CANARY WHARF FASHION SHOWS

Fashion Shows are not normally something that I would do, mainly because they do not pay a great deal and I went through a long phase in the first couple of years of modelling where I didn't book any. Pretty naive of me to be honest because this was so much fun and I feel like I have certainly missed out on a lot of fun doing more of them. The thought of walking up and down a catwalk has never been of huge interest to me to be honest. I know many girls had dreams of walking the catwalk, but for guys I feel its very different, however I was completely surprised by how much fun I had.

Its a long process though, as its not just about turning up and walking up and down as so many people think. Now I'm not going to preach to you and say its like rocket science, but a lot of work goes into the organisation. It started on Monday with the first rehearsals. There were 6 of us involved (3 guys, 3 girls) and we were shown various walk throughs for certain shows that we were doing. The only complex part was crossing over the catwalk and on to little stages and ensuring we all moved at the same time. There were also dancers in the show as well who I have to say worked their nuts off! Their job was far more difficult than ours and immediately I ensured I didn't moan about one single thing ;-) ha ha. The rehearsals lasted a few hours and I felt very comfortable and realised the dancers were cool and I would certainly get on with all of them.

The next day involved a couple of hours in fittings ensuring the clothes fit ok, which simply involves trying on different outfits of the brands we were doing the shows for. The key - taking clothes off as quickly as possible and putting them back on just as quick ha, simple.

Then it was a full day of rehearsals and one of the funniest days I have had for a long time. We went through 4 of the shows and quite a few times each which included full dress rehearsals. With fashion shows you often have little time to change clothes and its key for the organiser to ensure that the changes are all possible and everyone is working hard together. We had our own designated dressers too! How crazy does that sound?! But I have to say they were 100% necessary as they ensured all the clothes were in the right order and made sure we got ready in time.
What was incredibly funny was that the dancers had these really tricky routines to learn and had a much much harder job than the models, yet it was the models who struggled the most! Fortunately I ma not including myself in this, as it was not my section that was the tricky part. Watching 4 models learning to move across the stage and in between some drummers in the right order was just comedy gold! If it wasn't one of them it was the other that couldn't get it. Sadly the stereotype of a model was in full swing at this point! The dancers were in hysterics as was I and one of the girl models too. But also the dancers couldn't believe how much trouble they were having and probably thought how ridiculous ha ha.

Everything was set though for 3 days of shows at Canary Wharf. It went great it has to be said and I really enjoyed the shows. You get to know everyone involved because of the times you spend with each other and in between the shows you are just socialising which I loved. There was great banter between everyone involved and although at times it was hard work, ultimately there are so so many jobs that are worse than what we did. Plenty of people watched the shows and I was just happy nobody booed me! ha. I was also happy that I didn't mess up at all and just ensured I enjoyed the whole experience.


It was a very handy job to keep me busy and to earn me money, but importantly it was thoroughly enjoyable and I met some great people that I hope to stay in contact with. Also, you never know if future work could come up with this company, so very important to leave a good impression.

My blog has had a make over and I can finally add pictures to the posts!!! ABOUT TIME! I hope you enjoy

James