In less than 24 hours, Melbourne Spring Fashion Week will be over. I have ten working hours to go, have attended my final runway show and am looking forward to a HUGE glass of wine and a decent sleep in. This week I have worked 50 hours as a volunteer, attended 19 parades, written 4 in depth runway reviews, posted blogs every day and averaged 6 hours of sleep a night. Cheese and Vegemite sandwiches have been my staple diet for a week, berocca my beverage of choice, coffee my drug of preference.
Super sports Saturday at the lunch series was scheduled to run in the middle of the massive weather event Melbourne has been waiting for since it was first predicted earlier this week. Heavy rains, wild winds and damaging hail – possibly the most rain we had seen since 1994 – certainly put a bit of a kick in our step as we went about setting up for the noon show. The drizzle held off while we carted gift bags and by the time the show started, the wind and rain seemed to have died off.
AFL label Final 18 and Under Armour provided the clothing for the parade, an eclectic mix of sportswear, AFL team merchandise and athletic gear. Colours provided a great talking point on a drab and grey day while dancers ripped up the runway with some creative and clever moves. Essendon footballer Andrew someone or other (no idea who he was, I’m a Hawthorn girl!) was also in the parade, much to the delight of the audience.
Final 18 is a collection of ‘vintage’ AFL merchandise using the original logos (circa 1970s) of the 18 football clubs. The front of house volunteers were asked to wear the gear while working to promote it and I was lucky enough to score a hoodie with the hawks logo – small compensation for a week of hard work!
While the massive weather event never arrived today, the rain did set in last night after the 8.30pm parade when we attempted to make our way to The Galley for the official after party. A run in the rain, a quick trip on a tram and a dash across the road and we managed to make it in one piece despite the best efforts of taxi’s driving past. The Galley, upstairs from the Waterside Hotel on Flinders Street, was a nice spot, however it did take nearly an hour to bring cocktails we had ordered. Once they arrived, they were delicious! Another surprise was running into a group of people from work – or my previous work, the one I finished up at last week!
Last night I also attended the David Jones Primped Look Book event, but I’ll blog more about this next week. Similarly, I called into the Stylist Says workshop today, hosted by Philip Boon and you should all look forward to a guest post reviewing the session by What Would Karl Do blogger, Jess.
The RMIT show tonight was brilliant and a fantastic finale to a wonderful week of parades. I elected to opt out of the final after party, preferring instead to get an early night before heading to the last shift tomorrow, featuring Generation Next and Ruby Rose’s label, Milk and Honey.
Image One: Ruby Rose and Lucy McIntosh at the RMIT Student Parade.
Image Two and Three: Final 18 by AFL.
Image Four and Five: Urban Armour.
Image Six and Seven: More boys with no clothes on. Just cause.
