Backstage chaos means success at Fashion Week
The fashion merchandising and design students of Fanshawe cut their beauty sleep early to travel to Toronto and catch a few shows presented at Toronto's L'Oreal Fashion Week.
By Friday, October 24 the weeklong event was coming to a close and the last few shows presented at the tents set up in Nathan Phillips Square finally had their moment to shine. We as students went to the afternoon Fanshawe show presented by five talented graduating design students: Brian Marstela, Ashley Paquette, Leanne White, Kat Palmer and Jessica Eterno.
Each designer respectively presented their themed show with a collection that impressed the audience and made us students proud to call these young talents fellow classmates.
Marstela's collection, dubbed “Greco-Romani” was Grecian military themed and incorporated leather, satin and slim fitting silhouettes. Paquette's “Captive Existance” was less concept-like and featured asymmetrical, casual garments in beige with vivid turquoise accents. White sent models practically prancing down the runway with her “Princess Quirky” collection that was fun, frilly and pink and made me think of cupcakes. Palmer's “Saharittude” designs were edgier and looked fit for a desert trooper; the sandy coloured, multi layered outfits were perfectly accessorized with clear plastic hats and shoes. Eterno's collection, “Ethnic Fusion” was by far the broadest in theme and featured dresses to denim in a multitude of colours and fabrics.
For me, I was lucky enough to hang back after the Fanshawe show was finished and help out backstage with another upcoming show. The experience viewers of the shows get is so vastly different from the experience of the models, dressers, assistants, designers, co-ordinatiors, make-up artists, hairstylist and the countless other people backstage ensuring the show runs smoothly.
There are an endless number of tasks involved in a successful runway show that most people don't know about or see. For example, every single pair of shoes must have clear tape on the bottom of their sole as to not dirty them because they are on loan. There are actually people specifically backstage to help out with duties like this, as the maximum amount of time designers and their crew get backstage in their personal rooms is about an hour.
My experience showed me different designers handle this pressure differently. Some have copious amounts of tools, devices, contraptions and tricks in their rooms to ensure any problem that could occur has a potential solution. Others wing it and don't expect any glitches, bringing fewer materials and making creating a more spacious backstage room. In the end, as long and the models walk the show and everything on the outside looks normal, it doesn't really matter how chaotic backstage really is.
By Friday, October 24 the weeklong event was coming to a close and the last few shows presented at the tents set up in Nathan Phillips Square finally had their moment to shine. We as students went to the afternoon Fanshawe show presented by five talented graduating design students: Brian Marstela, Ashley Paquette, Leanne White, Kat Palmer and Jessica Eterno.
Each designer respectively presented their themed show with a collection that impressed the audience and made us students proud to call these young talents fellow classmates.
Marstela's collection, dubbed “Greco-Romani” was Grecian military themed and incorporated leather, satin and slim fitting silhouettes. Paquette's “Captive Existance” was less concept-like and featured asymmetrical, casual garments in beige with vivid turquoise accents. White sent models practically prancing down the runway with her “Princess Quirky” collection that was fun, frilly and pink and made me think of cupcakes. Palmer's “Saharittude” designs were edgier and looked fit for a desert trooper; the sandy coloured, multi layered outfits were perfectly accessorized with clear plastic hats and shoes. Eterno's collection, “Ethnic Fusion” was by far the broadest in theme and featured dresses to denim in a multitude of colours and fabrics.
For me, I was lucky enough to hang back after the Fanshawe show was finished and help out backstage with another upcoming show. The experience viewers of the shows get is so vastly different from the experience of the models, dressers, assistants, designers, co-ordinatiors, make-up artists, hairstylist and the countless other people backstage ensuring the show runs smoothly.
There are an endless number of tasks involved in a successful runway show that most people don't know about or see. For example, every single pair of shoes must have clear tape on the bottom of their sole as to not dirty them because they are on loan. There are actually people specifically backstage to help out with duties like this, as the maximum amount of time designers and their crew get backstage in their personal rooms is about an hour.
My experience showed me different designers handle this pressure differently. Some have copious amounts of tools, devices, contraptions and tricks in their rooms to ensure any problem that could occur has a potential solution. Others wing it and don't expect any glitches, bringing fewer materials and making creating a more spacious backstage room. In the end, as long and the models walk the show and everything on the outside looks normal, it doesn't really matter how chaotic backstage really is.
