From the 16th to the 20th of September, I was lucky enough to intern at London Fashion Week (LFW). After my month as a fashion intern for ELLE UK last summer, I was curious to experience life in the industry from a different perspective. In early August, I applied to be an intern for POP PR, a public relations company specialising in fashion and beauty. I was chosen along with around 30 other people to help out at this season’s LFW, garnering invaluable experience inside one of the world’s most exclusive industries.

Friday

On our first day, all the interns arrived at 3:30pm at the Freemasons’ Hall in Covent Garden, two hours before the first show. At this venue, Fashion Scout, an independent showcase for both emerging and established brands, were hosting a number of shows. Previously, Fashion Scout has hosted names such as Peter Pilotto, Eudon Choi, David Koma and Phoebe English, now some of the most sought-after designers at LFW.

After meeting all the staff from POP PR, we went to the auditorium where the shows would commence and we were given a short briefing about everything our jobs entailed. Primarily, we were in charge of setting up before the shows; goodie bags were allocated to the front row, show notes about the designers and collections were distributed on every seat and each person in the auditorium allocated guests to take care of before each show, to ensure a smooth running.

With all these elements in place, the first show began. Ones To Watch, made up of five emerging designers, showcased diverse collections, displaying the vast array of talent on offer at LFW. However, two of these stood out in particular. Ester Kubisz, a recent graduate of Ravensbourne, presented a beautiful collection of deconstructed men’s tailoring in black, white and grey, reminiscent of past Rick Owens collections. Kubisz originally intended her designs to be for men but, with the recent popularity of non-gender-specific clothing, has encouraged it to be used for ‘unisex styling’.

Then, there was Billie Jacobina, who provided quite the opposite. Having impressed industry experts at Graduate Fashion Week 2016, Jacobina won the Graduate Fashion Week International Residency Award in Jakarta, where she is currently collaborating with Indonesian brand Lekat. Her collection contained bright pink, orange and blue hues combined with fur and metallic materials, perhaps comparable to the designs of established British label, Ashish.

After the success of our first show, Rocky Star was next. The critically acclaimed Indian designer has provided costumes for over 300 films and has dressed celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Priyanka Chopra, with many of his designs inspired by his Bollywood roots. His collection consisted partly of earthy tones with greens, browns and muted pinks on Bohemian-style gowns, while there was also an emphasis on extravagant floral headgear, which complimented the intricately embellished evening gowns.

The final and most eagerly anticipated show of our first day was Pam Hogg. The Scottish-born designer has been long supported by Debbie Harry and has been featured in i-D, and is also responsible for dressing stars such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna and, more recently, helping to design the winners’ trophies for the 2016 Brit Awards. This show certainly bubbled with excitement; starting fashionably late (an hour to be precise), celebrity guests such as Jaime Winstone and Yasmin Le Bon filtered in gradually to have their photos taken before we were able to usher them to their seats. Model and muse of Karl Lagerfeld, Alice Dellal, opened the runway show, which was full to the brim with bold primary colours and strong shapes interspersed with metallic skin-tight jumpsuits and draped blouses. All in all, my first day at LFW did not fail to impress.

Saturday

Following the success of Friday, spirits were high on Saturday morning as we arrived at the Amba Hotel Charing Cross. Here, Fashion International, another leading multi-designer runway event, would be holding their shows for up and coming design talent. The first show was from Delna Poonawalla, an Indian designer, whose collection was entitled Dark Mistress, with the Victorian setting of the building adding to the drama and sense of theatrics within the collection. Featuring predominantly elegant and feminine eveningwear, Poonawalla used mainly gold, reds and blues while reaching into her heritage with embroidered Indian saris.

After the first show with Fashion International, we made our way back to the Freemasons’ Hall just in time to complete preparations for the Ashley Isham show. There was an excitable energy in the room as everyone awaited the Spring/Summer 2017 collection of the Singaporean Central Saint Martins graduate, perhaps also caused by the attendance of Magic Mike star, Alex Pettyfer. With everything prepared for the show to begin, we found some of the last spaces to watch from. The collection proved to maintain the energy that was present beforehand, boasting a myriad of bright, fluorescent and neon colours in the form of swimwear and summer attire for both men and women. Floral, feminine ball gowns were paired with visors and pom pom earrings, continuing the vibrant and captivating energy present through all of Isham’s collections.

The third and final show of the day took us back to the Hotel, where Fashion International had put together a show comprised of eight emerging designers, each displaying the best of their recent collections. With such an extensive group of designers, there was a lot more to organise prior to the show. For each designer, a press release with information about their collection had to be put on every seat. My personal favourites were Sasmitha Dellawa and Lenie Boya; Dellawa, just 19 years old, presented us with kaftan-style eveningwear in girlish hues, while Boya, a long established designer, displayed her knowledge of sculptural, asymmetric design with a bold colour palette of predominantly black, white and red.

