Sunday 21 September 2008

The love & Pain of London Fashion Week

So the blog has been quiet for a while now. I’ve been really busy with work, but its all looking good, have loads of tears and features coming out (including a video and print with my good friend Jodie Harsh, a piece for POP magazine and 2 more covers) so I will keep you all posted.

On to the topic of the week…London Fashion Week.
If im honest I had a nightmare week. I was extremely ill for 24 hours which cost me 3 shows, 2 shoots and 1 really big casting…gutted! But I got back on my feet Thursday for a fashion show that myself and 2 business partners had been working on for a while. We put on the Messori (http://www.messori.it/) fashion show at Studio Valbonne London. We also featured swimwear by Sea Sirens (http://www.seasirens.co.uk/).
On top of doing the runway I had also agreed to raise some money for Lady Carols Sarcoids charity by auction, I was fortunate enough to have Miss England, Laura Coleman, with me to accompany Kele le Rock and my business partner Alan Enfield in the auction of swim wear, jewelry and some exclusive t-shirts by P.D.E which don’t get released for another month yet.
From a view point it looked liked it all went to plan, then models worked it on the runway, the place was packed, and the DJ’s kept everyone on there feet. WE had some very familiar faces down there and OK magazine and FTV were at hand to catch it all on camera.

But I do have a some massive thankyou’s to give out.
To the models. MUA and stylists. Thank you so much, I know it was a hard day, but you all made it so worth while.
To Selfridges, thank you so much for your last minute goody bag donations, you were so generous and without you I would have been in a really troubled place. I’ll return the favor I promise.

So following a mad night of working and partying till 4am I had to get up and out the door to Emma Bell’s show. I had a 3heart invite to the show as I am good friends with the head stylist Alexis Knox and hairstylist Charlie le Mindu. I also know the face of the collection Rosie very well….you can view all of their pages on my myspace (in my top friends). Truth be told they called me the night before cause they were a model short, they needed a tall blonde, so I used one of my models from the Messori show, and Olivia did me proud.
When I got to the holding area I was really pleased to see many of the youthful, vibrant and creative fashion crowd that are shaping the streets of London & Britain today. I finally got to meet mr Niyi Crown in person, after so much talk over emails. As always Niyi looked on point, and really ahead of the times as one would expect from such a fashion cat repping supersuper. I was also really happy that I bumped in to Scottie. I first met Scottee through Jodie Harsh, and since then we’ve worked on various projects together. Scottee really is a very creative and eye catching individual. His performance for the Emma Bell video was truly brilliant in typical childhood pop culture fashion, and was well recognised by the crowd.
I must say I always enjoy watching Emma Bell shows, because they are exactly that a SHOW. Too many designers simply miss this opportunity, and display clothes, Emma does anything but that, from the music to the choreography, every detail is thought out to elaborate and compliment her candy works.

There was one thing I was disappointed with, and that was myself! I had to rush out the show as I had a casting over in Camden that I was running late for, but at the show there was a young lady who I had seen on the tube the day before. Chemistry was obvious to us both, and im pretty sure we were both having a giggle about it while waiting for the show to start. Unfortunately she was in the standing are at the back of the room, and I had front row seats. Never to be seen again im sure. Message to self, never miss an opportunity!

The day didn’t stop there, after my casting I popped round to Jodie’s house for a catch up, cup of tea and peak of the first edit of the new circus video…can not wait for it to be released. In Jodie’s own words “its major”.
I got a cab from Jodie’s over to bond street where I met with Dennis and Z Burns for the feature shoot in the next edition of WWIT magazine.
The shoot went really well, and although we ran short of time to get the last outfit done, I’m positive the images will look outstanding so cant wait for them to be released in the next week. I’ve worked with Dennis a few times now, we work really well as a team, and the same can be said with Zach, who by the way was one of my models for the Messori show, and stood out no doubt. The talents of this man are endless, model, photographer, editor, contributor, athlete, and friend. We have some great synergy going together and I can safely say to all you fans of WWIT, its going to get big, better and bolder.

Blessing to all.
A.P