Last Wednesday was one of the biggest nights of my career so far and I have to say it couldn't have turned out any better. The crew was magnificent, the crowd was appreciative, the atmosphere was perfect and everything went along (with the exception of the odd bump here and there) fairly smoothly.
Three months ago I decided I was ready for a new challenge and thought I would love to put on my own show. I begun organising designers, models, make up artists and photographers to put on what I hoped would be one hell of a show. Little did I know how big the challenge would turn out to be.
First thing first, I needed a venue. Through a mutual friend of the family I had a meeting set up to discuss my plans with the owner of Friday's. Terrified and doubting myself I nervously pitched my presumptuous plans to the wonderful Nigel from Friday's and with the help of a few wines and a great atmosphere the venue was secured.
Next was organising the models, photographers and makeup artists which was easy enough but unfortunately integrity seemed to be a little lacking with some of my candidates, and my final team had many pieces replaced several times before I got the mix just right (and even then I still had three people not show up on the night).
The next three months flew past, and all the little pieces of the puzzle slotted into place. I replaced my final designer four times and consequently changed my poster just as many times. I've come to realise people have a certain reputation in the industry for a reason. I know now that asking around for character references and reliability of people is paramount to ensure that I get team members that are reliable, but these are the things you learn along the way.
Before I knew it, it was show night and all my planning came down to one night, make or brake.
We arrived at midday and began to set up our backroom but our activity was halted when we ran into a bit of a road block and we had to reconvene three hours later. Consequently I was a little stressed being three hours behind schedule, but the team worked extra hard to get us back on track. From 3pm till 7pm it was madness, 23 models had their hair and makeup done, a catwalk was erected, cleaned and tested, lights were installed, balloons escaped from an open window, VIP boxes were constructed and guests arrived eagerly awaiting the show I had promised.
With all things, it doesn't matter how much you plan there are always little hiccups along the way, sent to test your moxie, mine was certainly tested on Wednesday night.
I had a model not show up without any warning, another came several hours late then left half an hour before she was due on the catwalk, a makeup artist was a no show, my balloons escaped out an open window and flew over the city off into the atmosphere, my clothes rack collapsed under the strain of too many clothes and I almost fell over during my thank you speech due to the awesome amount of grip on the bottom of my new wedges, but these things happen.
Lucky I was prepared to improvise and after switching up the models slightly we covered out mmia (model missing in action) problem, our beautiful makeup team brought an extra team member by chance which left us with the same amount of makeup artists we had anticipated to have, Zana the wonderful Venue Manager at Friday's witnessed my balloons suicide mission and ordered new ones immediately, my clothes rack has since recovered from its breakdown and I cracked a joke about my mishap during my show and I (and the rest of the room) had a good laugh about it, so all in all everything worked out.
I've had a really positive response from everyone who attended and all those involved so I feel the night was a massive success.
Thanks to all those who attended and all those who were a part of it, I couldn't have done it without you, I've already started thinking about the next one so I can't wait to get started and see you all at the next Obsession Fashion Event.
