Post LFW blues have most definitely set in; I'm currently procrastinating in the library, going through the photos I took over the few days. Being my first London Fashion Week, I threw myself into the deep end attending as many shows and after-parties as I physically could, without collapsing from exhaustion. Luckily, I was working as part of the Who's Jack team, so I had experienced people guiding me through what to do and making sure I posted my articles on time.
I expected LFW to be hectic and non-stop due to all the tales I've heard about it, and after attending London Collections Men and being told that LFW is completely different. But I found that if you love something and you're passionate, the lack of sleep and running between shows won't stop you from enjoying it.
This year the hub for LFW was the BFC showspace at Brewer Street Car Park; this was done to bring more commerce to the area and it allowed for more space. Inside, the showcase hall was wide, bright and airy; being the perfect place for young designers to set up. However, outside became manic as people queued for shows while cars were trying to go down the already narrow street and pedestrians struggled to squeeze past photographers.
I learnt a lot about the essentials for fashion week on my first day. Rule 1: Don't bring a big bag that has no compartments. As pictured above, I used my Alexander McQueen Demanta Tote (which is practically the size of my torso) and carried around my camera, glasses, invites, laptop (essential for uploading articles ASAP) and other little things. Everything could fit in the bag, but lugging it around proved a nightmare. For the rest of the season I used my Lazy Oaf backpack, which made it so much easier to get around, and also gave me more legroom when sitting down at shows haha.
Whenever I had some free time, I would head to the BFC showspace and have a look around. Truthfully, it's a bit intimidating and slightly awkward walking up to someone's designs and not having any questions to ask, or being afraid to critique them (one stall just ripped off Sophie Hulme and Stella McCartney bags and it was so awkward listening to the person explain their inspiration).
One of the stalls stood out instantly, being Clio Peppiatt's designs, which captured a real fun and youthful vibe whilst being technically advanced. I spent about 20 minutes talking to her about the collection and other little things and she made me feel so at ease and even gave me some amazing career advice.
I really wanted to do a full OOTD for each day of LFW, but I didn't have time, so I took some detailed shoots of some of the things I wore. On the first day I wore my Dr Martens shoes for the first time and made sure I wore super thick socks to prevent them from hurting, with some success. Then on another day I wore my favourite Bobby Abley jumper with my Burberry trench coat, and got quite a few compliments on it (although no streetstyle picture requests -_-). On another note, I also saw Bobby Abley and almost had a heart attack, I was so close to following him into a burrito shop to ask for a picture but I chickened out.
One of the other perks was being able to visit all of these amazing locations around London such as sketch, Maddox and Libertine, for free, and getting loads of complementary food, drinks and other goodies as fuel for the rest of the week.
LFW has made me so much more confident in my writing abilities and knowledge of fashion (Check out the articles I wrote for WJLondon here - 1 2 3 4 5 ) and has allowed me to meet some amazing people; I cannot wait for LCM in January!
Peace and Blessings,
Andre
