SHOWTIME: Backstage at David Jones Summer Launch 2005

Helen Lee - August 23 2005

It's that time of year again, when the warm weather is just a mere stones throw away in Australia, so it was time for David Jones, Australia's premier department store, to throw it's annual Summer Launch show.

The theme this season was termed "La Dolce Summer" and held at the Melbourne Town Hall. Key looks were African, Resort wear and Animal prints, made from flowing soft fabrics and embellished with beads and sequins. For the girls who prefer the timeless pieces, there were beautiful dresses, classic pants and belted trench coats. For the guys, there were lightweight suits, pants and printed cotton shirts.

But enough about the fashion! What happened backstage?

My day started at 9am, with a quick stop at Starbuck to grab a latte in hope that it would wake me up. When I arrived backstage, the Melbourne Town Hall was decked out with racks of clothes, while the final touches were being made to the catwalk and seating front of stage. Effie and I have a quick gossip before we were assigned models. Well... Effie got assigned Amy, while I got moved from model to model three times before they had run out of models to assign!

That was until Rachel realised there were guys modelling too. So yours truly got assigned to dress Ryan. (Little did I know it was the same Ryan I had a crush on at a David Jones show a few seasons ago...)

So while ignorance was still bliss, I checked out the guys racks, which were located on a slightly higher level than the girls' racks, so you could view the hustle and bustle of it all. There was the usual array of shirts, dress and casual pants. With nothing else to do until the models arrived in an hour or so for full dress rehearsals, we all sat around and talked about what we all did in the 6 months since we'd all last seen each other.

When first outfits were finally called for rehearsals, models came ambling up to their racks, and it hit me, Ryan was the Ryan I had a crush on. It wasn't a good start since the caffeine fix didn't work.

The next few hours went by like a blur with rehearsals going rather slowly. A little later Estelle, Jayde (both fashion design students) and I stood around and watched the girls in their outfits and giving our personal critiques on various pieces. We were all dressing guys, who had a total of 2 or 3 outfits each (in a 100+ outfit show), and only needed us to hand them their outfits and rehang the ones they had just taken off. Easy! Soon Joe was giving his two cents worth on the girls clothes too, while wearing a baby blue terry towelling hat//visor/beanie thing. Needless to say we poked fun at Joe and chit chatted with 2 Italian models who were booked to do the show, where they both had us girls drooling over their dark eyes and luscious accents.

When it was finally time for a break, we all shot off for lunch. That is everyone but the guys and the guys' dressers. After the stylist went over the guys outfits again, a few of us had to hem a few pairs of pants. Not that I thought much of it, I was just thinking "lunch".

After our short break, I slowly started to hem Ryan's AG (by Arthur Galan) pants. Typically another dress rehearsal was called, so while I hemmed, Ryan got dressed by himself like the big boy he is (dressers for guys are mainly there to make sure they don't ruin the clothes, and to iron/steam/hem the clothes). Unfortunately for Ryan, I had only finished one leg by the time he needed the pants for his second outfit, I jokingly suggested he go out with the shirt and suit jacket on, without the pants. Surprisingly he agreed, though he eventually borrowed male model Ed's shorts instead. Which was probably a good thing because I did not want the stylist or any of the organisers come and tell me off for letting him walk out in his underwear (because it's somehow the dressers fault or something) - even if it was just another rehearsal.

Fast forward a few hours and the models were in the make up room getting primped and preened, while bottles of Moet champagne and glass found their way into the hair and make up room. Typically, Ryan and the rest of the guys came to get into their first outfits for the show slightly intoxicated. And Effie and Estelle snuck a glass for themselves too. I was asked if I had had any - like the person was going to get me some too, but me and champagne bubbles don't mix. So after a long discussion about red faces and alcohol, models were lined up in running order (the order in which the models go on the catwalk) and it was show time.

Two outfits later Ryan was done, and he changed back into his regular clothes and wondered off to join the rest of the guys. Estelle and I stood back and watched the rest of the show unravel from backstage. When the show was over, Ryan wondered over to where I was standing and thanked me for my help with a two handed hand shake thing (well one of my hand and two of his). One of the Italian models was mucking around, and Joe was being silly. Guys are hilarious fun when slightly intoxicated.

After packing up everything into clothes bags, Effie, Estelle and I joined the party and found ourselves a glass of champagne - since the show was over I didn't need to worry about champagne bubbles anymore. A few canapés and star spottings later we wondered up to The Long Room (a slick Melbourne bar) where Ed bought Estelle a drink and we sat around chatting. That was until I needed to get home and sleep, leaving Effie and Estelle to party the night away with the some models that had ended up at The Long Room too.

Of course we all had to be back at David Jones the next day for the public shows... but that's another story!

For more about David Jones, visit their website site: www.DavidJones.com.au