CHLOE- HELPED OUT AT MARK FAST'S LFW SHOW

HELPING OUT AT MARK FAST'S LFW CATWALK SHOW

On Saturday at  9pm I emailed Mark Fast's assistant reminding him I was free and willing to help during the London Fashion Week show which I was sure wasn't going to get read, but received a speedy reply 10 minutes later saying to meet him at 1pm opposite Somerset House in the ME hotel reception the next day. We were given a LFW backstage wristband so we wouldn't get questioned throughout the day and then taken to floor 8 of the 5*  hotel.

                             

(ME Hotel London)

       

For the first half hour me and the other 3 interns sat and watched endless amounts of people cram into the 4 hotel rooms and corridor that they had booked setting up the hair, make-up, clothing and refreshments stations in each room. The models started arriving and began the process of getting ready, we were instructed to help the models get into their dresses. The dresses were beautiful, with an orange, red and fuscia colour palette, the knitwear collection had some sculptured cape pieces and also some tight fitted fringed dresses, they were elegant as always and had a sexy edge to them making them questionably wearable but still extremely beautiful, each model had a red stripe in their slick back ponytails which matched the vibrant colour palette. Handling the designer clothing was such a bonus as the quality of his work is incredible, you can see the effort that goes into the precision detailing on each garment.

Next I was sent downstairs with Fast's assistant to stand outside and find the model whom was now running 2 hours late, it was freezing cold and she still hadn't turned up so Richard sent me inside with the guest list to stand by the lifts and tell the first arrivals that they were running (ALOT) behind. The model turned up 10 minutes before the show was meant to start as she had been in Vivienne Westwood's Red Label catwalk show and been held up through that, me and the other intern were told to calm the 200 guests waiting impatiently outside the lift doors whilst the model was sprinted to get ready. There was a lot of angry photographers and editors of magazines demanding we let them upstairs, where on the top floor of the hotel they had transformed the former restaurant into a catwalk.

After we let everyone up the lifts and they were seated we were told we could ourselves sneak into the show and stand at the back and watch!!

(My own photos of the show and view from the roof terrace)

There were two shows (3.30pm and 4.30pm), the most popular was the later one in the day; as we were escorting the guests up the lifts I met a few famous faces, first being Pixie Lott wearing a lush fur collar and then Delilah and Zara Martin who arrived together looking extremely elegant.

I loved the shows as the venue was quite small but very bright, the models walked very close to the audience and so you got to really get a feel of the extravagant dresses. There were 10 looks and 10 models all together but these four were my definite favourites. In the background of the top and bottom images you can even see me standing to the left of the models taking some pictures!

The day was totally unexpected and last minute for me but it was so lively and such a great opportunity to work backstage with Mark Fast's team, he is such a great knitwear designer and am so thankful that I got to experience the magic behind the LFW show!

I am going to be keeping my backstage wristband on for a long time.. here's a youtube link to the show!

Although the music is rather strange that they have put over the top, the actual music started off with Little Dragon - Ritual Union, which was very upbeat and I really enjoyed!