When the lights go out on Big Ben

In case anyone out there was left unaware, I am smack dab in the middle of London fashion week now. I flew out of NY on Thursday evening and landed Friday morning in London ready to take on 17 castings/fittings. Luckily I had a driver to help me out, otherwise I probably would have only made it to a quarter of them. As it was I think I made it to 12. It takes such a long time to get around London that the New York pace is hard to live up to. Instead the nights just get later. When I was finally finished for the day I remember sitting in the car driving past a very dark Big Ben. Only the clocks were lit, which made it look like there were three full moons in the sky.

I finally made it to the model flat around 2 am. Only one girl was awake sitting in the kitchen munching on some fries, oops, ‘chips.’ She said there was one bed left and came upstairs with me to show me which room. I tried to quietly open the door but it wouldn’t open. I kept saying it was fine I’d just go sleep on the couch for the night, but the girl knocked on it. Inside a grumbling sleepy voice responded, but did not make any sense. She seemed annoyed so I went downstairs. In not too long she came out, very cheerfully asking if I was the new girl. She helped me find a blanket and pillow for the bed and told me the door is really sticky. So all settled I went to brush my teeth and go to the bathroom. As soon as I closed the door a girl came knocking. I opened it and she said she had to change her contacts. I just got out of the crammed bathroom to let her and sat on the steps waiting. About ten minutes later she left and I went back in to finish my 2 minute task. Oh well. It was close to 3 am by the time I was settled and falling asleep on the top bunk.

Saturday morning a car picked me up at 7:30 to bring me to my first show, Emilia Wickstead. At the time I thought it was my only show followed by six castings. When I left the show I went about trying to get to my castings. After the first one I got a call from my agency asking where I was. Apparently I was supposed to be at a fitting, then at another show. The schedule I did not have either of these things, and we still don’t know why I only got half of it. So I had to rush to the fitting (for Lucas Nascimento) then to the Holly Fulton show. I was two hours late to the call time for the show, but of course it always works out even after all the stress. Next I was sent to a casting. Another problem with London is a lot of streets and buildings are not labeled. I knew I was in the right area, but it seemed like three blocks had the same address and there were all sorts of alleyways and odd unlabeled entrances. There were a lot of helpful people, but they all kept sending me in different directions. After about 40 minutes of wandering around the area I was pretty sure I found the right door. I climbed up the stairs to the second floor (as instructed) only to find a closed garage door. I’m going to be honest, I cried. I was so overtired and frustrated, and I felt so stupid about not being able to find the stupid casting. I walked back down to the first floor and thought I would just see if there was anyone else I could ask. There was a blank door simply labeled “offices.” I tentatively opened it and found it was where I was supposed to be! They had me sit in an empty room across the hall for another 15 minutes by myself until someone came to take my picture and watch me walk. Done. I set out for the Lucas Nascimento show that I had booked only a few hours earlier. At this show I got to do my first closing, which means I am the last person to walk as well as the first person in the finale line. I don’t really remember how many castings I went to after that show. I remember walking around with my gelled hair and leather jacket feeling like the mom from spy kids as I trolled the city. I ended up at a fitting for Marios Schwab around 10:00. There were about 10 of us who all came in at the same time so naturally it took forever. At the end of the day everyone is working slowly too. I ended up basically standing in a pair of heels for three hours just waiting for them to decide if they like my look or to take  a picture or to have it fitted. I got a car to take me to the model flat when I left around 1 am. I slept the whole drive back and was the only one awake this time.

At least the bathrooms was open! I finally had the chance to take a shower and wash all that gel out. I also sat on the couch for a while eating a bag of popcorn for “dinner.” I hadn’t had the chance to go to a grocery store either, but my agency had loaded me up with a bag of snacks as I set out the first day and I was able to eat at the shows. I fell asleep around 3 am once again. This morning I did the Marios show. When I woke up I didn’t bother doing anything to my hair besides brushing it. I was the first model at the show and therefore got to be the demonstration model for the hair style. The stylist said the inspiration was a little girl with no hair product, just some static in the front. He straightened out my part and lightly flat ironed the top hair, the sprayed some fly-aways down. The then took the hair from the front of my head and loosely tied it under my other hair behind my neck, just to keep it behind the shoulders. he grabbed a few strands and put them in front of my face and used a balloon to make them staticky (comfortable right?). But overall he basically did nothing to my hair. He even said that I already had the look when I came in. Later I was walking around with my jacket on because I was cold. He came up to me all worried that my jacket would wreck the hair. I of course untucked my hair without complaint, but I thought it was so silly. I managed to wash my hair, sleep on it, and get to the show while wearing my jacket and showed up with the perfect hair already. Somehow an article about the hair for the show manages to advertise a specific shampoo and technique for making this hairstyle. I used Suave and a pillow.  (Article: http://www.hji.co.uk/hair/marios-schwab-springsummer-2015-get-hair-look/)

After the show I had one fitting for a show tomorrow. Then I was free, or on call, the rest of the day. Hooray, free day in London! Wanna know what I did? I slept between every tube stop on the way back to the model flat. Bought some food and curled up on my bed. I haven’t left the bed since other than to heat up said food, nor do I plan to until morning unless I get called in. It feels so good to get some rest and to figure out what day it is (It’s Sunday).