LG FASHION WEEK!!!

I had the amazing opportunity to volunteer for FDCC's LG Fashion Week Beauty by L'Oreal Paris (what a mouthful eh?) this year! I am now reminded as to why I'm in the fashion industry. The show looks so well put together and organized, but backstage you'll see the industry's true colours:  a fast-pased, multi-tasking frenzy... or what I like to call, a total rush.
The huge, very high end venue's location was The Allstream Centre at Exhibition Place downtown Toronto. Although I have volunteered for fashion shows before, I have never experienced anything quite like LG Fashion Week.
So with that being said, you're probably picturing me in this glamours, "lights. camera. action" kind of atmosphere, but until the actual show it was quite the opposite. And truly, that's what you can expect when you volunteer- you're at the bottom of the food chain so to speak, so get ready to be ran off your feet! Do not get discouraged though, you have to start somewhere, right?! Even the mundane or trivial tasks must be taken seriously, then you will be. Simple as that.

First of all, as a volunteer you had the choice to work in either the backstage atmosphere or the fashion environment, I was lucky enough to work in both exciting areas. Day 1 I was working in the fashion environment where my duties pre-show included tasks from gift bagging,  to signing in backstage designers and models,  to even making sure the water coolers were full of water. Basically if you were a voluteer, you're probably going to be passed around like a hot potato to complete necessary tasks. During the show myself and a few of my other volunteer friends were responsible for media personal admittance, which should have came with a caution: blisters may appear on the feet due to long hours standing. Thank god for my knee-length boots! I'm not sure I could have survived in my high-heels at that time (unfortunately). The advantage of this, of course, was that we could take a peak during the actual fashion show and see the VIP reception area first hand...that was pretty cool, I must admit. One of the shows incorporated celebrities as their models. Canadian stars such as 90210's Jessica Downes, olympic skaters, television talk show hosts, Keisha Chante (as seen in the picture above if you look closely), Hilda from Sabrina the Teenage Witch (remember that show?) and many more that I had no clue who they were.


So the next day I was pulled from my fashion environment hot potato duties and designated in the backstage area where I got to dress models for the runway! This is what you call fast-paced. If you think about it, there may be 20-ish models in the show while there are around 40-ish outfits. Getting everything right, right down to the belt buckle, to the accessory placement was key. The designers were very picky, and who can blame them really-they have a rep to uphold!  I dressed models for Coccolily, BASCH by Brandon, Lucian Matis(!!!), RUDSAK, David Dixon and Bustle. Probably my favourite part of my whole volunteering experience was seeing Fashion Television's Jeanne Becker in person! That was awesome.
Bustle marked the end of fashion week for this season, but I definitely look forward to September's show!