I have had so many people ask me so many questions concerning fashion week and as a result, I have decided to compose a list of the fashion week pros and cons which may be an interesting insight for all of you out there who aspire to attend one day. Are you ready for the truth? Here we go…
Myth 1#: You get to buy new clothes to look really good in and make an impression.
Fact: I've learnt that no one really cares about what you wear. It’s seriously good enough to just look good. I realised that in the fashion industry, it is very hard to stand out because I think that everyone is on quite a similar level…except the Vogue, Harpers and Grazia people of course. No matter how much red lipstick you smother onto your lips, chances are not many people will look at you once, let alone twice...so why bother?
Myth 2#: You get to go to fashion shows.
Fact: Yeah of course you do, but generally a fashion show is about 30-40 minutes long and half the time is spent either waiting in a super long queue which already takes up about 20 mins or by the time you get in, there are no seats, so you end up standing in a fashion show which totally defeats the purpose of looking cool, sitting down and taking notes which you can't even do.
Myth 3#: You get to receive awesome goody bags
Fact: Okay,firstly not everyone gets goody bags. Its pretty much all based on chance. If you sit in the front rows, obviously you will get some ginormous bag full of stuff you’ll never use because that’s why they have them, however; if you are lucky enough to get random magazine bags and whatnot; usually they are full of brochures and a few accesories here and there but its nothing tremendous but of course, all part of the fun!
Myth 4#: You get to meet a lot of awesome people
Fact: This is partially true however I have noticed that the fashion industry already sort of has its little ‘groups’ and it would be totally weird to just crash these, so its more based on who you know and who they can introduce you to rather than just automatically making friends.
Myth 5#: It’s just a glamorous day out
Fact: Fashion week sounds a lot more glamourous than it really is. I think it is the atmosphere and the notion of actually ‘being at fashion week’ which makes the concept just so much more appealing. Otherwise, it is pretty much a hectic day where you spend ages standing on your super high heels and getting dirties chucked at you by those intimidating people in the industry ‘who are on a minimum wage and are jealous because your shoes are hotter than theirs’ and just queing up to see runway shows which you aren’t sure will even be good.
Overall, I liked fashion week a lot, not because of all the fashion myths which I just busted but because I was given the opportunity to experience what many girls just dream of experiencing. Standing up at a fashion show whilst the top dogs sat comfortably in the front reinforced me to look at my career goals in what I wanted to achieve in this cut-throat industry but I have to say that even now; a dress by Shakuhachi Spring/Summer 08/09 collection wouldn’t be so bad a goal either.