On May 27-30, thousands of fans of Japanese culture gathered in San Jose, California for Fanime Con. The convention featured content around anime, gaming, dancing, and of course, fashion! I was lucky enough to be a model in the Elegant Fashion Show for the Black Ribbon. It was a wonderful experience that taught me a lot. Things like…
Samples that models wear may be run way ready…but they’re not always street ready!
With dozens of looks and coordinating accessories, the designers have their hands full in the weeks ahead of time. Even a few minutes before the show, designers were putting finishing touches on their looks like buttons and bows. Though the garments were wearable, they might not be ready for purchase immediately after the show.
Back stage is more chaotic than you think!
The dressing room was around the corner from the room where the fashion show took place. The j-fashion department had to get creative to make sure models could get from the dressing room to the stage. We ended up going through a break room, a food prep room, and a storage room for plates and buffet dishes!
There’s a lot of downtime waiting for the show to start.
My call time was 10 am. The fashion show started at 2 pm. It meant we had a lot of time backstage before the show started. Luckily, models brought plenty of things to do including music, polaroid cameras, and card games. Our epic game of Barbie had to end because the fashion show was starting in 15 minutes.
Even with practice, models still get nervous.
The models got to hang out in the room where the fashion show took place, so we had plenty of time to practice posing and walking. Even so, as we waited for our turn to walk, there were lots of nervous jitters.
You might not see the professional pictures from the show for a while, so make sure you have a sure way to get photos or videos of your look.
Though lots of people take pictures and videos of the fashion show, there’s no guarantee that you’ll ever see those photos. The Fanime J-fashion team ensured that we had a professional photographer on hand to capture all the looks. But the models also took pictures of each other to make sure everyone had a memory of the day.
