SHOWTIME: David Jones S/S VIP Launch 2004 (Part 1)

Helen Lee - September 2004

Oh la la, another fashion show at David Jones! For those of your who have no clue what David Jones is, they are a rather swish Australian department store, stocking international and local designer brands - glamour all the way.

With "it girls", fashion designers and a supermodel already attending, what did I get up to all day at the glamorous VIP show?

9:25am
My call time was 9:30, and oddly enough I was early. Always a good thing, after all being fashionable late when you're being paid to work never looks good. I signed in and told I was dressing Pia. I was so relieved I wasn't getting an annoying model to dress! Pia is such a sweetheart and so pretty. She won the Dolly Magazine model competition in 1998 and has appeared on a zillion ads around Australia, like the Aquavetta water ad.

After finding her rack of clothes, I looked through her outfits - all easy and pretty simple. Thank god! There is nothing worse than a model who has been given outfits with lots of fidgety bits, no matter how fab they look on.

10:20am
Models are starting to drift in, some from the airport (the interstate models), mostly dressed in Bettina Liano skinny leg jeans - and they probably didn't need to take them up either! Damn models with their long legs!

10:45
Right, where was Pia? First outfits are being called for the first rehearsal and she's no where to be found!! To make matters worse apparently the dresser (i.e. Me!) has to walk out on to the catwalk with their models' outfit if she or he was not there yet. Great! Not.

11 - ish
Ok Pia didn't show up for her first outfit, so had to strut my stuff out on to the uber slippery catwalk carrying shoes and Pia's outfit. It would have been ok if the catwalk hadn't been hooked up to TV's and I didn't have lights and an audience of show organisers and male models. Thankfully I didn't slip!

Not long after Pia arrived after a bit of a crisis in the morning. She quickly hopped into her second outfit and saved me from another embarrassing walk down the catwalk! I almost wanted to hug her!

12:20pm
After a rather slow first rehearsal we all get a 25 minute break before another loooong rehearsal. I rush off to Starbucks for a Mocha and to get some Gummy bears. Coffee and sugar, my fashion show staple. That and something to read or do while everyone is just sitting around.

12:45pm
Another practise run through of the show.

1:40pm
Another break, I need food. I wondered off to get sushi and ended up window shopping and buying a gorgeous cotton and satin moss coloured Kookai by Tina Kalivas. Working at fashion shows always gives me retail therapy cravings.

2:30pm
The Tozzi sisters, Cheyenne and Tahyna - modelling sisters and daughter of a model, arrive for rehearsal. They are super tan (apparently fake if your listen to the gossip) and not your usual model type thin. They are curvier and nice girls.

6:00pm
Right, I think I am going to get hairspray lined lungs at the end of the next three days. Pia and Genevieve's rack of clothes are closest to the hair and make up tables and it's major hairspray alert. At least I can listen to gossip and watch how the hair dressers transform rather plain looking hair into gorgeous slick do's.

Technically I shouldn't be sitting around breathing in hair spray, but Pia's outfits don't require any steaming or ironing so I'm watching the going on's while munching on my Pringles.

Continue to PART TWO to find out what happens next....