Thursday 25 March 2010

London Fashion Week!!

Thursday: Lonnng first day, had to be at Victoria House in London for 9:30am, then didn't leave until about 7pm. Basically what today was for was meeting all the other crew members and setting everything up. My gosh there was a LOT of stuff to be set up. Pretty much the entire area which we were in, was completely empty when we arrived, and then was jam-packed with stuff when we'd left. I found that a lot of the people who were working at LFW were from AUCB too, but on different courses. I didn't really talk to anyone I knew beforehand, I've already made a bunch of new friends. We decided on our lunchbreak that we were going to get lunch together so we could bond a bit, so off we went to Nando's. I really enjoyed getting to know each other better. And to top it off, one of the customers go arrested just as we were leaving! Very strange. When we got back after lunch we met all of the backstage dressers and carried on setting up. Some of the designers had arrived by this time and were putting their exhibition clothes on the manikins that I was setting up, this is when everything started to get really exciting for me.
Friday: Got in at 1:30, the place was packeddd! The final stages of setting-up had come together and the place looked fantastic. There had already been one fashion show on that morning which was Charlie Le mindu, where musician La Roux was seen front row, and there was another one due to start. At the beginning I was stewarding, pointing people to where they had to go for the shows and such. There were a lot of designers wandering around within the exhibition areas, so I got to meet quite a few interesting people. I also saw a celebrity whom I recognised, Megan Prescott who plays Katie in the TV show Skins <- I love that show, so I was really excited when I saw Megan. Jodie Harsh and Sophie Anderton were also seen front row at the Ashley Isham show today, where majestic couture pieces in molton bronze and deep violet set the scene for a victorious finale procession. Saturday: Most of today I was stewarding, which is getting a bit boring and I was on the doors with the On|Off umbrella for quite a long time too, it's wayyyyy too cold to be doing that! Anyway, today's main show was the J.Maskrey show which led on to an after-party which I stayed to help at. The J.Maskrey show was the first one I actually got to watch (even if it was from behind a wall!) and it was incredible. Skin jewellery adorned the models, which perfectly set off the sparkling futuristic, biker chic of the colletion. Once the show was over, everyone was moved through to the exhibition area and we had to rush around clearing up and moving benches ready for the party to start. Once the party started, the room filled up fast. Some were dressed up, some were dressed down, it was really interesting to see the contrast at a party like that. I spent some time near the front door, watching everyone coming into the party, I recognised a few of the people, particularly the Sugarbabes when the walked past. The Sugarbabes were the live act that were playing on stage, they did a fantastic job and had everyone singing and dancing. I got to speak to them as they were leaving, they were really friendly. I helped out by collecting glasses and litter, guarding the backstage doors (where some rather rude people tried to get past me) and welcoming people at the doors. I also had a chance to do a bit of mingling, I didn't stay for the entire party, because I had to travel back to Surry before the trains stopped, but I enjoyed my time while I was there.
Sunday: Today was a bit quieter than the past couple of days, there weren't as many people at the shows and everyone at On|Off were exhausted from the night before. The day was also shorter than normal and we got to go home early, which was really good for me as I was feeling really under the weather. The second show of the day was Falguni and Shane Peacock, their label, known for its bold and audacious prints, showcased a melting pot of colours, textures and vivid embellishment for its autumn winter collection. This would have been really helpful to us for our Melting Pot project, if only we hadn't done that yet! We decided that as we had finished early, we were going to go over to Somerset House where the rest of Fashion Week was taking place and have a look around. We got hold of some passes that let us into Somerset House where we looked around at some of the exhibitions, which were amazing and I wish I had lots of money to buy, buy, buy! But unfortunately not. Afterwards we went outside, as we knew Vivienne Westwoods show was due and we wanted to do some star spotting. We waited a long time, nobody showed up. So we asked someone about it and turns out we were in the wrong place, so we ran to another building (ran past John Rocha!) and found loadssss of paparazzi outside. Didn't see Vivienne Westwood, but we did see Pixie Lott, Kesha and a few other celebrities.
Monday: Whistles chief executive Jane Sheperdson was seen today at the Roksanda Ilincic show where fluid draping, floral embellishment and exaggerated lapels on outerwear were key features. Pam Hogg's collection was punk rock rebellion at its best, as outfits left little to the imagination! Thigh high PVC boots, huge net hair pieces, sheer cape jackets, plunging bodysuits with slashes of lace, PVC and leather and Pam’s signature catsuits sashayed down the catwalk. Pearl Lowe, Peaches Geldoff and Jaime Winstone were all seen front row. At the time of this show I was on the front doors, thus I didn't see the show, but I spoke to Pearl Lowe, Peaches Geldoff and Jaime Winstone to explain where they were to go for the show, which was quite exciting. After this I was put in the VIP area, where I hadn't been before. Unfortunately because there wasn't a show on or due for a few hours, there weren't many people around, but I enjoyed the chance to do a bit of bar-work instead of stewarding. The last show for On|Off was Ziad Ghanem. This was the only show which I managed to watch myself, all the way through. It was incredible. My absolute favorite outfit was the last one, where the model came out in a pink dress, removed the pink dress to reveal a green one underneath, the removed the green one to reveal a white burlesque-style outfit underneath. I was stunned, it was really gorgeous. One other thing I did finally get to do today was have a look at the Alexander McQueen tribute. On one of the walls near the catwalk there was a display imbedded with forty ipod’s. The ipods featured hundreds of images taken from Catwalking.com’s extensive archives, including McQueen’s own label menswear and womenswear collections and from his time at Givenchy. I didn't have time to look through all of the images properly, but it was incredible to see how much work he's achieved over the years. I thought this was a fantastic idea for a tribute, it gained a lot of attention and served it's purpose well. This evening we all stayed really late to de-rig the entire set-up of the On|Off fashion show, which was really hard work, but didn't take too long. Afterwards we had a little celebration, finishing up the alcohol left over from the bar and eating cake that was absolutely lushhh. There was a little awards ceremony, I didn't get anything as there were some people who worked a lot harder than I did, but we all got little goody bags. I also took home one of the helium balloons which are about half my height, which was really awkward to get back to Bournemouth! I'm not sure whether the whole experience was what I had expected, but I did enjoy the opportunity and would definately take up the chance to do it again.

