Our lovely deputy fashion & beauty editor was lucky to find herself backstage at London Fashion Week over the summer; here’s a sneak peek of what she got up to!
This September I was privileged enough to be invited back stage as a journalist at some of London Fashion Week’s biggest shows. Having interned over the summer at a high-end hair magazine, I was asked along to look at the new hair-styles that would be debuting on the catwalk in preparation for SS13.
Trying to second guess what happens backstage at a Fashion Show is no easy task. I’ll happily admit that I was preparing myself for a glamorous weekend filled with the most fabulous clothes (which would probably all be given to me afterwards…), where I’d end up being discovered as a journalist, be papped coming out of multiple shows hand in hand with celebrities, and wake on Monday morning to find that I’m a famous IT girl in London with a million different magazines offering me a job. You might be surprised to find out, this wasn’t the case.
That being said, LFW was in NO way a let-down. It might not have been what I expected, but that’s probably because I seemed to have severely underestimated it! My first show was the amazing House of Holland. On entering the backstage area of an eclectic London Car Park (where Henry chose to set the scene for his inspiring new collection) you could feel an instant buzz about the place. I had to carefully dodge the many models running from hair to make up to wardrobe like their lives depended on it. The room was swarming with journalists and bloggers snapping every second of the preparations, which filled the place with a sense of excitement and electricity. That being said, the uplifting buzz soon turned into panic and then sheer mayhem as show time quickly approached! It was incredible to see how quickly and efficiently the models were prepped, made up and then thrown out to the audience – there was something almost comical about the chaos backstage and then how instantly the girls switch it on and become the poised and controlled models that you see on the catwalk!
Whilst backstage was much more exciting than I could have anticipated, sneaking round to front of house was no let down either. The Mary Katrantzou show was, by far, my most surreal experience to date. Upon entering the Topshop Show space I was greeted with Champagne and Canapés (which I consumed far too much of, and instantly regretted) whilst I attempted to casually mingle and small-talk with writers and designers. Meanwhile I experienced the underlying feeling that perhaps I didn’t quite belong here. However, when we took our seats for the show I discovered that instead of being right at the back of the room with the other journalists, I was placed on the second row next to one of Mary’s closest friends and business partners. To this day I’m almost one hundred percent sure that this particular ticket wasn’t meant for me, not that I choose to dwell on this point too much! The show was phenomenal; the clothes were colourful and stunning, the models were elegant, the atmosphere was thrilling, and far too quickly for my taste it was all over and done with!
What struck me about the styling of these beautiful shows, and presumably all others, is the amount of work that goes into them. The tiniest of details are not overlooked. Every aspect is planned with the utmost care, from the hair, makeup, even the nail colour, (to my surprise, even the tiny hair grips were all sprayed to be the same colours as the clothes at House of Holland!) Equally, the number of people involved in the task of prepping around 20 models is beyond belief. I lost track attempting to count all of the stylists, their assistants, the camera men and photographers, the producers of the shows, journalists and TV presenters… the list goes on! Hours and hours of preparations are made until the day finally arrives and in 5 minutes – if that – it’s all over and done with and work immediately begins on projections for the next season!
My amazing and all too short-lived time at LFW was an incredible one. It definitely ignited that old passion of wanting to be a journalist in the fashion industry. The number of people involved in the huge task of putting on a fashion show reminded me that if you want to be in the fashion industry and be involved with the making of glamorous catwalk shows, you don’t necessarily need to be the designer. There are so many amazing and interesting jobs out there which are part of this fast-paced and exciting industry… it’s about finding the right angle for you! So if I could give you any advice if you ever find yourself backstage at LFW it would be this…
1. Have a good camera with you – Every photo is a keeper!
2. Always be on the lookout for a celeb spot (with the camera ready) … they turn up all over the place.
3. Talk to everybody and anybody… you never know when another opportunity like this one might come about. So make all the connections you can!
Photo Credits: concrete-online.co.uk, Sarah’s own photos.