Making up for mistakes

18.02.09

As I told earlier, there were some serious malfunctions backstage during the show of my friend Linda Valkeman at the Amsterdam Fashion Week. More than half of her collection didn't appear on the runway and the outfits that did made it were styled embarrassingly wrong. I always assist Linda in styling her collection, creating the right look from accessories, the outfits to hair and make-up. I remember watching the show and noticed something was going very wrong backstage when the third outfit made an appearance on the runway. The impact of these major mistakes were not only emotional but also practical. In a few weeks she will also present her collection during the Paris Fashion Week and was planning to use the runway photos, made during the Amsterdam Fashion Week, for her Lookbook. Well that plan went down the drain big time. To make up for this practical damage the organization offered to pay for a Lookbook shoot with a great photographer, model and make-up artist. And so it happened. Last friday I met Linda bright but very early at her studio (on the 13th floor) of the World Fashion Centre in Amsterdam. After packing the collection, shoes and accessories we stumbled our way to the elevator. With our hands full we tried to get everything in while keeping the heavy doors open. Trying to keep the heavy doors open I have to say because although our best effort they closed with half the clothing rack still outside. After pushing all the buttons and some Rambo actions from our part we managed to open them again without damaging the clothes or the elevator. We made it downstairs safely and called a taxi. It rained and generally speaking taxi drivers are not the most fashion conscious people, so he let a (of course) white outfit that was not fully covered in plastic hit the car, leaving it with a stain on the skirt. But we've been through worse and remembered to smile, because it's only fashion... We arrived at the studio and met the photographer Marc Deurloo, model Jessie and make-up artist Ellen. And from that moment forward everything went smoothly, everybody knew what to do and did it very well. Linda left with beautiful pictures and her famous smile back on her face.
Here the result and you see why she is smiling again and why I am proud to have a friend like that.

(Clothes by Linda Valkeman, Styling by Lizzy Peters, Photography by Marc Deurloo, Hair and Make-up by Ellen van Exter and Model Jessie)

Some backstage action:

Marc in a photography action pose:

Checking the frames:

Jessie having a moment, her hair was so tight...

Sometimes you have to bring out the big guns...

Jessie working it and on the right my own lucky shot:

The final shot, designer and model: