Drowsy with wanderlust, feeling every bit like an adult on her first trip sans parents, I was eighteen years old when I met London, my first love. London : it was indeed cold and gloomy – but I had no issues warming up to it. I packed my ambitions and fall wardrobe into a heavy bulky suitcase, enrolled in a short course in Central Saint Martins and finally got to see the world outside my little bubble I call home. I remember arriving during Fashion Week then and how we wanted to firsthand experience the buzz and excitement of it all. It was after all, as splashed across pages of glossy magazines and computer screens, a prestigious event graced by some of the biggest and iconic names in the industry. I knew I wanted to be a part of it.

I zipped in and out of shops on Oxford Circus, picking out potential outfits for Fashion Week; who cared that I didn’t have an invite? My friends and I decided that it would be thrilling to loiter around the main show venue to soak up the atmosphere just to score ourselves bragging rights. All that effort just to be able to say : “I’ve been to London Fashion Week!!!” Before you roll your eyes, let me remind you, I was only eighteen.

Fast forward to four Septembers later, I found myself once again in not-so-little ol’ London, the same set of humble (but perhaps, slightly more intrepid) ambitions and an updated, classier fall wardrobe. And this time, I was actually attending London Fashion Week with invites in my name. I’ve come a long way from a head-in-the-clouds eighteen year old to a both-feet-on-the-ground kinda twenty-three year old. And while I refuse to acknowledge the fact that i’ve made it, because I really haven’t, these are some of the fondest memories and takeaways from fashion week. I’ve yet to experience other great cities during the bi-annual celebration of all things style, fashion and art — But you gotta start somewhere.  

After receiving my first invitation in the mail (it really felt like christmas that day) I spent days fussing about my outfit but ended up managing to pull a look together by digging through my wardrobe and went for my first show: Topshop Unique’s Spring/Summer 17. The show was held at Old Spitalfields Market, one of the less-extravagant venues when you compare it to the grandeur of Gucci’s and Dior’s meticulously designed runways.

Anya Hindmarch’s Fall RTW ‘17 was on the list too. The entire runway was transformed into an urban mountain crafted out of vectors of plywood in hues of pastel pink, with a contrasting triangular orange portal — the sun — where the models descended from. The stacked audience surrounded the entire setup with each person’s view of the show slightly different from the other. But then again, Anya Hindmarch’s shows are always theatrical. Gotta admire a show with a beautiful setting.

Female Singapore, who I’ve been covering LFW for, extended an invitation to me for RED Valentino’s Sloane Street store opening that year. The space, designed by the Architect and designer India Mahdavi, was exquisitely designed with otherwise jarring hues of pink and yellow, but done so rather eloquently. I was reeling from excitement, wondering if I’d rub shoulders with anyone exceptionally famous or important.

And… I did.

I stood next to someone dressed in beautiful flowy number, RED Valentino of course, for a good portion of the night. I remember stealing glances at her outfit, wondering if I should pluck up the courage to strike up a friendly conversation.I left shortly after, mostly because the room was slowly filling up with absolutely NO ONE I knew and as I made my way back home, I realised  that said beautiful-dress-donning lady was Birdy. Yes, singer come-on-skinny-love Birdy. In fact, she was the star of the night at the store, as the face of the brand, and it completely flew over my head. Lesson Learnt: read the invitation properly next time.

But besides that, watching shows also meant that the front row, or FROW as they say, is bound to be occupied by VIPs and celebrities. Perhaps not as star studded as I had imagined it to be but catching a glimpse (or actually just the back of her head) of FKA Twigs at the Versus Versace and Kate Moss at Topshop at their SS18 show isn’t all that bad. I even managed to get an amazing shot of Gigi Hadid as she graced the runway last season for Versus Versace.

It’s especially exciting when the people you’ve followed and look up to attend shows as well. They’re like mini celebrities in their own way, I guess. That was Eva Chen (@EvaChen212) for me and when I saw that she was coming for last week’s shows — I FLIPPED.

If you don’t know who she is I suggest stopping whatever instagram scrolling you were doing – I don’t care if it was cute animals doing thing – check her instagram page out right now. No, watch her Instagram stories. She’s the head of fashion partnerships at Instagram and I absolutely adore her two kids, who are basically the stars of her stories. To top it all off, she’s such an intelligent and funny person. Anyway, I was such a huge fangirl and prayed so hard to the fashion gods that we would cross paths but luck just wasn’t on my side…

…until one fateful night at the Tommy Now show. I was outside waiting (read: freezing) in line outside the Camden venue, mid conversation, when I saw a flurry of black sequins and a wide black headband walk right pass by me. I knew she’d be at the Tommy Show, but then again I thought she’d be at both Versus and Topshop. I froze for a second and turned to my friend, who was a big fan of her as well, and after minutes of hesitation we both jumped out of the queue to ask for a selfie. I know, I know, it’s quite a taboo thing to do to ask celebrities and personalities for selfies (is it, though? Someone told me it was) but I knew we’d never cross paths again. Totally worth it.

Street Style

Another thing that I absolutely LOVE about LFW is the abundance of stylish people running about. You always get the best outfit #inspo during fashion week and also — the worst, thanks to Peacockers who wander around show venues in the most ridiculous getup in hopes of getting snapped by a street style photographer. But that’s another rant for another time.

I’ve always been a comfort over fashion kind of girl — You’d never catch me in a pair of heels higher than my pinky. But that doesn’t mean I don’t long for the magical ability to be able to walk a mile in ‘em. Unless you’re jetting from location to location in a private car (reserved for the Vogue team) — I’d suggest you put aside those sky high pumps and kick on pair of boots with a chunky heels or even do what I’ve learnt to do: Sneakers. Unless you’re absolutely sure you’ll be able to walk gracefully from show to show on London’s uneven pavements. If you can and you have, I salute you. I really do, because I’ve learnt the hard way that knee high heeled boots and me do not go very well. It scored me great photos… but my feet did not thank me later.

Hope you enjoyed taking a peek into some of my favourite #LFW memories and let’s see where the next few seasons take me — Will she ditch the sneaks? Will she ever meet any designers? Will she ever sit FRONT ROW next to Eva Chen? Here’s hoping.