Paris Fashion Week Internship: Rick Owens

           Several weeks ago a lady named Ana Burk came to PAA to talk about internships with Rick Owens, a well known designer in Paris, during Paris Fashion Week. In my last blog post you were able to see Rick Owens' fashion show and the model that I dressed. She said the internship would be a week long, we would be paid for our time and it would be a long stressful and tiring week. Hearing this I decided to sign up and received a phone call several days later about coming in for an interview. I went in for my interview and she told me I would be working for 7 days from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm from March 3rd-9th. 
           March 3rd rolled around and I received my job placement. I was not working in the main show room but the smaller show room next door. Here, I arrived at 8:00 every morning, after taking a 40 minute metro ride, to relieve the nightly doorman and begin my duties for the day. I had to restock the kitchen and organize the clothes until there was nothing else to do and then I used my computer to write blog posts, emails and catch up on my pinterest addiction :) The other workers were supposed to show up at 8:45 but considering they're all on French time it was usually around 9:15. From there, they all went upstairs to get ready for the day and I stayed and watched the door, usually until 10:00 when the workers for the basement showroom came in. So roughly, the first two hours of my shift were not that strenuous :) Around 10:00, I was able to go upstairs and keep organizing and rearranging the clothing until a buyer came in. 
          In our showroom, we had five sellers, one model and two interns, in the main showroom they had over 20 sellers, 6 models and 25 interns. Our showroom was decently busy throughout the day but we definitely had time when we could sit down or just talk to the other workers. In the main showroom they were not allowed to sit down throughout their shift unless they were on their 15 minute lunch break. They constantly had to be doing something or at least appear busy and it was a much more stressful environment. 
           When a buyer came in, a seller was paired with them and the other intern and I had to take turns dressing the model in the clothes the buyer was interested in, keep organizing the showroom because the buyers were always messy and I also had to be their waitress and see if they wanted something to drink. Once the model was done showing the buyer the clothes, we had to redress her in another outfit for another buyer and take those clothes out to put back on the racks. Every buyer is completely different. Some are loud and dominate the whole showroom, others sit back and wait for you to impress them and some come in knowing exactly what they want and they are in and out in 10 minutes. Sometimes there would be three or four buyers in all at the same time and each one would be speaking a different language! Hard to get used to but neat to see! In foreign countries/languages you get used to paying very close attention to hand signals and body language in order to understand anything that is going on! 
            This was relatively the schedule all day everyday, show up early, work with buyers all day and straighten clothes or dress the model, clean up at night and head home around 8:00 pm. Anytime I had to run an errand to the main showroom, there were consistently 8 to 10 buyers at all times. That showroom was always so stressful and each intern had a designated job and barely got to move or talk to anyone. At first I as upset that I was not in the main showroom but in the end, I was glad I was in the smaller showroom because I was able to do all of the jobs in the smaller showroom rather than just one specific job. I was able to work with the model, the buyers and sellers and the kitchen staff. I was able to see on a smaller scale how clothing from the runway is taken in and sold in a showroom. How buyers and sellers interact and what it takes to run a showroom. Although it was on a smaller scale, it was a much more intimate setting and it allowed me to learn a lot more than the other interns. 

Working my morning duties! The basement showroom was the furs and skins line, a much more expensive extension of Rick Owens casual, where I was working. Each jacket behind my head ran from $10,000 to $20,000 and that was pre-sale. Being sold in a store, these could run anywhere from $30,000 to $80,000? 

Each of these bangles were roughly $2,000. 

Way too expensive jackets!

Rings that were close to $1,000 each!

$12,000 crocodile boots!

A baby, white crocodile skin throw. Just a little something to wear over your shoulders if you get chilly. 

One of the furs just "laying around" in the basement showroom. 

The showroom where I worked called Dark Shadow. This is Rick Owens casual line. 

One of the product lines. 

At the table, the buyers and sellers would conduct business. Up to the right was the model's dressing room and the clothes hanging were the products we were selling. 

Paris Fashion Week

Bonjour!

