Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large
So, what do we fashion pro's do after the shows? Its a question I'm always asked. If you are someone like the superfabulous-blogger (but fashion newbie) BryanBoy, you go to America to see you sick Aunty (hope she is OK, Bryan). If you are a proper fashionista with a proper job and everything, you come home from the shows and ....
1) On the first couple of days back I tend to regress to being 14 on the sofa while watching re-runs of CSI (Miami or Las Vegas) and eating microwave Spaghetti Hoops. Meanwhile my family shouts at me for absolutely anything/nothing because they are annoyed with me for being away and being back. Every fashion editor I know experiences a version of this.
2) Then we have to GO BACK TO WORK, where colleagues think we've been off having a long and glamorous party, and try not to sound ungrateful. Avoid croissants.
3) In my case after Paris I sat in front of my laptop for five days straight and anyalysed the shows, the trends, the pieces then created a 200 page master document that will be my bible for the next six months. Not only for work, but for what I want to buy next season. That's why my blog has been quiet. But I feel like a walking encyclopaedia. I will share it all with you over time!
4) This is the bit that we are all doing now, people! Ten days after getting back the work starts kicking in again.
a) If you are the TOP EDITORIAL STYLIST I met in the park this morning while walking my little black shaggy dog, W, then you are being booked for global ad campiagns and pitching to your magazine/s for shoot ideas. Apparently budgets are down for even the A-List stylists this season, and everyone has to fly economy. Well, Conde Nast have just made ten people on American Vogue redundant. Times are still tough.
b) If you are a FASHION JOURNALIST like me, its time to pitch feature stories, profiles, general ideas at your various editors, and attend some of the decent press days to see what is going on at street level.
c) If you are a FASHION BUYER you are only just getting back from buying collections in Paris, and are still at the CSI/Spaghetti Hoops stage, but at least you have decided what is going to be in your shop next season...
d) If you are a FASHION DESIGNER, you are looking at your books and working out if you have had a good or bad season, (us Brits are doing well becasue of good collections, and moreover a favourable Sterling exchange rate). And designers will be designing their collections for AW10/11 too.
So you see, it ain't over when the shows are over.