A super hectic day and a spectacular show in Paris

I was on 7th heaven on the November 15, 2011 and we were invited by Chanel to cover their Pre fall show called Paris Bombay. The show was on December 6, 2011 in Paris.

On the December 5, 2011 our crew left on the night flight of Air France!!! We flew business. Watched lots of movies. Ate healthy food unlike the cattle class. I have to say that I think the food served in the business class is way healthier than that served in economy. My gut is that the rich maybe appreciate healthier food way more? Just a thought.

The advertisements in all fashion magazines have convinced me that there is a look when you fly business. An LV bag. An expensive one but understatedly branded hand bag, your hair looks right out of a salon and clothes that spell semi-formal chic. Fab Fab Fab!

My only stress about the LV luggage always is that even though I love the canvas and I think it's super durable, I often wonder that because the brand is so easily recognizable does it increase the chance of someone stealing your stuff? One of the Fashion journalists whom I adore was dressed exactly like the above. Well, not me. I was not carrying any hand luggage and usually I don't as I think it's very painful to lug around something especially if your flight is delayed.

So, we finally reached Paris on Monday, December 5, 2011 at 6.30 am. It was thankfully not so cold but the roads were choc-o-block. So, here is a word of advice - do not fly into Paris on a Monday morning. You will be stuck in your car for at least 2.5 hours. Well, it's because Europeans love their weekends in their country homes and they all decide to drive back together on Monday morning.

So here is bit about the pre fall show: since 2002, CHANEL has been having fab pre-falls shows with delicious names such as CHANEL MOSCOU or CHANEL SHANGHAI or CHANEL BYZANCE. And these shows highlight the workmanship of some of the most famous French ateliers, some of which are even owned by CHANEL.

This time round it was the turn of Mumbai and the show was christened PARIS BOMBAY. I was super excited when we were covering the fittings. The room had sooooo much energy. There were lots of models with mang tikkas with a distinct CHANEL stamp walking up and down the room with clothes inspired by the dhoti drape, hair inspired by a sadhu! My favourite part were the bags that are so revered by anyone remotely interested in fashion and are so holy and pious in the world of global fashion; they were scattered on the floor and were splendid. They were versions of the CHANEL BOY BAGS.

The aspect that created a magical energy in the room was the presence of Karl Lagerfeld and Amanda Harlech in the room.

Karl with his shades on looked so mysterious but everything about him was perfect. From his tie, to his rings, to his wrist bands.

Amanda Harlech is someone I have been reading about off late and I was so fascinated by her. She is essentially Karl Lagerfeld’s muse. It's rather generous of him to give her so much global importance and publicity. For instance as I was on the flight to Paris, I was reading the weekend edition of the Financial Times and there was an article on her in the WEEKEND LUNCH in the section that’s on the third page of the magazine section.

In the room, she was a ball of energy with a mang tikka that was so delicate and attached to her ear. She is 51 and was walking around the room in 5 inch heels fixing the girls with the right look. That energy was magical. I witnessed so much creative energy that I was high without consuming anything!

LESSON

But the lesson I learnt from seeing Amanda Harlech, Larl Lagerfeld and several assistants in the room was that if you are work in fashion or love the subject, you are expected to look stunning and stand apart from the crowd.

Post that I spent the day shooting at the MASSARO atelier, where they make handmade shoes for Chanel, Dior and some other designer brands. The rest of the day was spent shooting some city shots. Now in television you need to shoot hours of footage, in which each shot is artistically shot for it to be converted into a half hour show. Here is another secret, which I am sure most must have figured out by now: all half hour shows are actually 18-22 minutes long, depending on the advertisement. But to edit each minute you need 20 stunning shots and it takes about 50-60 minutes to shoot those 20 shots.

So we landed at 6.30 am…reached our hotel at 9.30 am, started shooting at 10.30 am and I got done at 7.30 pm. I was delighted when I sat down with the other Indian journalists to eat.

LESSON

Decide your career carefully. There are a lot of perks that a print journalist gets vs an electronic media journalist. In TV you need a shot of everything to substantiate your voice over that conveys the story. In print, it's all about the magic of words that can be woven…anywhere…anytime and not necessarily in PARIS.

The day went by covering different aspects of the show: the venue, interviews with stars like Sonam Kapoor and Frieda Pinto, covering the make-up section where I happened to meet the creative head for CHANEL make up who told me that their nail paint that was created for the show was called DIWALI.

It was super hectic! But the show was spectacular! It was a once in a life time opportunity! The venue was converted into the dining room of the Maharaja of Holkar. There were candles, mithai, almonds, and lots of other Indian goodies on the table. The clothes were delectable. It was amazing!