Paris Fashion Week started February 27th and runs through March 7th. The first five days of the fashion week, our school was asked to help backstage at five shows. Even though signing up for all five shows was insane, especially with an eight day internship following I figured I would never have the chance to work at Paris Fashion Week again and I signed my name on the lists!

The first show, Steffie Christiaens, was Tuesday night. A few of us girls took the metro after our hat making class and headed towards the venue. We had to sit outside for a half an hour but after asking what we needed to do, they let us come in and start folding programs to organize on the benches. When that was finished, we were taken backstage into a tiny tiny room with the models, backstage crew, the workers from the design team and all of the model dressers, us. There was literally no room to move and the show was to start at 7:00. I was pressed up against the wall and still felt like I was in the way! After several minutes, the design crew came back and said they would be letting eight people go home because there was not enough room for everybody. They went around and picked eight people, I was "rearranging" things for my model when this was happening so I got to stay! I made myself look busy and they seemed to like that!
Even though eight people left, it was still cramped and almost 7:20. The models were not dressed, their hair and makeup was not done and I did not have my second look because they were still sewing it! This show was so completely unorganized! Even though fashion shows always start late, because they're "fashionably late", this show was ridiculous! No one seemed to know what was going on and the clothes were still being sewn and fixed up until my model went out on the runway for her first look! They pretty much threw the dress at me, I dressed my model in like 30 seconds and she headed back out on the runway for her second walk through. Definitely was a very unorganized and stressful show but the clothes were neat! Seeing shows like this teaches me how to do things differently when I have my own runway show.

Steffie Christiaens Fashion Show

Steffie Christiaens Finale


My roommate Jasmine and I setting up!


Setting out programs!


My model and I backstage!




The model's first look!


The dress they were sewing this dress up until she had to walk in it!

The second show was on Wednesday night for Gareth Pugh. This show was directed under the same person that the Thursday night show was and my internship as well. This show was very organized and we each were paired up with a model. They had snacks for us and let us watch the show walk through. When we dress models backstage we cannot see the show, all we can hear is the music. Even though the walk through is not the same as the actual show it is nice to get a feel for how the show will look. After the walk though, I grabbed more orange juice!!, and headed to dress my model.
Gareth Pugh came around and talked with each of the dressers to let us know how our garments worked and the easiest way to put on and take off the garment. We is a tall, really really skinny gangly guy who has Justin Bieber hair and a strong British accent. The entire time he talked to me he kept flicking his hair. It was rather distracting and it was hard to understand him as well. After that I dressed my model and headed upstairs to help another girl with her model's second look. The show started and backstage was completely black. Not only did we have difficult changes with cranky models, we were in the dark and could barely see anything! We could barely tell one model from the other but we somehow got our girl dressed and back in line! The show went very well and did not last more than 20 minutes. After the show everyone was whisked back downstairs for snacks and champagne to celebrate. W had to wait until most people left so we could be paid but it was nice to finally be paid for a show!

Link for Gareth Pugh Fashion Show

My model that I dressed.

Elise and Pheobe and I! Elise is my other roommate and both are from Australia!

Watching the walk though!

Thursday morning I was supposed to work at a show in the morning but since I will be missing the next several weeks of classes for the fashion shows, internship and my trip to Ireland I went to class instead of going to the morning show. From what I heard, the designs were beautiful and the show was great except that it was freezing! The show was outside down by the river and there were no space heaters. There were two models with broken toes and they made the models work. Apparently they were making the models wear crazy high heels and really tight boots and the girls were crying it hurt so bad. The design team told them to suck it up and get out on the runway. The dressers said they could barely walk, somehow did their walk down the runway and left as soon and they were out of the designer's clothes. They said it was a neat idea but it was much too cold and frustrating.

