#563 Milan, Paris, Berlin, Paris, 12 days to go

Ash Stymest with Cole Mohr backstage at Lanvin last season.

Ok so I've paid for my flights, I've sorted my travel insurance just in case anything happens to me or my beloved laptop (knock on wood), I've booked myself hotels in Milan, Paris and Berlin, and I've organised cabins in trains to transport me from city to city (well, almost - I've done Paris to Milan thus far). I leave Auckland for Christchurch on Wednesday the 17th, attend my blushing bridesister's wedding on Friday, then fly to Milan via Singapore early on the morning of the Saturday, arriving at 6am Sunday morning, three hours before shows start that day (the first one is Bottega Veneta). And now it's time for the real work - securing invites.


Karl Lagerfeld arriving at Dior Homme - he walked in with no trouble. I was barred by security guards. Karl 1, Me 0.

Last time I went to Paris I made the mistake of emailing everybody two months early, thinking they'd all be super organised and working out seating arrangements with plenty of time to spare. I mean come on - this is Paris Fashion Week - Dior Homme, Lanvin, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, surely they'd have everything sorted months in advance? Oh no no no no. Most didn't even email back, and after I'd called and emailed them all a second time two weeks out, some still said call next week. Most of my invites didn't even arrive until the day before shows started. I was a little bit stressed. But they did eventually come, and if they didn't, there wasn't too much of an issue getting in. Anouk Rondel didn't have a single invite to anything and she went to 90% of the shows. The only tough ones were Dior, Comme, Junya Watanabe and Hermes - I tried (quite hard too), and failed miserably.


Former models.com number 1 ranked male model (and possibly the most really, really ridiculously good looking guy I've ever seen in real life) Matthias Lauridsen backstage at Tillman Lauterbach.

I had no idea what I should expect going into Paris, and I'm feeling the same way about Milan. It's an unknowable quantity - the longest and only time I've ever spent there was two hours in the central train station back in 2006. I've emailed all the PRs, (about 50), and so far I've had three responses - from Frankie Morello, DSquared2 and Iceberg. No personal message from Miuccia at this stage, but I'm still holding out.


Sometimes it works out - Gaspard Yurkievich, day one.

And I still haven't even thought about what to pack! I'm so stuck in winter mode - blazers, trench coats, sweaters - that I can't even begin to imagine what I'm going to wear. It's 28 degrees in Milan already!

Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

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