started pounding - CARINE ROITFELD is my absolute fashion icon , as you will all remember when I spotted her at Paris Fashion Week upon my arrival over here , it bought tears to my eyes , now I was going to speak to her - this thought just seemed unfathomable to my brain yet surely enough there she was standing in the Mark Fast exhibit cool as a cucumber in a no fuss tailored brown wool trench coat - I know she was wearing amazing boots but again cant remember what they look like - as i've mentioned in earlier posts this sometimes happens when im so impressed/overwhelmed with whats going on. We decided the best technique was to wait by the door. 'What do I say' Jane said blushingly , 'Dont stress let me do the talking' ... and with those words I took a deep breath as Carine walked toward me. "Hiya, I'm Deni from Goodley PR and this is my colleague Jane" - I said as I stretched out my hand to shake hers - we shook hands. "Bonjour..." she replied with a smile. "We would love for you to come and meet with our designers Meadham Kirchoff to view their new collection" , "Oh that would be lovely but i'm flying out for Paris after the Burberry show in a few hours" , she replied. "Ok come with me" and without a doubt in my mind I looped my arm through hers and walked her over to the Meadham Kirchoff stand like we were BFF's. "Let me show you their stand, their clothes are amazing and their new collection was incredible" , "Ah ooh yes this is beautiful" she said as she viewed the mannequins on display. "Can I view their lookbook or see there clothes on style.com" - she asked. "Sure..." I said grabbing a pen to write down the words MEADHAM and KIRCHOFF on the front page of the closest Daily newspaper I saw as I handed it over to Carine. "Search them on your blackberry when you get in your car and the other nights collection will be there for you to view" , "Lovely" - she replied. It was then the moment that followed that I couldnt believe was happening , I thought for a moment that if I let this moment slip by without having some kind of evidence , something to show my grand children one day , I would kick myself forever and with that I asked "Carine , could I please trouble you for a photo you are my absolute idol and such a hero and true inspiration to me" , "Oh Shut Up dont be silly, of course" she chuckled with a smile and she grabbed my hand and affectionatley posed with me smiling into the lense like a true proffessional 'Carine your car is here' - uttered a woman a few metres away 'Just a moment' Carine replied. "Thankyou so much , we will be intouch with you, Merci Auvoir" - I said "Merci, Auvoir' and with that Carine left the room with a big smile on her face. I then brokedown and began to cry , tears of absolute happiness. I could not what had just happened, moments like these dont come every day and how often does a person get the chance to not only meet , but converse with someone they hold on such a high pedastool - it was a truly a once in a lifetime moment that I will never forget as long as I live.
My Carine moment over and on with the day it was. As I was walking through the courtyards of Somerset House a guy with a camera stopped me and asked to take my photo , "I love your Jumper" he said , "Thanks , its my own design" and with that he was snapping away in detail of my entire outfit from my shoes to my bracelets and the bag I was carrying, when I asked what it was for he informed me it was for an independent magazine , and that they were doing a coverage of LFW style. I felt a little bit celebrity-esque and was loving the attention my jumper was getting - positive feedback all round. Back to being the intern and off to the office we went for a few hours before the William Tempest show was due to begin. As I walked into the office , still smiling with glee , I walked right up to Kara to show her the photo , "Oh Denis you are amazing , you're too much, was she nice , did she care?" - the questions began to flow from the whole office , we had a chat about how down to earth and lovely she was and then it was back to business. William Tempest is one of our star designers , his dresses ooze glamour , femininity and have graced red carpets on the likes of Leona Lewis and Rihanna. It was also one of our biggest shows yet , 600 guests invited , to fit into a venue thats only supposed to fit 300 people! Good luck! It was back in the car with Kara to be privately chauffered to the show , we joked about annoying tourists and complained about the miserable weather - it was raining cats and dogs outside and the true signs of a London winter were more evident to me than ever - but nothing could spoil the adventures I was having. We arrived at the venue - The Freemasons Building in Covent Garden - unlikely venue for a show and I really respected William for that - and backstage buzz begun as models were put into their make up and heels ready for show!
