Interning at London Fashion Week

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are having a great weekend and making the most of what is left of it! Can anyone else find it hard to believe that we are almost in the middle of March / approaching St. Patrick's Day?! Summer will be here before we know it and I would certainly LOVE to see some sunshine! 

Today's post is one of my favourite to date - interning at London Fashion Week. I will talk you through how I got the internship, details on where I stayed, what airport I flew into, the designers and experience as a whole. I really hope you enjoy it as much as I loved putting it together and if you want to find out more then just keep on reading! :) 

London Fashion Week has always been on my goal list and I decided that 2016 would be the year I make it a reality. Originally, I had been accepted to start my dream course last month and it was a Fashion Styling Diploma with the London School Of Styling. Interning at LFW was part and parcel of the course and I couldn't contain my excitement.

Between one thing and another, my plans didn't go according to plan and safe to say, I was gutted. I understood that perhaps it wasn't my time to go and hopefully I will complete the course in the near future. Sometimes when you feel like you are being pulled in the opposite direction, it is life putting you on a path to something better and everything happens for a reason, trust me on that one! Obstacles are put in your way to see how much you really want that goal and you just have to keep breaking the wall down.

LFW was still playing on my mind and being the stubborn girl that I am, I didn't want to give up just yet. So, I got the laptop out and set myself up for the night. I sent over 200 emails with a cover letter and CV attached to the PR of each designer. Once it came to 6am I decided to call it a day and get a few hours sleep before I would start sending some more because being honest, I was so googly eyed at that stage I didn't know what I was sending! Once I had all the e-mails sent, I waited a few days and sent some of them again, if not a third time. I couldn't believe that my persistence paid off as I genuinely wasn't expecting any replies, I just wanted to be able to say I gave it a shot. When one door closes, another opens and I ended up securing positions with OSMAN, PPQ and Emilia Wickstead.

I flew from Derry to Stansted and then got the Stansted Express train into Liverpool Street which was around 40 minutes. I will mention briefly what hotel I stayed in, it's location, price etc for those of you who were enquiring. I wasn't looking for anything 4 or 5 star, just a compact, clean, affordable room close to a tube station in a safe area and after lots of searching on booking,com I decided to go with City Continental located in Kensington.

Firstly, Kensington is a beautiful area and even though I was travelling back to the hotel quite late at night, I felt completely safe. The hotel room was exactly what I wanted and the one thing I did notice was that it was extremely clean.

 Location wise it couldn't have been more perfect. It was a 1 minute walk to the nearest tube station, Earls Court and it took me approx 20-30 minutes to get into the city centre, depending on where you are travelling to of course. I was there for 4 nights/5 days and it cost £200/€260 This included a continental breakfast which I thought was brilliant value when everything was taken into consideration. The staff were also very friendly and there was plenty of places to eat in the area so I would highly recommend it for a budget friendly, short stay.

I had an early flight on the Friday but by the time I reached my hotel and had a quick change and rest, I was off to the first show and it was PPQ. I was nervous but very excited! 

The show was held in St. Andrew's Church Holborn so when I reached the location and saw a timetable for a prayer service outside, I was sure that I had got something wrong! I then saw the security team all dressed in long black coats and headsets and this was a little intimidating as I approached them to explain why I was there but I got my crew wristband and in I went! It was mesmerising that a Church could be transformed into such an amazing venue for a fashion event! 

We were assigned different duties such as filling goodie bags, placing them on the seats, distributing the after party invites, escorting people to their seats and just being the go to if anyone needed a hand. As I wasn't a dresser for this show, I got to see it from start to finish and I honestly had to pinch myself from time to time. There was a swarm of media catching all the celebrities as they came in the door and it just felt so surreal, the fashion industry is a completely different world.

 Top fashion bloggers such as Sarah Ashcroft were present, some of the Made In Chelsea cast members, Sarah Jane Crawford from Xtra Factor, top models, our very own Courtney Smith and Frock Advisor and lots more that I didn't recognise but were deemed very important due to the constant flashing of cameras surrounding them! The collection itself was very vibrant, colourful and original but I am going to cover the designers and their work in a separate blog post over the coming months so that I can elaborate on it in more detail. 

Xtra Factor's Sarah Jane Crawford 

We were given invitations to attend the exclusive after party in SOHO which would have been an amazing networking opportunity but I didn't expect that to happen and I had nothing with me that would be dressy enough for such an event - I don't think the black jeans, t-shirt and runners would have cut it! Ah well, another time hopefully!

 Next up on Saturday was the Emilia Wickstead show in Pancras Square. I was a dresser this time round so didn't get to see the show unfortunately but I got a quick photo of the event set up and the craziness backstage definitely made up for it! 

We were each assigned a model and model card that had all her details imprinted onto it such as shoes, what she was wearing, how it was to be worn etc. Mine was from Germany, called Jada and a bundle of fun! She seemed to be a favourite with photographers and I could see why as she was very unique looking and extremely tall!

Emilia the designer arrived to check over everything and she is a woman who means business - the Duchess of Cambridge is an esteemed customer of hers. There were a few rehearsals done backstage, alterations made by the sewing team, fittings and steaming of clothes. It wasn't long until the press started arriving and that is when the craziness hit in! There was flashing of cameras from all angles, interviews being conducted, models getting dressed, hair and make-up being fixed, it was very surreal in a way! All of the big magazines were present and I thought I might as well join in by snapchatting it all! 

 

Alexa Chung and Olivia Palermo were amongst the guests present sitting FROW and I am going to put it on my CV as an achievement that myself and 2 of the world's most fashionable women were in the same building! Haha. The collection was amazing and I loved the different designs and colour.

I had the day free on Sunday so wanted to do some sight seeing and also head to Brewer Street car park which was the headquarters as such of LFW and where the designer showrooms were located. It was street style central and I thought it would be interesting to see all of the individual outfits. 

I was honoured to be asked to feature on a few fashion blogger's and photographer's websites for my street style which was all highstreet! My shirt dress was from the River Island sale, the fringe coat and belt are H&M and the sunnies and shoes are Penney's! What I love about London is that anything goes and there is a great variety of fashion taste.

My last show was on Monday with designer OSMAN. When Beyonce is one of your clients, you know you are doing something right! I was sad my time in London was coming to an end but I wanted to make the most of my last few hours there and enjoy it. Invicta Plaza was the location and I was also a dresser for this show. We were amongst hair and make-up this time so that amounted to double craziness!

My model Alicia was wearing a really long floral dress that had a train so anywhere she went, I had to go with her to make sure it didn't touch the ground - whoever said fashion was glamorous?! I have never felt so small as I did when I stood in the model line waiting for them to take to the runway! The shoes that were used were mainly Jimmy Choo and that is the closest I will get to a pair of them for quite a long time haha! 

It was really cool to see my model that I dressed featured in VOGUE.

Olivia Palermo popped backstage as OSMAN talked her through the outfits for the show. It wasn't encouraged to be asking for photographs unfortunately but maybe the next time I'm in London we could catch up over a cup of tea?!

All in all, it was an amazing experience that I am beyond grateful for. I hope the post has given you some encouragement to not be afraid to chase your dreams, no matter how big they are. The most successful people are those who were told time and time again that their dreams were impossible and do you think they listened to such advice? No. Work hard, have passion for what you do and keep on hustling - we will get there in the end up!

Thanks for reading,

Emma

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