London Fashion Week, part 2
Translation:
As I entered the second half of the last week, the nights began to become later and later. Thursday and Friday, I worked until 2.30AM and after that I lost all sense of time. Saturday, I worked 21 hours; I went home around 6.40AM and was expected to be back by 11AM. This resulted in half an hour sleep during 44 hours. I still don’t know how I did it without feeling terrible or looking like hell. The truth is, I had a lot of fun – but I will come to the show itself later.
One of the biggest jobs Lauren and I had (she’s another intern who always managed to get the rest of us in a good mood) was to crystallize something that eventually was called “that feathery thing.” It consisted of hundreds of pheasant feathers that each costs £10. Each feather should have at least 20 crystals, on both sides. It was important not to get any glue stains and to be very careful with the feathers. This was made a little bit harder the day a movie crew from Swarovski came to do a “behind the scenes” shot, and you had a giant camera over your shoulder while trying to convince the tiny crystal to stick on the feather and not my finger by sheer willpower.
One night, Lauren was told to cut the edges clean on the lightest fabric in the world. It was very cool! It is called “smoke fabric” because it looks like smoke when you throw it up. It costs about £800/m, so I’m very glad I didn’t have to do the cutting (it was a close call).
The last picture is a Swarovski ring. Have you ever seen something as pretty? It was insanely heavy and was eventually sewn onto a golden mask.
Lady Gaga och Swarovski
Nu är jag hemma! Här följer bilder från mina två sista veckor, del 1. Senare kommer jag berätta om själva modevisningen men här är uppladdningen! Vecka tre limmade jag mest kristaller på biljetter och pappermappar (1000 biljetter skulle göras med tre kristaller på varje och 800 mappar behövdes göras). En vanlig söndag när jag satt med mina mappar fick jag frågan om jag vilje följa med på Lady Gaga konsert. Ja tack, sa jag, och tre timmar senare stod 16 pers från jobbet på våra VIP-platser och dansade. Den perfekta starten på en väldigt och men händelserik sista vecka.
Translation:
I'm home! Here are pictures from my last two weeks, part 1. I will tell you about the fashion show later, but this is the build up! The third week was mostly spent crystallizing tickets and paper folders (1000 tickets with three crystals each and 200 folders with two crystals each needed to be done). One normal Sunday when I was sitting with my folders I got the question if I wanted to go to the Lady Gaga concert. Yes please, said I, and three hours later 16 people from work were dancing at our VIP seats. The perfect start of a very long and eventful last week.
Halvvägs
Halva tiden hos Treacy har gått och jag har nu faktiskt hjälpt till med något till visningen. Det var kanske inte så glamoröst som man kan tro, jag satt nästan en hel dag och klippte 300 bitar karkas (trådklädd ståltråd) á 5,2 cm. Dessa såg jag sen till att de var helt raka (karkas är från början cirkelformad) och målade dem till sist svarta med en spritpenna.
I fredags fick jag, Christine och Jennie hjälpa till att rensa ut lite av ett förråd (vi vek stuvbitar av tyg varav vissa var 30 m och la ned dem i kartonger). Sedan fick vi tre flytta ner en våning till förrådet där de gjort ett arbetsbord av 20 flyttlådor, en träskiva och ett tygstycke. Det behövs mer plats i arbetsrummet inför visningen och nästa vecka kommer det in fler modister som är vana att jobba med couture och som tidigare har arbetat hos Treacy. Några till kommer flytta ner till oss och om man bortser från att vi får springa lite mer i trappor är det mest fördelar:
1. Frisk luft och sval arbetsplats,
2. Lugnt och skönt, inga som är spända eller nervösa för att de kanske blir utskällda snart.
3. Hur mycket arbetsplats som helst. Från att knappt ha plats med kaffekoppen till att kunna breda ut sig. Lyx, lyx!
Translation:
Half of the time at Treacy has passed, and I have now helped a little with the fashion show. It might not have been as glamorous as one might think, I sat almost an entire day cutting wire into pieces á 5,2 cm. I then made sure they were all straight (the wire is at the beginning in a circular shape), and painted them black with a marker pen.
Christine, Jennie, and I helped clean out a stockroom Friday (we folded scraps of fabric - some were 30 meters long - and put them in boxes). Then the three of us moved down a floor, to the stockroom, where they had made a work table out of 20 moving boxes, a wooden board, and a cloth. They need more room in the studio for the show, and there will come a bunch of milliners next week that are used to working with couture and who used to work at Treacy. A few more will move down to us, and apart from having to run up and down the stairs a little more, there are only pros to the move:
1. Fresh air and a cool working aria.
2. Peace and quiet, no tension or people who are nervous that they will be yelled at any second.
3. So much work space! From not being able to find a spot for my coffee cup to being able to spread out. Such a luxury!