Manish Arora Fashion Show

Thursday night I worked at the Rick Owens show. This show was run by the same lady who directed the Gareth Pugh show and she is originally from Virginia. The Rick Owens show was so smooth. We all had our models, had them dressed and ready and the show was over before we knew it. There was no stress and it was an excited atmosphere instead of crazy, yell at everyone, scream your head off. It was such a smooth show and all of the dressers and workers said the same thing! During the show there were lines of fire up against the walls. I am trying to find a video of the show to post here otherwise I will see if I can find a picture! Again, we had to wait until relatively everyone was gone to get paid but I was ok with that as long as we got paid!

Link For Rick Owens Fashion Show
The music for this show is "interesting". Maybe turn the volume down.... :)

Model's first look!

Second look!

Friday morning I went to class and ate lunch at home. Friday afternoon I had a meeting with Ana Burk, the director of the Gareth Pugh and Rick Owens shows, about my internship the next day. After our meeting I hurried to the Amaya Arazuaga show. She is a Spanish designer who was having her fashion show in the spanish embassy at the Champs Élysées. I was late coming to the show because of my meeting and the man at the door had a list of names of who he could let in. After checking the list, my name was not there. He said since I was a dresser he could let me in but he needed to write my name down. So I started spelling it in French. He was barely listening and spelt CHAINE and finally got him to understand there was not an "H" so he crossed it out. Then we got to Westergard and I said "doub-le Ve" which means "W" in French. He wrote Du Beauvais for my last name. After doing this with ever letter, he had crossed out my name and started over five times. So in case you're wondering, my I've decided to change my name to CHAINE Du BEAUVAIS. Nice to meet you. Regardless, he let me finally go in and find my group. The Spanish embassy is beautiful and it was a neat location for a show. The music made me feel like I was sitting inside of a kaleidoscope and it was a nice change from really dark and heavy music from every other show. The clothes were very colorful too, again was a nice change from the heavy black and crazy outfits of the other shows. The models chosen for this show were relatively my height which was also a change from the usually tall models of other shows. This show started 50 minutes late but I do not know why because everyone was dressed and ready to go 15 minutes after the actual show time. Who knows with "Fashion People". It was a long time to wait and the show was only like 15 minutes long. We helped our models change quickly and headed for the door. It was time to be at home for awhile!

Amaya Arazuaga Fashion Show Link




Two models chatting.


My model's name board and outfits.


Every blemish, mark, freckle and birthmark must be covered. It is literally ridiculous!




Models lining up!


Models waiting for cue to hit the runway!
The fashion board with all of the show's looks is in the background.

Saturday my internship for Rick Owens started and I will explain more about that in my next post!

Hat Making 101

Hello again!

On tuesday of this week, we had a guest presenter come in and give a demonstration on how to make hats! It was only a 3 hour class but we learned a lot. Millinery is a neat hobby and could become a neat accessory line to any clothing line I one day hope to produce! Hat making might be a summer project of mine....!

To start out the presenter gave each of us a wooden head to start molding our extremely stiff interfacing to. Before we could star molding, he made each of us draw the hat we wanted to make on a piece of paper so he could approve if it would work or not. I was drawing full hats, that sit completely around a persons head. Turns out we were only making little fascinator hats, like Cate Middleton wears. So I had to revamp and I decided to make a three pointed hat.

Wooden head, sponge and stiff interfacing.

Drawing?? My pencil wasn't very sharp which is why this lady looks like she does drugs.....

Once he approved our drawings, we took this extremely stiff interfacing and wet it down with a sponge to start stretching it over the wooden mannequin. From here, we had to nail little nails into the mannequin to hold the interfacing in place and then iron to stiffen it.

The nails can be seen at the base of the head.

When it was dry from ironing we were to draw the shape we wanted.

The drawn shape and taking the nails out!

After drawing and trying to make straight lines, I then cut out the interfacing.

Finished hat shape!

Cutting out the interfacing.

From here, I had to sew a bound wire around the edge of the interfacing to help the hat take and hold shape.

Sewing the wire on.

When the sewing was complete I then had to iron a thin lining around the outside of the edges to prevent fraying and sharp edges.

Turns out we were supposed to bring our own fabric...no one told us so I had to run home to get mine and only one other girl had fabric with her. I wanted to use a light blue fabric but it was too transparent and I had to glue a navy blue fabric to the hat structure first as my base color. When the glue was dry I began ironing and shaping the light blue fabric to handstitch onto the hat.

