Just kidding, I knew when Spring began. Well not really. But seeing as last week was Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, I had an inkling. I was lucky enough to volunteer for MSFW this year ( and my lucky I mean they were lucky, because the industry honestly thrives on volunteers and we do a lot of work in terms of 'volunteering') but that being said it was highly rewarding and actually the most fun. It's not something that I recommend taking on if you have a busy schedule already, ie. long days at uni and such as I have learned the hard way, because they do need people to volunteer all day mostly. I was fortunate enough to be able to do front of house as well as back of house. What I love about this is that they really value your time and the effort you put in as a volunteer. It's an excellent opportunity to gain some experience. I've fallen short in previous volunteer positions of the same nature due to my lack of experience, and probably a zero charisma factor at interviews (I am basing this on my L'oreal Fashion Week interview which was unsuccessful and really nerve racking in my naive, fresh faced opinion.)
I really loved working with MSFW, and although at times I felt pretty damn exhausted and they themselves will not deny that some jobs are tedious and hardly glamourous (as many aspects of the fashion industry are) I can assure that you are definitely guaranteed moments of awe and spring fashion exuberance within your shifts. To my surprise everybody was beyond friendly. The people in charge, the models (oh, gosh the tall/skinny/tanned/pale/beautiful models), the other volunteers.
Unfortunately as a volunteer being backstage and what not, we weren't allowed to take photos and I was too scared to take the risk, but I have found photos from the High Tea back of house shift that I did the at the Grand Hyatt on the last day of fashion week. This High Tea was like the wrap up event to the week promoted by In Style magazine and showcased designers like Jason Grech, Lisa Ho, Leona Edminston and more. It was so lovely working back stage because you got to see the models just be normal people with their laptops reading up lecture notes as they got their hair and make up done and everybody in charge was really helpful, making sure that we knew what to do and when. I was so nervous about this shift because I had never done back of house before and was honestly so scared that I would make a mistake and ruin the whole show, but the people in charge really did take care of us. The model I dressed was really helpful as well, she was so sweet and cheerful and kept thanking me. She was honestly such a delight to work with. I told her that she was so nice and she giggled and said, "well of course, I don't see a point in being any other way," and we both just smiled.
Again,t was such a long and draining day but completely worth it. Lately I have just been in such an weird, no-motivation-out-of-design-funk but seeing all of those designer pieces just brought back the fresh feeling of exuberance that I feel when I think of fashion and innovation. Working with that last show, even though the actual dressing part of the show really only took up a small portion of the day which was devoted to setting up and taping shoes, ha, gave me back the inspiration that I've been lacking. It was also so sweet at the end when one of the co-ordinators collapsed onto the couch for fifteen minutes in silence and then came back to reality and started smiling and thanking all the volunteers for being there. I think that really sums up the fashion industry: being a lot of hard work and non stop dedication with fifteen minute power naps, most pro bono in the fashion sense, with little time to spare.
As we were the last volunteers for the week Pam wrapped us bouquets of flowers from the 1000 Pound Bend exhibit for us to take home as well as some gift bags. She was the sweetest, letting us rummage through the bags and take all the products left haha.
I know this post is heaps delayed but I've spent tonight looking at the runway shows from NYFW on tumblr and this just made me want to recap over our very own MSFW. Aw, love you Melbourne.