After being put in charge of doing front door clipboard responsibilities I couldnt help but feel slightly nervous , 600 guests is the most we've had so far and as I seperate VIPs (a gold star on their invite) to the non VIPs (everyone else) to the right and left , I felt like Beyonce singing '...to the left to the left' - after 10 minutes security approached me and said 'I think there's a celebrity here' - I immediatley spotted Peaches Geldof enter the venue and walked straight towards her. "Peaches , thankyou for coming let me get you seated" , "Thankyou" she replied and I took hold of her hand and escorted her and her entourage of 4 to the entrance of the show. I couldnt believe I was holding rock-royalty's hand right now and Britains 'Paris Hilton' - what is it with me and the Geldof sisters, first Pixie and now Peaches. They are both very different though, Pixie is a rebellious run around kate-moss-esque rock chic where as Peaches is slightly more quiet & mature , a touch more pretentious and very much aware of her celeb/heiress status.
Back to the door duties and Ben's arrival put a big comforting smile on my face - I managed to score him some invites for his birthday and this was his first real fashion show , I told him to bring Sheena along as I knew it would be something different for her and something they would both enjoy. As the doors closed and I clamoured my way in I was standing up against the wall when the show begun. Daft Punk blared through the speakers as the first looks came out - the collection was another stella performance by Tempest of incredible , exquisite dresses that oozed sex appeal. This is my favorite piece! You cant really see it in the picture but this dress is all black and white feathers - amazing!
The show was a roaring success , the entire room cheered for William as he came out to wave to the crowd. I ran over the room to see how Ben and Sheena enjoyed the show , ran backstage to get my stuff and grabbed the interns as we had to run 5 minutes around the corner back to Somerset House for the Eun Jong show in the main Tent. As I was exiting Will Tempest I bumped into Seema Pathan , the gorgeous girl I met at Rika's party and my first ever real client as a now freelance stylist. "Seema" - "Denis" - "Come to the Eun Jong show with me" and with that sentence we linked arms and started walking together , we're so comfortable with eachother as we discussed trends we like , fashion , boyfriends and her career and by the time we got to Eun Jong (literally 10minutes before it started) the other interns who missed the Tempest show to set up Eun Jong were pretty much all done , so it was finally a chance to chill out take a step back and enjoy it. The queue to get in the show was massive , so I managed to use my VIP-insider-status to get Ben , Sheena and my new client Seema and her friend into the show and seated without queuing. Seema and I were perched in the 3rd row with Ben and Sheena one row behind us. Ben called from a row behin and asked me if he could borrow my lip balm causing quite the conversation starter for those observing us. It was quite funny as we passed it down.
As we were seated I noticed a bit of a fuss being made over 'Kesha' - former Sugababes arrival as she was escorted to the front row. 5 minutes later the lights dimmed and then out of nowhere the band started playing - Eun Jong was the only show that had a live band and this was a huge highlight of the night as they were actually amazing - the lead singer had a very Florence & the Machine/Lily Allen-esque voice and their performance was immaculate. The catwalk lit up and the show was on its way. The asian design aesthetic is very different to most , slightly abstract , different and very loose , a huge difference compared to the mostly structured looks i've seen all fashion week , not a collection I was absolutley in love with (apart from a few jackets I really loved) but still a lovely collection and a fantastic show! I mean the live music in itself added another element and is someting i've always though about one day doing at my shows.
If you focus on the front row and find the uber-cool black girl with the copper toned fringe , that would be Kesha , the former Sugababe who's now launching a solo career. She looked bangin!
