Britain's Next Top Model Tour in Manchester
We went up to Manchester the night before our show - with the bank holiday weekend and all the train diversions it was just the simplest thing to do. Fashion is never as glamorous as it looks - it's our job to make it look fabulous!
My call time is 8am. We all leave the hotel at 7:30 in search of coffee while on our way to the Arndale Centre in Manchester. We walk, as it just seems simpler and although the clothes and shoes have been sent ahead of time I still manage to bring a couple of extra suitcases full of more shoes, jewellery and tights – just in case. Everyone offers to help carry my cases!
As soon as I arrive the clothes need to be sorted and put in the running order. I need to make sure that nothing is missing or damaged. If any buttons or seams need to sewn this is the time to do it. We have about an hour before our first fitting. All the dressers arrive at 9am.
Even thought we have already done 3 shows and everything is familiar I have a new team in each city. There’s not much room backstage. It’s much smaller than you'd think so we have 6-8 dressers for this show. My dressers were very keen - most of them were studying fashion at school and hadn't had any backstage experience or even used a steamer before, so there was lots to learn! They did all arrive on time and that makes a big difference. It also shows me that they want to be there and are enthusiastic.
It’s a lot for each of the dressers - they have 2 models each to dress and about 11 looks to organize, and each look has several pieces and different shoes. The dressers all admit that they're anxious! We go though the rails, I chat about the designer and each of the looks. Fashion shows are very practical work - you can only learning by doing them. You might watch lots of fashion shows on TV but working backstage is a different experience. We did two shows and by the second show the dressers were enjoying the rush and fast pace of it all. We did one more show for the final 12 girls for the Face of Tiga. It’s a simpler show because the competition winners have just one look - a black dress, but it’s important that they feel and look good so they can do their best on the catwalk. Anyway by this show the dressers were seasoned pros!
The girls from BNTM are already stronger and better this week – more professional – they know what they’re doing and what to expect. It makes for a relaxed day – even if it’s a long one.
There was a huge and very enthusiastic crowd in the Arndale shopping center in Manchester! It felt quite exciting as there was so much buzz in the air!
The girl with the headset is Laura - she works with the models making sure that everything goes smoothly on the runway!
Annaliese Dayes (second from the far right) is running around quite a bit. She’s not only in the shows but she’s presenting on stage and I saw her working with the Tiga contestant winners in the green room. It's alot of work for everyone - but really I love doing shows and can't imagine doing anything else!
These are the judges with the 3 finalist for the Face of Tigra Competition and on the right Marytn Roberts, director of Fashion Scout.
Here are the assistants after a long day, but they still look fab!