Jono's Blog
A Balenciaga Bag Brimming With Meringues
I’M BACK!!! And I must tell you all about it...
I was highly privileged to have a direct booking for the Balenciaga Fashion Show for Paris Women's Fashion Week.
The week mainly consisted of myself and six other models: that's Ash, Cole, Jethro, Hakan,Tim and Leo going through a multiple process of fittings – six in total. But any suit under the name of Christobel Balenciaga has to be utter perfection, especially under the watchful eye of Christopher Booth: the label’s new and highly talented menswear designer-in-chief.And at one point (being in the designer’s atelier at one in the morning) I even bumped into Mischa Barton of all people (although I was too tired to realise it at the time!).
All these fittings really built up the atmosphere and tension surrounding the show, after all this was one of the most eagerly awaited shows of the week and every fashionista in the industry was desperate to get their hands on a ticket. In recent years even Kanye West has been turned away, (mind, that could have been down to some Balenciaga in-house politics and his mauling of their classic anthem 'Harder/Better/Faster/Stronger' by Daft Punk).
The morning of the show turned out to be a VERY early morning (I was up at 4am!!). We were then rushed over to the show's venue to be manicured, pedicured, preened and poodled, and – before you knew it – thrust out onto a constantly changing Joseph-and-the-technicoloured dream-esque catwalk whilst pounding along to the sounds of the melancholic Bjiork and the electronic zeitgeist that is Metronomy's monotonous yet catchy single 'Holiday'.
Show over, no champagne and bike ride trips down Rue Rivoli for us boys, no,no,no we retired to bed!
But our hard work and lack of sleep paid off – we were all allowed to choose some clobber as a gracious gesture. A Balenciaga handbag made for a brilliant extra birthday present and a very happy girlfriend – especially as I filled it with meringues, one of her (many!) favourites confectionaries.
However, no show would be complete without an after party – and this one was held at one of my favorite clubs in Paris: the trendier-than-thou Le Baron, where me and my previously mentioned fellow models partied well into the wee hours.
Get back here next week when I've got some exciting gossip to spill to you all and don't forget to leave me a comment!
