March 15, 2015 Eddie Shanahan

SHOWTIME!

Paris Fashion Week It is Wednesday 4th. March, mid afternoon in Paris. In a salon on the first floor of 51 Avenue D’Iena a group of models gather. They are about to commence rehearsal for Sharon Wauchob’s AW 2015 collection show. There is such expectation in the air that even this simple gathering brings forward waves of camera crews and photographers to almost drown the coltish girls in a sea of cables, lenses and electronic flashes.

”…they are from all parts and none, constantly on the move – a migrant troop of professionals on tour around the fashion capitals…”

The girls shift and mingle like an uneasy herd. The cards pinned in their hair are part of a styling process. They are from all parts and none, constantly on the move – a migrant troop of professionals on tour around the fashion capitals  – New York, London, Paris, Milan. Speaking in many tongues they do not always sense what the choreographer conveys in her smoky accented French. Choreographer indeed – that is just one of the imponderables of Paris fashion week where such people are hired to conduct the simple task of walking in one door and out another as if such activity required rigorous coaching and profound thought. Some girls stall, others march with the tempo and style of circus ponies. The more the choreographer explains, the more they collide, the less they understand. A few minutes later they drift back to the dressing area, silence descends.

Within the hour media guests and buyers race in and race out, taking in all 11 minutes of a show that is mesmeric in its use of fabric, cutting and creativity. Models aren’t stupid – some will go on to be economists, writers, politicians – and during those breath taking minutes the girls find their feet and glide.