Then the class ended and we had to hurry off to work backstage at a fashion show and now I need to finish hand stitching my hat before our next hat making class. We have one more session for making hats and we will be adding the beading and feathers to complete the hat! Hat making is challenging but definitely a neat hobby that I hope to learn more about! When I have pictures, or find out when our next hat making session is, I will post more pictures!

Miss you all!

Love you!

'Ello love!

          "Are you alright?" Everyone in England says this and it means "How are you?". Lets just say it is hard to get used to people asking you that question in order to say hello! This past weekend I traveled to London to meet up with Tym and stay with my good friend Erik Anderson, who is studying in London. 

          Friday night I flew into London and met a boy in the airport from Boston who was studying in Scotland. We talked throughout the plane ride and he ended up having to travel to the same train station so it was nice having a companion to talk to and figure things out with! When we finally got to the St.Pancras/King's Cross Station I found Tym and Nick kept going on his way! Luckily for us, I didn't get into St. Pancras until just after 12:30am and the trains shut down at 12:30. So the directions Erik had given us didn't work and we had to figure out the bus system instead! Having no map and only roughly an idea of which bus to take and which direction to go, we jumped on a double decker bus and hoped for the best! Getting off the bus, we took Erik's directions and asked a lady to tell us where a certain stop was. She was from Australia and so helpful! No one is Paris would ever take the time of day to tell two people where a bus stop is! It was refreshing to know that people would be helpful! We found the bus stop and waited for the bus to come only to realize that when it came they did not have change to break 20 pounds and he told us we were at the wrong bus stop. So we went to a different stop around the corner, only to find the bus was already running late. The bus was running so late that we ended walking to a different stop only to have the bus that was running late drive past us. That went on for a good 30 minutes of waiting, being passed by a bus that we needed and then going to another stop and being passed by another bus. It was an extremely frustrating 30 to 45 minutes and we finally were able to find a bus going in the right direction! The same guy who drove the very first bus that couldn't break 20 pounds was driving this bus and just laughed and told us to get on! We rode for several stops and finally arrived at the correct stop where we waited until Erik showed up to take us to his apartment! We were so exhausted and went to bed almost as soon as we got there!

          Saturday morning we headed out for a full day of sightseeing with our first stop being the Sherlock Holmes museum! We found 221b Baker Street and went in the gift shop to buy our tickets! Before entering the museum, which is just a little victorian style house decorated based off of only the details given in the books, there is a police man out front that you get to have your picture taken with!

The policeman at the museum entrance!

Throughout the museum/house there are all kinds of rooms with hats and pipes that you can take pictures with! We had a lot of fun and it was neat to see the history behind Sherlock Holmes and it almost felt like he was a real person!

What's that you say, Watson?

My future child.

Pipes, revolvers and a Holmes hat!

The murderer...

The wax mannequins were so creepy!

Tym on the porcelain toilet. A man walked in and asked Tym if he wanted the door closed, pretty funny!

           After the museum we head to see Big Ben, Houses of Parliment and Westminster Abbey. The train to get around London is relatively easy and it was not hard to get from one sight to the next! Getting out of the train station you can see Westminster Abbey with Big Ben in the background. The nice part about these sights is that they are all right next to each other. After walking through the square with these sights we could see the Thames River and the London Eye. We spent a lot of time here wandering and taking pictures before Erik called and asked us to meet him for supper! 

            We met Erik and his girlfriend near Picadilly Circus in London's China Town. We went to this crazy busy Chinese restaurant and got shoved in a tiny little back room. Our waitress forgot about us and another waitress brought in a group of 12 extremely drunk adults so it became an even smaller room! Then the waitress told us they had a bigger group coming in and made us move to a different table. Definitely was not a restaurant that you would see in the states. No customer service and making their customers move tables to accomodate other customers. We were starving and tired so that didn't help the situation. Our food was good and we ate really fast!

