Welcome to... Welcome to Wonderland ♥
My name's Alice and I am 19 years old, currently studying Fashion Design. And as you've probably already guessed my blog will be fashion based!
My first post is going to be about the recent opportunity I had to be a dresser at Manchester's Fashion Kicks charity event on the first of May 2012. We were told in University that we need to gain as much work experience as possible before we start apply for our placements next year. The tutors suggested visiting Manchester Fashion Network to see what they were advertising on there. Selfridges was advertising that they were looking for volunteers to help dress the models at the Fashion Kicks event, so I emailed asking if there were any positions still available. I wasn't really expecting to hear back from them as I only emailed a couple of days before the event was due to take place, but on the day before I received a phone call asking if I was still available. I immediately jumped at the chance. We were told to wear all black, so that meant going shopping for something new to wear! I had never helped out at a fashion show before so I was nervous and unsure of what would be suitable. I decided upon a tunic from Miss Selfridge with black tights and Topshop shoes.
I was really nervous as I didn't know what to expect. I arrived nearly an hour early! Luckily as I got off the tram I noticed that there was another girl who got off dressed all in black. She too was helping as dresser at Fashion Kicks, so we both stayed together. As we got out of the tram station we met another girl dressed all in black, I noticed that she was on my course, so we got talking and went for a walk around the cricket club where the event was taking place. On our way round we came across another girl who was helping out, she too was on my course at university, so it was nice to see a couple of people that I recognised!
We waited at the meeting point outside the main gates and I was surprised that there were a few older volunteers, as I expected everyone to be students. It was quite interesting to find out what the other people were doing, most of the younger ones were studying fashion based courses and university. One of the older ladies ran her own styling business, so she was telling us about the sorts of things she did like taking her clients shopping and sorting out their wardrobes for them. There was also another lady there who worked as a stylist at LK Bennett.
We were all then taken inside and asked to help sort out the gift bags. This consisted of putting tissue paper into Selfridges carrier bags and filling them with leaflets on personal shopping at Selfridges and and Armarni perfume. Once that was done we had to take the bags and put them onto the seats ready for the show. We then had to set more chairs out and make sure they were all in straight lines. After we had done this there was a lot of waiting around.
We were then taken back stage and each had to choose a rail. I chose one which was ready for three models, two males and one female. The males clothes were a pair of Calvin Klein each and one of them had a Tiger of Sweden suit. The female had a Victoria Beckham dress and a beautiful Roland Mouret dress with Jimmy Choo nude peep toe heels. The clothes were amazing, I couldn't believe I was handling them! We then had to steam and iron them ready for the dress rehearsal. The models then came in. Oh. My. Gosh. They were gorgeous, the men were so handsome with incredible bodies, the girls were absolutely beautiful and flawless. I thought I was tall at 5 foot 8 and the girls were taller, then they put heels on. I felt embarrassed stood there compared to the models. They were nice and friendly though when talking to them. I helped them into their clothes and they did their rehearsal. After that there was then an hours break before we had to start getting ready for the actual show. The clothes were re-steamed and ironed and we took a break. We came back down to get ready for the show, the model's hair and make up was touched up and we helped them into their clothes.
It was then time for the show. The atmosphere was incredible! There was a real buzz of excitement. The models were dressed and ready in line, hair and make up were checking everything was in place. The music could be heard from the stage, adding to the atmosphere which the models were smiling and occasionally moving to the beat of it. There was then a lot of waiting around whilst the audience took their places, but I didn't mind. I stood soaking in the atmosphere around me, with a feeling of excitement that hopefully one day I could be backstage at one of my own fashion shows. There were two different collections, one from Selfridges and the other Vivienne Westwood. The Vivienne Westwood clothes were incredible, over the top, lots of textures, layers, colours and prints, true Vivienne Westwood style. The women wore huge platform shoes, at least 6 inches high. Some of the men also modeled platform shoes worn with kilts. The show then started about half an hour late, everything ran smoothly backstage and my models went out looking amazing in their clothes. I really wanted to take pictures, but didn't as I was unsure whether you were allowed to or not! After the show finished the models got changed and left and the dressers remained putting the garments into bags and matching the shoes up.
It was an incredible experience, that hopefully I will be able to be involved in again sometime soon in the future. I was so nervous before I went but I'm really glad I did as I came away feeling really inspired and excited for the future!
To see the Vivienne Westwood show, here is a link to a clip of it on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69bWSUSlxsk&feature=related
It's taken from Manchester City Football Club's YouTube page as the event was for a charity and was organised by football player Shay Given and the show featured MCFC players. Although I didn't recognise any of them as I don't know anything about football!
Sorry if I've rambled a lot in this post and well done if you read through it all without getting bored! This was just mostly so I could look back and reflect on the experience in the future.
Please look out for my other blog posts!
Alice ♥
