CRAFT REVEAL OF THE WEEK part two

project runway

Seeing as I posted such a teaser last thursday it's only right that I come up with the goods and finish off the story today...  Those already hooked into my Instagram feed however, will already have had their fill of my drive by photography and runway rundowns!

Day 1 leave rainy Melbourne, freak out about not being with my family, eat some bad plane food and watch some bad plane movies and arrive in steamy paradise... I won't bore you with the details of my customs freak out or the shameful display of sleep deprived forgetfulness re: the 3 blocks of Vitasoy in my suitcase , packed by request of my expat friends and masquerading as explosives on the x-ray machine... thankfully although the weather quickly turned bad it was warm and the hotel was seriously luxurious... and yes that's not a bad view from the super sized balcony which also housed a super sized 'cleopatra' bath.

Day 2 After my super sized sleep and last minute spa treatment I took a long drive across the island in the pouring rain with a taxi driver intent on disturbing my new 'spa calm' by with the incessant blaring Shaggy. Still I managed to get to Suva in one piece and almost as soon as I arrived I realised the scale of this production was WAY more hard core than I'd initially imagined, and that we were all seriously short on time and long on tasks. I could't have been more excited. I traded my own kitchen table workbench for a dining table version and got busy making a few new things and altering a few already made things. Great fun, great clothes, great company, great deal of madness as we all worked our butts off getting the looks and accessories ready for the next day's photo shoot. Along the way there may also have been a few too many tequilas and quite a bit of Ru Paul's Drag Race runway stomping... and someone (who may or may not be me) took a humungous Naomi Campbell meets Vivian Westwood style tumble in a pair of sky high model shoes that has marked the polished floorboards for eternity. But I digress.

Day 3 Photo shoot, which was of course my chance to play Miss Jay to the Huudaverti ladies Tyra Banks. Lots of make up, hair, fijian supermodels and rapidly fading light at the gorgeously kitsch Suva Bowling Club. That said it all got done and then some.

I even got a chance to get behind the camera and take some behind the scenes and catalogue shots. Loved it all more than I thought possible - especially roping in the locals who were super excited by the overt display of unexpected glamazons.

Day 4 Home-time too soon... I quickly snaffled up a tapa,  drank a kerbside coconut in the car and said good bye to beautiful Fiji, while the Huudaverti team packed up the goodies and headed for FFFWeek in NYC. After a week of scouring the interwebs trying to find images of the show and religiously checking my friends facebook updates finally we got some runway shots!!!

I'd seen the collection live and through the lens, but there is something pretty exciting about seeing someone else's snaps straight from the runway. Everything looked cool, but for mine the best outfits and best styling were straight off the backs off the designers themselves. Go Team Huudaverti!

Huudaverti online shop will be opening soon, in the meantime check out the Huudaverti facebook page if you're interested in snapping up special on-off pieces, samples or indeed some of my own beady stuff.  BECK