Its decorated by 30 statues that go all the way along , they depict various saints and patron saints of those times. We began our 3rd day with a walk over the bridge amongst the tourists... 
we then headed up towards Prague's Castle to do some further discovery of the beautiful area and its stunning surroundings. It was quite chilly this morning and something prompted me to get Ben and I some nice hot mulled wine to go with the lovely walk. I stopped at a street vendor and paid my italian-speaking-czech-street-vendor for my 2 mulled wines - Its funny because nearly every store I walked into to , they began speaking to me in italian , now surely I dont look that italian hehe anyways my hopes of amazing hot mulled wine were slightly shattered as I began to sip my very much 'warm' mulled wine , never the less I was just in awe of the views!
It totally was just one of those moments where I stopped and said 'Wow I really am lucky to be travelling the world - or Europe at the least' , we continued the walk down and through to the Castle's cathedral - which let me tell you at this point it was beginning to feel like 'if I see one more freakin' church I will scream' but then you see it and suddenly I was speechless , the beauty of the structure stopped me in my tracks and it was almost like a world inside a world , you step through the castle gates and almost into a totally new village , it was truly magnificent!
The day had gone by and Ben and I had walked around most of the city - to be fair Prague is certainly not as big as I thought it would be and I think in two days you can probably see all of the best Prague has to offer , so on Thursday night we decided to chill and take a step back into normalcy - which was nice as when you're travelling sometimes you get this need to just constantly run around doing things and its nice when you can just chill and not feel like there's 100 more things you need to see - so we decided to take a step into a Prague cinema and see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland - as it was released in Prague prior to London. Snacks & Tickets in hand we entered to the theatre. The movie was amazing , the costumes and the imagery was really inspiring - it was also quite funny to watch the movie with czech subtitles.
As we awoke on our last day we were officially given the final Prague treatment 'SNOW'! Yes as we walked up the river banks , pre-snow , I could feel my face freezing , literally, I decided to pull my beanie on my face - as you can see in the picture below - it made us both laugh out loud! 
We then walked up , or rather hiked , it felt like a hike , up the hill to go see Petrin Tower - from a distance it looks like the very top of the Eiffel tower so we had to go and check it out. As we got up the view kept getting better and better. Petrin tower is a 60metre high lookout tower built in 1891. It reallyBy the time we got up for one last look at Prague Castle it was officially snowing - pouring down! I couldnt help but do a slightly penguin-like-shuffle-dance in the snow, it was a perfect moment and the mix of snow and beautiful surroundings made it one i wont forget!
We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring more parts of the city mostly behind the castle and managed to get up on a hill where a beautiful view of icy cold Prague stood beneath us. 
There was one thing left to do before we departed Prague, I had booked a 'Prague Underground' tour for Ben and I to do. It was quite interesting because underneath the city there was almost another city. Our fast speaking tour guide spoke us through the medi evil times of Prague and it was nice to learn some history of what the city was like 500 years ago. It was funny because he would walk us through the underground chambers and point out doors , walls and water wells that were older than the very country we were born in. So that was quite fascinating. We ended by posing infront of the 'Astronomical Clock' one of Prague's most visited tourist attractions. 
We sat in our lovely stale mint blue carriage and chatted randomly the whole way to our destination. Once we arrived to Kutna Hora , it was about 15minutes by foot to get to the 'Kostnice' - while walking around this little observing the children play out the front of the community flats , something tells me this is the kind of place where these children will soon be saying 'I need to move to Prague' - children with dreams of moving to the big smoke. There was something humble and calm about the village though and me and Ben just took it all in. As we appraoched the bleak church on the hill it was a lot smaller than we both thought it would be. 
Some history on it for you , in around 1400 the Gothic church was built in the center of a cemetery with a vaulted upper level and a lower chapel level to be used as an ossuary - meaning a site made to be served as a resting place of human skeletal remains. They are frequently used where burial space is scarce. Its estimated that it contains between 40,000 and 70,000 skeletons. Small as it is when I walked in I was suddenly overwhelmed by my surroundings, eery and amazing all at once. The entrance lined with skull and cross bones gave me a slight chill.
