Day 2-4.

I'm just going to pile the next four days together because I can't even remember what I did each day anymore. Time just passed by so quick, I remember getting to the studio each morning thinking what day it was, was it the second day? Or Third?

So each morning was the usual run to Tesco to pick up breakfast, snacks and lots of water for the entire day. And then it's always a run to Pret or Itsu to pick up lunch. The third and forth day's dinners were Vietnamese/Chinese takeaway and leftovers on the last night at the studio. (Shocking what amazing food they feed us! If I was stuck in the depths of hell on my last job, this one was definitely heaven.) Throughout the day, the three of us interns were just helping out with model fittings, dressing, occasional tea and coffee orders and then, the dreaded hand sewing. I was also sent on a little trip to William Gee, starting to discover all these hidden haberdashery stores in London!

I can't quite recall if it was day two or three but one of the days, of course, I decided to dress in a somewhat decent fashion and the weather decides to be horrible to me. It's raining, the odd kind of in between heavy and light rain mixed with some pretty insane winds. I'm talking winds that can sweep you off your feet. Just picture this in your head. I'm strolling along to get to work (a supposedly, nice 25 minute walk in the morning since I'm just a station away) while munching on my salmon rice wrap and here comes this massive wind, about to rip the seaweed right out of my hands. And of course there were little trails of salmon just being blown off the top of my half eaten wrap. It was lovely… really. And as if it wasn't bad enough, I had to get hit in the face with two sharp leaves and another massive wind, like a slap, right in the kisser. Thank you London weather for making my mornings miserable.

Of course knowing my luck, I had to head out quite a few times in the rain to run errands, on the worst possible day with the mad winds and rain. It got to that point where I did not even bother to attempt the umbrella anymore since it was on the verge of being torn apart. And how smart of me to decide not to wear my hooded parka that day. By the time I got back from two runs out to the post office, haberdashery and superdrug, only when I got into the studio did I realise I had the biggest holes at the back of my feet from my sunken in socks and shoes. Literally, they were bleeding so bad the hem of my jeans were stained. Lovely. I didn't even realise how shit and bad it was till I got home and hopped into the shower. They burned like a mother f-.

But yes, back to the studio. Antonio had came over and asked for some extra sequins to be sewn onto a jacket and skirt just so the pattern looked more organic. Fair enough. Though I have to say, I'm probably one of the worst hand sewers ever so I was just looking at the garment like oh this is going to be great, I'm going to ruin a very, very expensive jacket and skirt. I won't lie, I was struggling in the beginning, attempting to but stopping and attempting again to sew on the first sequin. After being asked to do it a number of times though, I suppose I just kind of got used to it and was fine after awhile though if I had the choice to do it again in the future, let's just say it'd be a no.

Most of the time we started at about 9:30. The times we finished depended on the work for that day. I believe it was the third day where we finished quite late at almost midnight because of model fittings (which they then covered my cab right home, dear god, I don't think I've ever taken a cab in London before either and it sure felt great!). The other days I finished off at about 8, 9pm and considering often we had about 2-3 hour breaks throughout the day where we just chilled on the couch flipping through magazines, it was quite good. The working atmosphere in the studio is beyond amazing. Organization. They have spectacular organisation that is out of this world. A small close knit team of just about 20 people working on everything but their organisation is just amazing. Everything is finished in time, there is no rush, no panic, no stress. It is absolutely relaxing, contrary to what I thought it was going to be, at a bigger designer company.

Day 5 - Show Day.

The bloody alarm goes off at 4:30am.

I catch the number 19 bus at 5:30am (after failing miserably by waiting 10 minutes for bus 341 that was on the wrong side of the road).

I get to the location of the show at about 5:50am at Connaught Rooms on Great Queen Street. I don't know if I should be somewhat relieved by the dead ghost town sort of look on the streets or be kind of creeped out but it was literally, not a single soul on the streets in the pitch darkness. It's an amazing location, I believe Vivienne Westwood did one of her shows there one season. The building on the outside may not look as amazing but once you step into the building itself, I'd have to say the interior is quite stunning, especially the area where the show is being set up. The bathrooms are nice, big and filled with the extras like couches and dressing areas which is what I always like to see.

 

I get my pass from the pass table, AAA Access All Areas. Oh yeah, got my hands on it! I knew with that around my neck, I'd be walking around the place like I was amazing. So I walk into the backstage area and see all hair/make up set up and it's already at work. I stand there, somewhat resembling a headless chicken before the others arrive and I start getting to work unpacking, unloading, doing something. 

Of course I had to grab some food off the table as well, just a salmon bagel and lots and lots of fruits. How often do I get to eat that much mango, strawberry, pineapple and grapes that taste that amazing without me having to cut or peel the damn thing, particularly the bloody mangoes!

There was that weird, calm before the storm, just chilling around for a good hour before the rush and backstage madness started setting in. Then, the orders came down to start dressing the models into the first looks and that was when madness just erupted. My model was the last to leave hair and make up which meant I had to move at the speed of flash to get her into the clothes. Not good when you're naturally slow at things. Good thing I had an assistant to help out because those shoes, already on the first look, they were acting up. The damn zips!

After that it was packing up immediately and freebie grabbing time! So many boxes of Wella hair products were left behind, I was literally going in for the kill. I started off with you know, just a couple of bottles but when I saw the boxes of unopened stuff left behind, I just thought, well I'm going to get them anyway, might as well go big! And next thing i knew, I was filling a huge ass box with a billion hair products. Shampoos, conditioners, hair sprays, gels, tonics, oils, anything I could grab. It's a lifetime supply of hair products for me. Going to be interesting experimenting with all the goodies I grabbed today. 

Then finally, it was time to say goodbye to everyone. Lots of hugs and cheek kisses. I have to admit, it was a little sad and almost reluctant. I had such an amazing time the past five days that it's sad it's ended that quickly. Everyone was like family - it was lovely, welcoming, friendly and people were just talking like we were all for a lack of a better word, family. 

It was such an experience that I don't think I'd ever forget this one. Just in a short five days, I've learnt and seen so much from hand sewing sequins to model dressing, working on an outfit made for Ruth Wilson for the BAFTAs, backstage and how it all goes down. Even being in the same room as Sophia Neophitou (Editor in Chief of TEN magazine and creative directors of Victoria's Secret and Antonio Berardi). Being around her, just listening and seeing how things are run, it's an eye opener definitely. You'd think just chilling around in a studio, doing the odd errands over five days wouldn't be much but you learn so much just by observing. How they talk, how things are done, fittings, what are needed, how people interact. 

On top of that, it just makes it so much more worthwhile and personal when it's such a lovely working environment. It's annoying how I seem to be only using the word 'amazing' to express things but literally, it was amazing. Or even beyond that. No regrets at all, loved every second of it even if it meant me almost dying from a panic attack trying to get everything together but it was simply, amazing.

With that over now, I think I'm still trying to recover and take in all that's happened the past five days. Getting back into the real world I suppose. I'm free again! Next stop, back to Chatham for a week and then it's Milannnnnn! Here I coommmeeeee!