Expectation vs. Reality
I went to London Fashion Week in February, right before the world submerged into chaos. On my first day, I met up with a friend who’s also a student at University of Westminster. Our mission was to see how London Fashion week actually was compared what you always see in the media and on Instagram. We wanted to know is it actually as cool and glamorous as everyone makes it out to be or is it just all a huge illusion. Our first place we visited was the most important place at LFW, Somerset House, more so a bit west from there. Most fashion shows other than the really big ones (such as Burberry, etc.) are held at the official Show Space of LFW 2020 called The Store X. We didn’t need to look far for the space the numerous people dressed in amazing clothes and styled to a T, gave us a hint, where the place might be. Once we arrived we were surrounded by photographers waiting for celebrities or fashionable folks they could snap a photo of. Excitedly we waited, as the big show of Charlotte Knowles was said to start in an hour. As the time went by more and more people showed up, wearing whatever their hearts desired not really giving a care of what other people might think, which proved their admirable confidence. The people who were invited started to line up to get inside the venue. It was very obvious the guards weren’t well trained as they let people in without even having passes. Bianca and me gave each other a look and we were definitely thinking the same thing, if they can get in with a weak excuse, we might as well. Our mission was crystal clear now, how can we sneak into LFW S/S 20 without anyone noticing. Bianca had doubts and expressed her concerns, what if we get caught, what will happen? I, the bad influence that I am reassured her that it will be fine and that we wouldn’t get into trouble, we just needed to let our acting skills do the talking. Once i finally convinced her that this was an amazing idea, we started lining up, acting as though we were meant to be there between all these important people. As we moved up the line the guard came closer and closer, I suddenly felt a rush of regret, but couldn’t back out as it was our turn already. I started showing him a ticket i bought from Eventbrite for LFW, acting as though it was for this show. He looked closely at it and proceeded to tell us that he was unsure if he could let us in and that we should wait here. My heart sank, what if this is the moment we get thrown out of the line that would be so embarrassing. A women came towards us, I was so nervous, thinking for sure she would send us away, however to the our surprise we were led in after she looked briefly onto the ticket. We couldn’t believe our luck and were so excited believing we would see our first every fashion show. This dream was short lived, walking through the door we see an even more elaborate security check. From then on Bianca and me knew we were screwed, theres absolutely no chance that we would get past that. And soon enough they checked our ticket and proceed to tell us, dirty looks included that we need to leave as these aren’t valid. This was the end of Day 1 of our LFW experience. Overall, I definitely learned how much less glamorous the actual getting in the fashion show was than expected, even if you had an invite. You were still in the same line as everyone else no matter if you sit front row or not. Another observation I made was the amount of arrogance and entitlement some people show towards other is disrespectful to say the least. But I guess that’s the fashion industry for you. It is more about the illusion than the reality.
envvogue 