Day 1 of Milan Fashion week kicked off at ‘Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci’ on 20th September 2017, with an absolutely wonderful show by designer Atsushi Nakashima - at 11:45am.
I was at the venue by 8:00am – temperature:12 degrees.
Lucky me right?
Yes, I mean it, in the truest sense; No sarcasm intended.
‘Coz what kind of fashion enthusiast would I be if I didn’t think I was lucky to work backstage, as a dresser for one of THE fashion capital’s seasonal shows.
Now obviously, attending fashion week and working backstage fall into two completely different categories and require completely different ensembles. So, despite having planned my ‘attending-the-show’ attire days in advance, I had to make some not-so-minor changes to my outfits in order to be backstage ready. That meant –
No heels (was unsure whether to be relieved or upset about this)
No jewellery (I crie)
All black (and that was the silver lining! Or black? You know what I mean!)
The outfit I decided upon: a black maxi, pantyhose (it was unbelievably cold), a charcoal sweater knotted up at the waist, my trusted-most favourite black shoes and ofcourse a dash of red lipstick and my everyday staple – black eyeliner.
Once I was all prepped up, it was time to do some real dressing. I’m taking models, designer garments, hair, make-up, EXCITEMENT!!
Of course reaching the venue by 8:00am, meant skipping breakfast. And how does one get by without their daily dose of coffee?
Well they just don’t.
So, dragging a co-dresser friend along, we headed to this adorable bar smelling of strong delicious coffee and fresh croissants – talk about heavvveennn. Also FYI, in Italy a ‘bar’ is essentially a breakfast cafe. Honestly, every street here is lined with atleast two three bars, all smelling deliciously inviting with caffe and scones and pretzels and brioches…… yes, sorry, I’m deviating …and salivating (god help me).
Anyway coffee in hand and stylishly dressed, we walk into the building; At first glance - a lot of people in black (no surprise there) and not much chaos (very surprised about that). Having been in the fashion industry (studying and working) for more than 5 years now, I’ve come to know that if there isn’t chaos close to the finish line, then clearly, something isn’t right. (Mmm, I see ya’ll nodding in agreement)
Well, the problem was – we were too early and Atsushi’s people were too organised. In a very industrial-style hall, all the garments were steamed, ironed and hung on racks divided by model names, complete with sketches on how to style each look for the show. *IMPRESSED*
Anyway, this meant we had more time for selfies, Insta-stories AND to check out the totally sexy (and way too skinny) models!
Before you assume – No, I wasn’t jealous and nor was I drooling over the guys. OKAY FINE, maybe just a lil’ :p
With time still to spare, I got a good look at Atsushi’s collection for S/S ’18 – and what an assortment of creative expression it is! The line-up seemed to have 3 distinct sets of designs:
A cut ‘n paste take on the classic trench coat – by zipping together patches of everyday essential fabrics like denim and khaki.
Flowing forms playing with neutral colours and zigzag patterns.
A few bold pieces in bright pink, yellow and blue (again emphasizing the trench silhouette)
Now, finally! What really happens backstage:
22 ensembles, 11 models, 20 dressers, 3 co-ordinators, 3 senior stylists, make-up artists, photographers, paparazzi, the designer himself and a translator (who, btw looked gorgeous in one of Atsushi’s designs);
We survived an hour-long rehearsal, where models were lined up 4 times, each of us dressers helped them in and out of their ensembles (complete with shoes and accessories) 4 times, each model had 2 outfits to showcase and the whole place was, what I like to call – organised chaos (and I LOVED IT)!
During the final show, the runway was lined with models in Atsushi’s artistic designs while backstage, we were all crowded around a tiny screen, streaming live feed. As the last model walked back in and Atsushi took his final bow – there was a collective sigh of relief and a huge round of applause – for ourselves, for the models and for the designer.
It was perfect.
3 Things I’ll always remember about this day:
Bruna (she’s the model I dressed)
My conversation with the American journalist who exasperatedly told me ‘I’m trying to photograph someone while they perform their art and they don’t have the time for it! Crazy!’
That hottie male-model who slipped me his phone number! (Just kidding. A girl can day-dream can’t she?)