As we walked further into the church I was astonised by the coat of arms and chandelier all made from skull and bones. Truly works of art in their own right and very inspirational to me.
As many of you know I have quite a love for the old skull especially in mixing it with fashion so it was a very cool place to visit for me and both Ben and I felt like it was very reminiscent of Alexander McQueen's new menswear collection. Funny how I turn everything back to fashion!We spent about half an hour at the church then headed through the rest of the village to see a couple more churches have a bit of an explore and something to eat. It was quite a peaceful village , very windy and steep much like Prague but on more of a smaller scale. The little houses and buildings the backdrop of churches poking through the trees and just the scenery of the village was beautiful in a very still way. Pictures speak better than words though so check it out!
After our walkabout we went back to the local town area to grab some food , burgers for lunch deciding to opt for something quick and easy and then it was a walk back to the train station via the big 'albert' supermarket to buy some czech junk food - and that we did. Czech crisps , chocolates and sweets from the bakery all ready to be scoffed on the train home! Once back in Prague it was straight to the hotel for a much deserved nap exhausted from the day-trip. We woke up to then do another big walk of the city. As previously mentioned I love how czech and serb is so similar. To say wait in serb is cekaj , same as in czech so i had to snap this traffic sign.
Before I had left Australia someone had mentioned the 'pissing statues' in Prague and I never gave it another thought , but funnily enough we did bump into the pissing statues. Hilarious!
This was the first time I got on a plane since I had arrived to London , we've trained it every where else and also the first time on a plane with Ben. 2 hours later and we had arrived at our destination .PRAGUE. or 'Praha' as the Czech call it. Through customs and onto to a bus to catch the underground metro to head to the centre of Prague and get to our hotel. The cold chill in the air was not as harsh as I thought it would be and we comfortably walked from metro stop to Hotel Caesars Palace , a short 15 minute walk away. We left our bags at the hotel and as it was still too early to check in , decided we'd go for a big walk around the city. Maps in hand we began.
Prague , like most other european cities , has been around since what feels like the beginning of time. Coming from Australia , we forget sometimes how young our city is in comparison to places like Prague. The area of Prague was founded 220 BC - substantially old then 100+ year old Oz. I loved Its windy cobble stoned roads and as we reached the many steep hilly stair cases leading to the top level of Prague where Prague Castle sits was going to prove quite the thigh work out! 
Once we finally got up to the peak right by the Castle - the view was well worth it. This city they call Prague was starting to captivate me and I started to see why people like it so much here.
As we got up to the Castle there was a change of guard taking place and all the military guard marched there way through the square to the beat of the drum to a large crowd of tourists.
We started to walk down back into the centre to do some more exploring and get some food and head back to the hotel for a nap as we were both getting really exhausted. We began to realise 
we had almost walked through most of Prague as we finally approached a large shopping centre with a Tesco supermarket. What I was loving about Prague , was that as the language is somewhat similar to Serbian (and also somewhat different) it was similar enough for me to understand what most signs said and the food similarities were apparent when I walked into the supermarket to find things like , palacinke and knegle sitting in the frozen food section ready to go from the fridge to the oven straight into your tummy! It made me miss mum's wog feasts!
It was time for dinner and we managed to find a tucked away little restaurant in an alley way off Old Square - the chubby Czech man seated us and handed us a menu and we realised the restaurant was pretty much all ours apart from a couple on the other side of the room. He lit the oil burner/candle on the table and left us to view the offerings. We both decided on the 3 course Traditional Czech feast. Potato, Mushroom & Garlic soup for starter , a Mixed Grill for my main and Goulash for Ben's , and for desert I had chocolate Palacinke (crepes) and Ben had mixed fruit all washed down with Czech beer - which can I say was awesome. It was a perfect way to end Day one , just unwind with yum food , beer and chat to Ben and super cheap! As the Czech Republic still have their own currency the whole thing cost us 10pounds each , extremley cheap!
