Saturday 23 August 2014

MBFW : Champagne & Stilettos, a life lesson

Mercedes Benz Cape Town Fashion Week - literally the one week of the whole year I was looking forward to the most. As the weeks went by and the day got closer I couldn't get any more excited. What made me even more excited was the fact that I had secured myself an internship with a fabulous designer and I was going to be in with the glitterati. I was going to chill with the beautiful, dirty and rich.
The day finally came, my mom came to school around 10h30 and we hit the road. En route Cape Town Fashion Week. I got there, met up with my designer, met the production team and got to work. Armed with my day pass and lots of enthusiasm, I entered a world of midday Martinis and Vogue slims. I took on the day's tasks like a boss. Up and down the Mother city, rehearsals, sorting seating charts and making goodie bags. It was all a fat jam. I enjoyed every single moment of it. 

There's this thing about not being treated like the youngster you really are you know. That feeling when someone 10 years your senior asks you if you'd like a 'fag' and you're all like 'Maybe later' when you actually just don't smoke. I felt like a younger Carrie Bradshaw. Skipping school 'cause I had to go to Fashion Week. This was my opportunity to see just how great things could be for me as a designer one day. 

Fast forward to the end of the night and I sat there like 'What a day/night', as if last year’s internship at Seventeen wasn’t enough to show me just how much goes into the fashion world. The people I met and the contacts I made, life couldn't be better. There’s nothing I would change about 25 July 2014. People sometimes think internships are a waste of time, but dude. The feeling of being around people that feel as passionate about something as you do is just amazing.

The designers I met and spoke to, were the most phenomenal people. 

Everyone always thinks that the fashion industry and fashion shows are frivolous, that it’s all stiletto’s and champagne.. Nah bra. Yeah, people in the fashion industry do bitch and stitch but, a lot goes into creating a fashion show. A lot goes into becoming a brand, an essential in someone's closet, an icon. The one thing I appreciated most was the fact that people appreciated my knowledge of fashion, as young as I was. I walked out of that fashion show inspired, motivated and excited for what lies ahead for me. As much as I do not plan on studying fashion, I do look forward to having a label one day.

The thing about starting to work/intern so young is that it gives me an idea of just how great things can be for me. A lot of the time, I find myself in conversations with girls my age (17) with aspirations of meeting their future husbands at varsity (hopefully some engineer), marrying rich and never hope to work a day in their lives. Look, there's nothing wrong with wanting to fall in love in varsity, but the idea of being financially dependent on a guy who might just up and go one day? That's not so appealing. A lot of girls feel like they only need to start working once they move out of their parents’ homes, which I don't agree with. 

I got my first paying job last year and it was the most liberating feeling I've ever felt. These days you don't even need a résumé to start making money, do it for yourself, while you can still chop and change jobs. Do it now before you get stuck on a 9-5 that you can't leave because you spent like 5 years studying it. 

I feel that it is never too early to start working on your career or future. Invest every bit of yourself into it now. Besides, your career will never just wake up one morning and tell you it doesn’t love you anymore. That rich guy just might.