FASHION WEEK FEVER

If there is one big truth behind L'Oréal Fashion Week it's this: great runway shows don't just happen.

"People on the outside of the fashion industry have no clue what goes into this," says Desia Halpin-Brill, owner of Brill Communications. After seven years of running the Fashion Week runway room, doing designer relations and facilitating on-site media interviews with designers, Halpin-Brill knows this tumultuous turf all too well.

"What goes into a 12 or 15 minute show is just a ridiculous number of hours," she says. "But people think it's some fluffy event that's been put together in no time at all."

Fashion Week's real behind-the-scenes story, however, isn't so effortless - or so glam.

Plan of attack

From designers creating their cutting-edge collections to the stylists working on them for more polish, breathing life into Fashion Week isn't possible without picking great models, writing press releases, doing rehearsals, getting look books printed and organizing sponsors for goodie bags.

Yes, that runway room chaos goes on and on even before the lights dim on that first show. But that, says Halpin-Brill, is what she loves.

With 120 volunteers and 10 staff members to work the runway room turf, the pace of L'Oréal Fashion Week is definitely brisk. "In New York you'd have four hours between shows to put out seating cards, check people in, hand out goodie bags and show people to their seats. In Toronto we have shows on the hour," she explains. "That means a lot of craziness can happen."

From strangers usurping editors' seats to unexpected designer delays, "We're always troubleshooting and saving time wherever we can," says Halpin-Brill. "It doesn't matter if it's New York, Paris, Milan, or Toronto. Situations always come up and panicking solves nothing. That's why our motto during Fashion Week is breathe, hydrate and smile."

As Halpin-Brill says, "When things are good and everything is running on time it's awesome. Everyone is happy and the energy in the room is fantastic. But my favourite time is that 15 seconds of quiet when the show lights dim. There's that three, two one countdown. Then the madness starts all over."

Editor's notes

For Ceri Marsh, editor-in-chief of FASHION, Fashion Week is busy but in an entirely different way.

"Planning our magazine's coverage starts at the end of the previous season," says Marsh. "That's when you look at how you covered things and what you could differently."

One month before the shows begin story ideas are finalized, staffers get their assignments and the mad Fashion Week rush begins.

"There's enough of us so we can divide and conquer," laughs Marsh. "I'm lucky. The team runs. They've got all the bases covered whether they're backstage talking to makeup artists or interviewing designers. I have the luxury of sitting in the runway room and just enjoying it."

Always on the hunt for that next big star, the real joy for this intrepid editor and her team is rooting Canadian talent on under the Fashion Week tents.

"Watching the launch of a career is always fun," says Marsh. "But a lot of these designers are people who we've been following for years. It's a pleasure to see them evolve and cheer them on."

Written by: Constance Droganes, entertainment writer, CTV.ca; Photo credit: Gabor Jurina