A Student’s Experience at London Fashion Week

By: Alexa Hoffman

The most exciting thing that I’ve done so far is work at London Fashion Week. As it has to do with my major, I was thrilled that I had the opportunity to help out with such a great event. Through my Fashion Styling tutor, we were able to help dress models and oversee what goes on behind the scenes. This was my first experience ever working a fashion show and I was extremely nervous, yet excited all the same.

I was required to be at The Freemason’s Hall in London at 7:30 a.m. on the day of the shows. There were two shows, one at 11 a.m. and another at 5 p.m. The first show was very hectic, as there were so many people running around in our room’s tight space. My job was to do fittings for the looks, steam the clothes, gather the accessories and finally to dress the model before and during the show. It does not sound like much, but trust me, I was running around everywhere in between all the hairs stylists, makeup artists and photographers.

Soon it was time to start the show and I was walking down the long corridor towards the runway with my model and my rack of clothes for the following looks. Once the show started it was such a blur because all the models would walk and come right back in a rush to quickly change. I’m happy to say that everything went well and my model was right back in line in a matter of two minutes. I had woken up at 5:30 a.m. that morning, but my adrenaline and excitement kept me running.

The following show had gone just as smoothly as the first. After 11 hours, I had a sigh of relief to finally be done with everything. As my friends and I were leaving, another show was about to start, so we popped in and got to witness it from the audience perspective too, which was amazing. Plus, the fashion did not stop there. So many people were dressed up outside the venue in crazy outfits, being photographed and trying to get into shows. It was overall an enriching experience to see all that goes into putting on a fashion show. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Photos courtesy of Alexa Hoffman.