        We talked about going to a pub after dinner but we decided we were too tired and instead went back to Erik's and watched Due Date before we all fell asleep.
        The next morning we got up early again and Tym and I headed out to see a street market in CamdenTown. The girls in my fashion classes told me it was a neat market but had lots of goth and punk rocker type people there. We thought it would still be fun to try and headed up that way! The market was neat and had all kinds of fun stalls with different types of clothes and whatnot. After awhile, all of the stalls started to look the same and we headed back to the street to look for a British flag. We saw a store that had really "goth" people working there but they had British flags and we decided to go in. Bad idea. The worker who brought us into the store was getting harassed by the other co-workers to show us to the back of the store, so he did. Leaving out major details, those same co-workers were saying really inappropriate things to Tym and I. They were making things very uncomfortable and were not going to let us leave the store unless we bought the flag. Tym, being a bargain shopper even in the time of a crisis, schoomzed his way into a 5 pound flag instead of 10. We started to head for the door when they grabbed our arms and were trying to get us to go into a basement and the lights weren't even on! We pushed them out of the way and ran. When we finally got out of that store, that looked completely normal from the outside!!!, we just walked and did not say a word. We were both so freaked out we walked into a busy tourist store just so we had people around us and we felt safer that way! When we calmed down we kept wandering and found some food venders and we got Tym his first crepe! 

            We soon left CamdenTown and headed towards Buckingham Palace. The weather was beautiful and we got to walk through a neat park on our way to the palace. After seeing Versailles, it is hard to look at another palace the same but it was crazy to think that every inch of the ground there was covered by people for the royal wedding! We got to see the balcony where the royal couple had their famous kiss and that was neat! It was hard to imagine that many people in such a small area!

Right above Tym's head is the balcony!

           From Buckingham Palace we walked to the nearest tube station and took the train to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Tower Bridge was really neat! We were able to walk all the way across and look out over the Thames River. We got some great pictures with our flags here too!

           Tower Bridge is in the back right corner of this picture below of the Tower of London. We were both really excited to see the Tower of London because famous prisoners were housed here before their executions, the crown jewels are here and they are so many neat stories behind the Tower! We went to the ticket booth at 3:55 and turns out it closed at 4:00. So when we go back to London, we will definitely be headed back to the Tower of London!

          Long story short, I was sleepy and getting crabby hungry.... and I accidentally headbutted Tym's forehead. Tym didn't even get a mark, but my head looked like a stuck a suction cup to it! 

          After walking off my headbutt, we headed towards Millennium Bridge, which is in a Harry Potter movie!!, and Shakespear's Globe Theater. Just our luck, the Globe Theater closed 15 minutes before we got there so that is also on the to-do list when we are back in London over spring break! 

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.

Globe Theater!

          Before heading to the trains to head back home on the bus, we stopped by a little pub called The Anchor. We ordered little pies with beef, mash, mushrooms or vegetables in the middle. The "pie" crust was really dry but it was still pretty good! 

Cheers mates!

          After we were completely stuffed, we took the train back to Erik's to grab our bags! We packed up really quick and headed for the bus station via the Tube. The key to any city is figuring out their metro or "Tube" system. From there everything is at your finger tips and you can travel around so easily! We took  the Tube to London Victoria and got all checked in for our bus rides home. Said another tearful good bye and headed towards our respective buses. 

         My bus ride back left at 9:30pm and I feel asleep until our passport check at the England border and then our bus drove onto a ferry and we all had to get out of the bus and ride on this "cruise ship" type boat for nearly an hour (1:30 to almost 2:30 am). I couldn't sleep so I wrote postcards and made a to-do list for the coming week. Finally we docked in France and was able to get back on the bus. From here I was unconscious until the bus stopped at Porte Gallieni in Paris. I took the metro back to my apartment and got in just before 7:30am. I was able to sleep until 8:30 and then I made breakfast and headed to class. It was a wonderful weekend and made every tired second of monday completely worth it! I had a great time and London is such a neat city! 

A crappy picture of the water and lights outside the ferry window.