A rollercoaster ride of emotions is the only way I can describe fashion week , and as I woke up for our last day I felt exactly the same way - a mix of excitement , nerves and sadness that it would over by around 10.30pm tonight. However , with 3 shows on today back to back I was going to end LFW with a bang , so it was time to really represent me and my style. Outfit of choice was my signature skinny's , with my customised stripey shoulder pad-riffic knit , layered with an old Alpha 60 tshirt with exaggerated snood detail that poured over the top of the neck!
(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!
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!
The show was over and we started to leave our seats and make our way down through the massive space. Ben and Sheena , and Seema all really enjoyed the show which was fantastic but before I left I had one last thing to do. I dashed back stage to find Kara , where with a kiss goodbye she thanked me for all my work over fashion week. As I said by to the interns , Thanos , Rach , Jane and Sarah and left Somerset House with Ben and Sheena it occured to me that this will be an experience I will never forget , I have come to London and within 5 months have been blessed with the opportunity to work my first LFW , I met one of my all time hero's and greatest inspirations - Carine Roitfeld - and have made amazing work relationships with someone like Kara Goodley a truly inspirational woman who I am learning so much from - and made some incredible contacts and future clients with people like Seema. Life is what you make it and its all about what you take out of each experience and as I rode the bus home I thought 'Just you wait London Fashion Week this is not the last you've seen of Deni' - who knows maybe one day all these people will be coming to a show of my own! Hope you've enjoyed my posts xoxo Deni
No comments:
Post a Comment