Paris Fashion Week
It is amazing the things that come your way. Things that you would never think you would have the opportunity to participate in; one of those for me is Paris Fashion Week! But somehow things work their way out and the already amazing experience you are having continues to get better. The week before Paris Fashion Week, I received an email from our resident director, Holly, asking if we would want to go to any of the fashion shows. She had tickets to two already and had an opportunity for us to help dress the models and such for another show. Of course I told her I wanted to go and the next day she dropped off tickets to Marithe Francois GIRBAUD and LEONARD shows. Needless to say I was totally stoked about this opportunity.
The first show was on Tuesday the 27th at the Carrousel du Louvre. My friends and I waited for what seemed like forever, fashion shows never start on time, and finally got into the show. The runway was set up much different that what I have seen other runways to look like (Project Runway), it was multi-level and had red chairs set up around it. The lights dimmed and the show began. The music was perfect because it was somewhat of a remix of The Nutcracker, very original and catchy! About half way through the "performance" a ballerina came out in a red dress and danced around stage for a while, it was beautiful. The whole line was amazing, but the ballerina added a special touch that I am sure no other designer has thought of before. Girbaud used many "fall" colors in their line, it is a husband and wife team. At the end of the show the ballerina walked out with the designers and he took pictures of the crowd. I loved it!!
Leonard was my next experience on Thursday, same place, different room. This runway was set up more of how I imagined runways to look like, but there was two catwalks instead of only one, it was not raised, and there was two rows facing both directions in the middle of the runway. Leonard was much more my style with flowing dresses and lots of bags. There was nothing "special" about this show, but I definitely liked it a lot more. He brought in more bright colors for fall. Tall boots and leggings are still in, and every girl needs to own a dress with pockets for this fall/winter. The music was very fun, upbeat, and "frenchy", it really made the show and went perfectly with what I think Leonard wanted to portray in his line.
Finally, my last Fashion Show experience started with going to dress the models for Elie Saab, but something went horribly wrong so I was graciously let into the show and sat in the third row. This show was by far my favorite. He used tons of colors and very flowy fun dresses. It was not your normal fall/winter attire, especially for the Midwest, but definitely workable if you wear it correctly. Again, dresses with pockets were huge!! Saab's line seemed a bit more put together than the other two and very detailed.
There were a few models that were extremely skinny, but most were "normal." At each show there was at least one model that was running late, so it was a really good thing that the shows do not start on time. After the Elie Saab show, we went across the street from the Louvre to eat lunch and one of the models sat next to me...she ate a whole sandwich and probably smoked three cigarettes! haha