Checking in with New Gen - 13 September
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As if the buildup to the PWC New Generation show wasn’t frenetic enough - one of our poor New Geners had the Christchurch earthquake to deal with!
Kat at Kathryn Leah Payne
Woken at 4.35am by the huge quake, my partner and I dived under the kitchen table and stayed there for what felt like forever. There was chaos all around us, so many things were smashing down. All I could think was, are we going to be ok? Is my family ok and are my studio and collection ok?
Abby van Schreven (Maaike) and Kathryn Leah Payne at the PWC New Gen Bootcamp
After the structural engineers took a look through my building on Monday I was able to get up to my studio to have a quick clean up. It was a mess, tables had collapsed and heavy shelving had fallen over, taking out everything in its path. A few things were broken but luckily my precious samples were not damaged. I couldn’t stay long to clean up, it was a bit scary being up there on the 6th floor surrounded by crumbling buildings in the Christchurch CBD.
Tuesday I was in Auckland for a production meeting and my planes were delayed in both directions so I couldn’t go into the studio! On Wednesday we had another 5.1 quake in the morning with the epicentre quite close to us, so I was just too nervous to venture into town and I figured I would have to wait for engineers to give the all clear before I could get back in there anyway. I was so worried about how this would affect the show and how all my plans for finishing touches weren’t going to happen due to lack of time. I’m a bit of a perfectionist so this setback has been pretty stressful and as this is my first show the pressure is on! Luckily I’ve had two days in there now and have managed to get back on track.
Some of the businesses I use to do work for me were hit hard and one of them needs to be demolished, they were doing some of my jewellery and so I’ll have to quickly find someone else. It’s so sad, so many people have been affected by this, so many have either lost their homes or workplace and it’s just devastating. I wish I could get out there to help more people but unfortunately I have to focus on my show for the next few weeks and, in reality, I wish I could just postpone it. I can’t and as they say, the show must go on.
Celine at Celine Rita
This week has been spent finishing off all of the samples, and getting the styling sorted so that every outfit is perfect and ready to go. We have fittings this Saturday which will be great, we’ll get the running order and know exactly which model is wearing what, that the fit is perfect, the shoes all fit, etc. Our makeup has been confirmed, but we’re waiting on the hair confirmation.
We have been organising the goodie bags all weekend, making sure they look pretty and have everything they need inside! We’re starting to get the lookbooks and images ready for press releases, ads etc. We’ve been organising the outfits from our summer range to go into the IBM Designer Selection show and sending invites out! Definitely starting to get the excitement/nerves coming. But still loads to do, so no time for nerves at the moment...one week to go!
Emilie and Abby - Maaike
We kicked this week off with a huge styling session with our amazing stylist Chris Lorimer. We had outfits sorted from the lookbook but had to take them up a level to create a bit of drama on the catwalk. It's looking very layered and wrapped up - the models will be very warm! Tuesday we had a production meeting with all the other PWC New Gen ladies - was great to finalise make up andhair and talk about lighting ideas. At last the models are finalised, so now the shoes have been chosen and it is a case of manipulating them by painting and adding some fabric to them. Music is done - Dave has done an amazing job on our track - suits the collection brilliantly. The last garments have come back from the knitting factory so it is slowly all coming together and we feel pretty on track for our show. A few things left to finalise like our men’s shoes and also what WE are going to wear! It's starting to get very close which feels a bit surreal - but super exciting.
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