by Mikayla Loney (Gr. 11)
Fashion shows always seem so glamorous. The models look perfect, and the outfits look incredible. However, who gets it to this place where everything just seems effortlessly beautiful? A group of students from Student Voice were able to attend the Sands Macao Fashion Week. This group consisted of Jeya Verschuren as our wonderful photographer, Billy Ng who helped translate whenever necessary, and myself, Mikayla Loney as the reporter. We were also able to speak behind the scenes to some of the people who make it possible. So if you are interested in going into modeling, styling, or becoming a creative director then this article might be for you as we interview the people who are already there.
Our first interview was with Andrew Hainsworth , who was the lead stylist for all of the shows.
Student Voice (S.V): What do you do exactly in your role?
Andrew Hainsworth (A.H): The designers send the outfits, I have to go through a fittings process to make sure everything fits on the models. Once thats in place I just have to make sure every outfit looks perfect.
S.V: How would you get into a job like this?
A.H: I did fashion design in collage and I was assisting a stylist. I enjoyed it so I started getting my own jobs. I helped out a lot of shows for free and I just started getting my own jobs.
S.V: Some of the shows are done on water, have you had any fears about the models falling in the water?
A.H: There’s always a bad thought in the back of your mind but all the models are really professional.
S.V: Have you ever have any of the outfits go missing?
A.H: Well I did this show last year, I didn’t have a single piece go missing not even an earring.
S.V: How did you manage that?
A.H: We have dressers for the models to help them change and they’ve been really great, they’ve helped keep track of their models outfits. As soon as the dressers take something off the put it back in its place where it’s meant to be. You have to hand it to the dressers.
S.V: How do you make sure you continue on in your career with fashion shows?
A.H: It’s all about contacts I worked with these guys in Sydney which is how I learnt about Macao.
S.V: Now I saw that there was a lot of glitter used in one of the shows, do you have any tips on how to get rid of glitter?
A.H: No that’s just the reality of it, we are all covered in glitter from those clothes. The back room has been cleaned up twice but it just seems to never go away. It's practically embedded in the carpet.
The next interview we had was with one of the models.
Student Voice (S.V): How did you get into this business?
Model (M): I was standing on the street with some friends when I was thirteen, and a model scout saw me. She asked me if I wanted to be a model, and I started getting into it. I was doing it full time before high school ended, I’m Twenty three now.
S.V: Models tend to be really tall, do you think your height actually affects your career?
M: Yes, yes for sure a lot of jobs I got because I was tall, it certainly helps.
S.V: Do you think that the attitude of those around you affect the shows?
M: It really changes the whole energy of the place, it can affect our modeling.
S.V: What was something you wish you did in this industry when you were younger?
M: I wish I would make sure to be more positive, as it can switch the environment around.
S.V: How do you see some of the more out there things you had to do?
M: You just have to laugh at it, I would never have been able to do the things I’ve been doing or travel where I’ve been without modelling.
Our final interview was with Troy Daniel, the founder of Bespoke Asia which is the company the previous interviewees work for.
Student Voice (S.V): As the creative director do you have a certain format you need to follow, or is it more of I think this will suit it be?
Troy Daniel (T.D): Generally it’s I think this will suit it best, however there is globally a format that most people understand with fashion week it needs to be familiar for the international clients as well.
S.V: How did you get into this industry?
T.D: I was actually an archaeologist, when I finished university I did that but I got a bit bored. So I went back and became a sculpture and did that for a while. I ended up in a sydney theater company, built shows and one thing led to another. I ended up in technical productions, then I ended up as a lighting designer, I went on to be a technical director,then went to be the creative director. After that I started Bespoke.
S.V: How did you work to create your company?
T.D: I was freelancing and traveling to do so then I decided I wanted a bit more stability. It scared me a bit with how reliant I was on my contracts, I was also a bit sick of living in hotel rooms. I came up to hongkong I’ve been working there before and I decide for the short to medium term that’s where I wanted to be. I started Bespoke and it’s gone really well.
S.V: What is Bespoke exactly?
T.D: It has fifteen members of staff so its medium size boutique events agency so we would do top tier luxury jobs I would say.
S.V: Now I’m not saying anyone at TIS is gunning for your job but how would it be possible for a student to make a company like this?
T.D: The industry is fairly interesting, I would say focus on the creative. I try to find kids who have a good creative eye and have trained creatively.