Week Seventeen!!

Monday: Back in with our homework! I didn't colour in my illustrations, because I'm not great at colouring-in and I didn't want to ruin them - I like what I've drawn! I drew two models with designs I'd already created, and put a new design idea on the third model. We all shared the illustrations between everyone else in the class, there are some really fantastic artists in our group! I think I will definately use this magazine-style technique in the future because it makes the figures look flexible and free. Also today we looked at Oni, one of the assistants' old work. She was a student at AUCB like us, so she showed us some of the sketchbooks from her time at AUCB. They were fantastic, and if I'm honest, they've really scared me. My sketchbooks aren't exactly good in the first place, seeing these have worried me. I've got some ideas of things I could do in my sketchbook to improve the work that I do though, so hopefully I've benefitted from it.
Tuesday: Eeeeep, capitals presentations today! I'd prepared a few slides, my part of the presentation was based on the fashion within Australia. Not the actual designers and garments, but I looked into the fashion week and fashion festivals which take place. I tried to make my part of the presentation really effective with bits flying in from the sides and coming up as I talk, but I mucked it up while talking and got in a bit of a panic. I managed to keep my cool though, got to the end of my part and let the rest of the group continue. I also put in a video about the fashion week, which got us a few bonus points because I don't think anyone else in the group had used that idea. I think the worst thing was that one of the members thought we were doing Austria, rather than Australia and had to change her slide at the last minute. It was completely different to the others 'cause we didn't have time to put it together properly, I think this spoilt it a little bit. I'm just glad to have it out of the way, I don't feel very confident talking in front of lots of people unless it's something I'm confident I know a lot about.
Link to presentation, first two slides were created by me.
Wednesday: I only got to sit in for half of this session, as I had a train to catch for London Fashion Week and had to leave early. We were given mathematical questions to figure out the answers for, which I didn't quite complete, but I thought I'd done pretty well considering it's been about 4 years since I last did maths! We get the results next week hopefully, I want to know how well I did.

Week Sixteen.

Monday: I really weren't feeling well this morning and almost didn't go into uni. I'm actually really glad that I did, because I enjoyed this mornings session a lot. Karen asked us all to find some photographs in the magazines from the studio which we were asked to draw from. I tried not to choose any too difficult, but I didn't want the models to be stood in a boring pose. To help myself, I drew onto the image where I thought the nine-heads would go, this made it easier to plan my model. Some of the angles in my image, for example the legs, were a bit off and needed to be tweeked, but I think otherwise my drawing came out quite well. We were set 'homework' and have to draw another three illustrations, but this time adding our own designs to the model, rather than using the ones from the magazine.
Tuesday: Today wasn't a particularly good day. We got our feedback from Karen's previous unit, FDP, which I know I didn't do a very good job of. As I expected, this showed in the mark. I'd expected to fail, so I'm quite relieved that I managed to pass anyway, but I'm still quite disappointed. I guess it's my own fault, if I'd put more work into the project in the first place, instead of rushing it at the last minute, I'd've got a much better mark. I've taken some notes so I know what to improve within the next unit, hopefully I'll have learnt from my mistake!
Wednesday: Lecture, same old, same old. I think I need to start writing this essay we've been set. I've not really had a look at it yet. I should at least start making notes, I'm not very good with essays.
Thursday: Today was a bit different, we had the jersey workshop. We were basically showed the different equipment that we would need to use for it, what results we could get from what machines etc. Everyone made little samples from testing out each machine and different settings on the overlocker. We also had a mini-t-shirt sample to test out, which was the neck-binding and cuff. I actually found it quite easy to do. I'm not fantastic with the overlocker though, I'm going to have to make sure I have a steady hand and take it slowwww for the real thing!
Friday: We got to use the 'plotter' in our Lectra session today. I've seen some of the second-years use the plotter before, it's very loud! So easy to use though, you push a few buttons and hey-presto, out comes the pattern pieces. Then when the pieces have all been drawn out, you just pull them away from the paper because they've been cut by the machine too! Brilliant invention, will save sooooo much time in the future!