Backstage at Bucharest Fashion Week Spring 2015

We recently published an Attire Club article on fashion in the Balkans, focusing on Bucharest Fashion Week as a great example of what a fashion week event is like outside the bracket created by Milan- , Paris- New York- and London events. Such an event is a perfect opportunity to discover new brands and new designers and to see how a smaller, yet still important fashion city interprets and understands fashion.

Even though the main focus when it comes to the fashion world is placed on the fashion capitals of the world, getting the insights of events such as BFW is highly relevant for a good reason.

Seeing what a more low-key event looks and feels like is a perfect opportunity to see where fashion really is at the moment in the global context and to have a better grasp of what style means in different parts of the world.

The backstage of such an event is also a great way to discover what the microcosms of a fashion week event looks like: we’ve all seen pictures and videos from the backstage of many events, but how many of us truly have a good grasp of what happens as a fashion show is ready to start?

What someone who wants to be a true fashion insider should know is that the preparations for such an event start off way before the show starts. In fact, the models, the stylists and other people who make the event happen arrive at the venue several hours before the show. And then, it all begins: sorting the clothes, adjusting the clothes, pressing them, rehearsing the music, rehearsing the walks, rehearsing the camera angles and shots, creating the lighting scheme, arranging the music and much more. Given that there are so many models that walk during such an event and that the shows follow one right after the other, the stylists consult with the designers and start to do their hair and makeup a couple of hours before the show. Of course, with the men it goes a little faster than with the women, but nevertheless everything does take up a lot of time. An hour or so before the show begins, people are starting to be all nervous as final touches are being made, photographers are all over the place, going back and forth between the backstage area and the red carpet area where local celebrities arrive. And soon enough, the shows start.

The work that took so much time to complete must be all re-done during the shows again, as many of the models take part in several shows and, as we said, in Bucharest there are about eight shows a night.

In an environment as cosmopolite as Bucharest Fashion Week, where many models, designers and agents are from another country than the host-country, communicating well is key. English is the main foreign language, followed by Russian and Italian.

The backstage of any fashion event is a fascinating place. Being part of a team of professionals who put together or cover a show requires a lot of communication and understanding not only on a linguistic level, but also on a human level. In the end, fashion can be seen as a collaborative process. To make a fashion show happen, every link is necessary: such an event cannot exist or live without everyone who is involved.

Fashion designers need to have an avenue to display their designs, the organizers need to work with them and with the press to make their event happen again. The press is a necessary part when it comes to the promotion and popularization of such an event as well.

It is our recommendation for any person who really wishes to become a fashion insider to enter the graces of a brand, model or any other entity that is already in the fashion world and to manage to discover the interesting world of a backstage area. The BFW backstage is just a good example of how the fashion world operates.

To conclude, we can say that the backstage of any fashion show is the perfect reflection in a small scale of what the fashion world is on a global level: a web of people, all trying to make the world a little more beautiful, a little more modern, to push the limits of culture, to express themselves and to make a living from doing so.