ONCE September hits again, you just know that London Fashion Week is round the corner. Frantic e-mails from designers, model agencies, and organisers start to flood in, as do the party invitations. And before you know it you’re organising a casting, a running order and getting an army of hairdressers and make-up artists together for that all-important 15 minutes of catwalk magic.
This season I am styling a show for up and coming designer Louis de Gama. We will be showing at the National Army Museum behind the King’s Road, and the atmosphere is already one of anticipated excitement. We met this week in his East London studio — a fabulous converted old school — and went through a thorough schedule of castings and trials for the next couple of weeks.
Back in my own hood, West London, I arranged to meet a friend at Lucky Seven’, the latest Conran venture, where we spotted Jude Law and Sadie Frost a few weeks back, for an all-American hamburger.
The atmosphere is fun and vibrant, and the neon lights make everything look brighter than it really is. As Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis rock ‘n ‘roll in the background, we avidly exchange stories and catch up, while trying to choose between the Chix Supreme and the Classic Hamburger, between the French or Fat Fries.
Decisions, decisions! Finally, having chosen, ordered and talked some more, our food arrives and we are very satisfied indeed. We debate the pros and cons of having a Banana Split for dessert, and decide that in this instance ‘less is more’ although I maintain that less is in fact less more often than not.
We settle for a nice cup of ‘cwoffee’ to wash it all down, and decide to walk it off by strolling down Portobello Road to so some window-shopping.
The market is alive and kicking and we stop for our daily portions of fruit and veg. The market stalls announce their prices at the top of their voices — “best of cherries! A pound a pound, love!” — and I never quite know whether they’re talking about pounds in
weight or money. One thing I do know is that their produce is excellent and always a bargain.
When I return home the cards of models who will be available for the season’s shows from agencies such as Storm, Select, and Models One have arrived, so I begin to pre-select the girls ready for the big day.
I arrange the fruit in a bowl and realise that life really can be a bowl of cherries.
Laia Farran Graves
Louis De Gama’s website is on www.louisdegama.com
Lucky Seven is on 127 Westbourne Park Road, London W2 Tel: 020-7727-6771
