# 118 Back to Backstage

As the UK's glossy-mag-world prepares for the advent of London Fashion Week, the same-old-but-never-old process has got me thinking, and reminiscing, and feeling a little wary before things have even started. Last year I attended around 20 shows and was backstage at just a handful, having decided to post myself out front in a bid to peek at the looks favoured by the 'real' women as opposed to the implausibly lovely little girls being made-up backstage. I had fun, until about 2 days in, when I realised that the mood was almost permanently rooted in quiet desperation, and I became acutely aware of the legions of fawning fashionistas attempting to get a glimpse of the LFW passes hanging around their neighbours' necks in order to discover if they were really worth smiling at. I've conversed, somewhat briefly, with Liberty London Girl over email, about the scary two-faced world that fashion can sometimes be, but as a beauty journo, well, I feel I've never been burned. My world is a gorgeous globe of wonderful PRs who bend over backwards to aid us (and let's not forget, the PRs work extremely long hours & are at the beck and call of both clients & journos alike - so, R.E.S.P.E.C.T) and in my 7 (or is it 8 now?) years of playing this game, I've come across so many wonderful people & am still heartily enjoying every moment of it. I can walk into a launch without a friend in the room or assistant by my side, all alone, and have a laugh, a giggle, a good time, without having to pretend that I'm dealing with essential business on my i-phone. It's not always so easy - sometimes the room's divided into the Natmags & IPC girls (they always seem to travel in packs!), but most of the time, there's a space of friendly faces & a relaxed atmosphere. Which is why I'm still doing what I'm doing.

I've written for small mags, online mags, big mags, new mags, rags, dailies, internationals... and at no point in my ever-evolving freelance role did I ever feel as though a door had been slammed in my face. So, long overdue as it may be, I'd just like to say an enormous thank you to all the fantastic PRs with whom I have regular contact in my 'non-anony' guise, and send out a big virtual hug. Squeeze.

Right, so, the real point of this post is to muse about the fact that, last year, while squeezed up beside the fashion peeps I began to hanker after my beauty enclave once more & so, for Autumn/Winter 2010, I am again venturing backstage. I've really missed it - the NEW NEW NEWness of everything, as my eyes pop with cosmetic-candy alerts; the general crazy energy of the artists; the mix-tapes picked by each & every designer, to get their models in perfect pre-walk mood; the smell of unfamiliar products & intense whiff of favourite ones; the skill and genius of so many of the unnamed crews of cosmetic whizz-kids - all of them rocking their own look, making a statement, loving every second of it. But it's not the trends that get me palpitating - it's the people, the pros, wielding skill like a silver Samurai sword.

And on Friday I'll be privy to the handiwork of one of my all-time favourite hair heroes, Luigi Murenu. I. AM. SO. EXCITED.

And of course, poised to post, post-show, to share all that my green eyes take in, celebrate & savour.