THE Rose of Tralee Fashion Show was amazing. Did I watch it? No, but I got one better, I worked at it.
Everyone knows that I am a Team Upfront girl and don’t worry, that hasn’t changed. But I moved from my role of Backstage Manager and Boss’s Girl to Intern and honestly, I really enjoyed it.
I landed on site at 11am in the morning and I left at 11pm at night. You could say that I had a long day. It wasn’t just like any old internship though, it was at one of the biggest events of the year. The fashion show of the International Rose of Tralee festival.
The morning began with watching the Creative Director of Theia NYC, Don O’Neill and his partner and Theia show Choreographer, Pascal Guillermie, choose the models to show their amazing Fall/Winter 2014 collection.
This is something that I have witnessed a few times now at KFW Fashion Week, but it never ceases to be a spectacle.
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Each girl is given a crash course in the Theia philosophy and carefully coached into the perfect catwalk strut. Models are brought in and out of the amazing dresses and are finally granted one to walk in the stage in the show. It is a trying but beautiful process.
The next hour consisted of random projects and requests that I would usually get other people to do, but this time it was me, heels and all, running to get the gowns and the girls. I was joined with two other interns and I think that we all shared a mutual interest in fashion. Which is harder to find than you would think…
When the shops and the designers arrived, I could have been working for anyone. I know them all so well and it all felt familiar again. I spent hours lining up rails and asking each shop owner, “do your girls belong to group one or group two?”, unzipping bags, zipping up dresses, zipping down dresses…it all became very familiar in a short space of time.
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Lunch break was just a gathering of all the people I knew from years in the “backstage helper” business. I could empathize with the various levels of sugar rush that were people were experiencing and enjoy the experience just like any other show.
When we returned, it was the last of the fittings and all the beautiful models along with their beautiful bangs were almost ready to hit the runway. Each pair of models were zipped up or pinned into each designers creation.
The amazing hair was by Catriona Rohan and the make-up looks were created by the brilliant creative team at CH Tralee. Big shout out to Niamh and Anthony.
When the show began, it was just another working day, the only thing missing was my clipboard. I wasn’t telling people what to do, but it didn’t matter.
I was just another piece in the workings of the show, and if one piece wasn’t there, the whole thing would have collapsed. So yeah, I think everyone felt very important.
The iconic model agency owner, Celia Holman Lee and her daughter, Cecile, had the show production down to a pat. They had their own way to work the show, it was different to what I am used to, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t just as effective.
Clearly the mother-daughter method works just as well either way…
When the Theia Collection went down the runway and I knew that the show was drawing to a close, I got the same elation.
When I hi-fived the models as they left the stage and as I hugged Don and Pascal before I see them again at fashion week, something occurred to me; no matter who I work for, I learned that fashion is my calling.
I learned that I still get the same buzz from a fashion show whether I am the intern or the manager. It honestly doesn’t matter to me. I love it all. I have met so many amazing people and even though it is exhausting, every moment is worth it.
Now before I bore you with my fashion career ambitions, what did you think of the show? I personally think that it was amazing, but what do I know, I am just an intern…
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