Sunday

On Sunday afternoon, I arrived back at the Freemasons’ Hall ahead of the House of MEA show due at 6:30pm, a collective of designers who focus on Middle Eastern and Asian labels. On this particular afternoon, there was a certain buzz in the air, however, probably due to the impending Fei Fei Cicada show which would take place just one hour after the House of MEA, but this time at the iconic Victoria and Albert Museum. A group of us interns were chosen upon arrival to go straight to the Museum after setting up for the House of MEA, which would require a fairly hasty dash from Covent Garden to South Kensington. Once we had gone through the set-up procedure practiced over the past two days, a signal was given to the group of us, which meant that it was time to leave. The next half an hour or so felt like something out of a film, with the 10 or so of us, clad head-to-toe in all black, sprinting through the streets of London and up and down the escalators of tube stations.

About 40 minutes and a busload of confused looks from passers-by later, we finally arrived with time to prepare before the show. Having researched Fei Fei Cicada prior to the show, I now understood the decision to use the Victoria and Albert Museum as the location. The show would take place in the middle of the rotunda entrance hall of the museum, directly below the spectacle of Dale Chihuly’s blown glass chandelier, perfectly complimenting the grandeur of the collection that was to come. After preparing the hall for the show and seating all the guests, I was able to secure myself a position with a full view of the show. As each model made a complete circuit of the hall, we were presented with exquisitely intricate Baroque-style gowns in autumnal colours, each one more beautiful than the previous. We saw 10ft-long trains, puffed sleeves, pointed shoulders and headpieces like you’d never seen, all fit for a fairy tale. When we thought this couldn’t get any better, after the show had ended the audience were then led through to the adjacent room where each of the models could be found evenly spaced apart, so that we could get a closer look at each piece for as long as we liked – perhaps much to the dismay of the models (one gave me a very sarcastic eye roll). Fei Fei Cicada’s show was truly what it was supposed to be: a show.

Monday

After the excitement of the previous day, we were all in high spirits upon arrival at the Trade Union Congress on Monday. Here, the Vin + Omi show would take place. The design duo have a loyal following of famous faces, having dressed the likes of Debbie Harry, Pamela Anderson and singer Charli XCX. Perhaps their most recent and notable endeavour, however, is their involvement with this year’s Absolutely Fabulous movie, starring Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, where Vin + Omi were commissioned to create the costumes for Jane Horrocks’ character, Bubble. The show was appropriately entitled The Dreaming – the room decorated with black origami birds hanging from the ceiling and black confetti scattered on the floor, plunging the audience into a fantasy world. The show hosted a number of celebrity guests from Tom Daley to singer Nina Nesbitt, who also walked in the show. During the rehearsal, however, one model fell and twisted her ankle – and insisted she couldn’t take any painkillers as it interfered with her “all-natural diet” – causing temporary pandemonium, but as always, the show had to go on.

Vin + Omi dressed their models in clouds of black, blonde and red wigs, some scattered with paintbrushes and palettes, while the clothes took on a similar colour scheme, with an abundance of flowing printed gowns and ruffled jackets on both male and female models. Despite the overhanging sense of darkness and gloom that was present, the finale brought an unexpected burst of joy and patriotism to the room, with British Olympic gold medallist, Nicola Adams, leading the cast of models down the runway in a custom-made Vin + Omi trouser suit. This show was perhaps the busiest of the 11 we were working on and it certainly came as no surprise.

Tuesday 

On our final day with POP PR, David Ferreira was the last of our 11 shows, hosted again by Fashion Scout at the Freemasons’ Hall. The Portugal-based designer, who graduated from the University of Westminster with a BA (Hons) in Fashion Design, decided to name his collection I Must Be The Reason For Your Erection. Upon first impressions, this may seem rather unusual; however, the press release carefully explained how Ferreira wanted to explore the oppression and sexual objectification of women through this collection. He presented us with a dichotomous show, with one half comprised of striking, masculine silhouettes in black and white, and the other consisting of a soft, feminine colour palette with tulle and feather gowns, and smatterings of sequins, demonstrating the duality and complexity of the female persona beyond its longstanding oppression.

I gained more than I ever expected behind the scenes at LFW. Aside from eight blisters, I made friends for life and got the chance to meet and mix with some of fashion’s most influential figures. I am so grateful to everyone at POP PR and all the people I worked with for making this week so special.