8 Days in London | London Fashion Week
From the 14th to 21st of February, I was in London working up until London Fashion Week. It was a jam packed eight days, full of late nights, early
mornings, amazing shows and great people!
Arriving in London, on the 14th (Valentines Day), I went straight
from Gatwick to the Gareth Pugh Studios in Somerset House. I couldn't wait to
get back to the team (there were a few familiar faces from last season, as well as a few
lovely new ones too!). It was quite strange arriving so close to fashion week, as before I'd have always been there at least a few weeks, if not a few months, before the show, so I would have seen the collection coming together. However, this
time there was five days to go til the show and the majority of the collection
was complete, bar a few alterations that would be made after fittings. After I
caught up with guys from last season, we got down to business, pretty straight
forward jobs of finishing off the garments with fastenings or alterations etc. It was kinda weird being back in studio, it almost felt like I had never left, yet
at the same time, it felt as if it had been so much longer than five months
since I was last here. Regardless, I was delighted to be back and I was very
excited for the next few days. 
That night, I was reunited with Lucy, who I met on my first
internship at Giles, I stayed with her
for the week, which was so sweet. It had been like eighteen months since we’d
seen each other, so there was so much to catch up on.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday flew by, albeit very civalised,
filled with alterations, fastenings, model fittings and preparing for the show.
The studio was quite chilled in comparison to last season. A few of
us stayed til near 4am the night before show (just to finish off the last few
pieces), but other than that, the hours were quite normal for the rest of the week.
So the day arrived, Saturday the 18th, the Gareth Pugh show was at 8pm that evening. The morning started off with the usual packing of the
collection as well as anything else we might need and after it was all loaded
into the lorry we made our way to the venue in Islington...
and what a venue it was!
Completely below ground level, we went down a level to our
backstage area and would later proceed down to two more levels to minus three for the show. We
set up the backstage area with the whole collection and with changing areas for each
of the models. Hair and make-up were under way and lighting and sound were being
finalised. Everything was pretty much in place. So as the models were finished
hair and make-up, we then dressed them for a photoshoot prior to the show. The
Stress. One minor detail, I may have left out, the building as spectacular and
breath-taking as it was, was unfinished... so just to give you an idea, we're
talking dusty floors, dusty walls, scaffolding staircases and random obstructions in the middle
of floor. My heart was in my mouth and until the shoot was over and we got down
to the line-up for rehearsal, I was sick with nerves.
There was only space for a few of us to go to the -3 level, which
meant, said few of us, would have to do a few outfit changes, as we pretty much
had one model each upstairs, now we had to take on a few more, which was
totally fine! So the models flew through rehearsal, with a cast made up of some
professional models and some of Gareth's friends, artists, activists etc (who
would have less experience on the catwalk). Erin O’Connor provided a Next Top
Model moment backstage whilst demonstrating to the less experienced how to stride
down the catwalk. What an icon! The show happened without any glitches and we were
all on absolute high, not to mention the incredible images that VOGUE captured
of the collection, check them out here: Gareth Pugh AW17 Collection
We made our way back to Somerset House and unpacked the collection, followed by some champagne, before heading to our afterparty on Berwick Street and let's just end that story there!
Sunday was spent just chilling with Liliana, a cheeky pizza may have been ordered, followed by ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (cliché I know). Sunday evening, when Lucy was finished with her show at Roland Mouret, I left Liliana’s and went back to Lucy’s to prepare for Monday.
Monday morning, I was working front of house at the ROKSANDA show, which was a first, as previously, all my internships have been design based, so I would always be backstage, altering, dressing, etc. So I laid out the programmes on the seats and then showed the guests to their seats and whilst doing so, was less than a metre away from Anna Wintour!! Once everyone was seated, I got to stay front of house for the show which was amazing. Check out the stunning collection here: ROKSANDA AW17 Collection
Following the show, I went to the afterparty and met the rest of the ROKSANDA team which was so nice, everyone was so friendly and it was really interesting to talk to people from the different departments. After the afterparty, I popped into the ROKSANDA store on Mount Street, which like the showroom, was presented and laid out immaculately.
Afterwards, I went sourcing for Alison, all the usual places, MacCulloch and Wallis, VV Rouleaux, Barnett Lawson and a few others. Monday evening, I returned to the Gareth Pugh studio to give them a hand, followed by going for some crepes and a drink with the team before saying goodbye.
I went back to Lucy’s for my last night in London, packed up my stuff and left the next morning. Tuesday morning, I had an interview, which went really well (well at least, I think it did) and hopefully I’ll be telling you more about that very soon.
After the interview, I went back to the Berwick street, to collect a few samples that I had researched the day before. At 12am the Burberry Maker’s House exhibition was opening, which I really wanted to squeeze in before I flew home, so I made it to Maker’s House at 1.30pm, which gave me an hour and a half to spare and it was so worth it.
Burberry’s Autumn Winter 17 collection was inspired by the sculptor Henry Moore hence the exhibition title, 'Henry Moore: Inspiration and Process'. The collection consisted of 70-something extraordinarily detailed capes inspired by elements of Moore’s designs and interests. The collection was initially from first impression, classic Burberry but on closer inspection included genius influences of Moore, down to details such as the stripe from the apron he wore when sculpting, to the silhouette of the garment taking on the fluidity of Moore's most famous sculptures. The exhibition had so many extras, from complimentary Henry Moore prints, to a virtual reality experience of Henry Moore’s studio, there was even a recreated Henry Moore studio to get complimentary photograph taken in and a GIF of the four shots sent to your email.
As I was about to leave the upper floor of the exhibition I thought I saw a familiar face dash past and on a double take I realised that it was the one and only Christopher Bailey, CEO of the Burberry Group. He had gone downstairs, where he was about to do a livestream on Facebook for GQ. So I waited around until the livestream was over, as did a few others and I asked him for a photo. I couldn’t let that opportunity slip away, he was an absolute delight and lovely to talk to.
After the exhibition, I headed straight to Gatwick to get my flight back to Dublin for a photoshoot with the Alison, the next morning. I had five days at home in Ireland and now I’m back in Paris. As I finish this post, I've just started another week at the ROKSANDA showroom.
So that’s pretty much been the last two weeks, next post will be a diary of this week in Paris, hopefully I'll find some time to take in some new sights. As always, I’d love to hear from you guys! Thanks for reading. x
Thanks,
Barry T.
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