A couple of weeks ago I was in the privileged position to be the holder of a press pass at the Bread & Butter fashion tradeshow here in bcn. See that beautiful view in the picture above? That is the view from the press lounge. I managed to find a brief second between scoffing free sandwiches and cava to take the shot. Tough times!
Now, this wasn’t the first fashion tradeshow I have attended. Previously I have attended some in Paris and London, but not for a number of years, and certainly not with the amount of access that the press pass, company cards and my nearly-thirty-years-old increased confidence gave me. In fact, the last clothing tradeshow I attended was actually through being part of the catering, from which I was able to ditch my BBQ company uniform, and stalk the stalls with my mate pretending to be buyers! What I was attempting, aside from eating as many free sweets from the stands as possible and generally having a nose around, was to get lots of contact info from which to apply for jobs. This, in hindsight, was actually pretty stupid, as I wanted to work in production, and the people there were from sales departments. But anyway.
This time I wasn’t after a job. I have a job now. I was at Bread & Butter to report on up and coming brands and to take photos of the freshest products. I got my work done, then got to have a good look around, even, between you and me, using my company cards to secure a few extra interviews for my own ends (eg, see the previous post). The tradeshows I went to in the past were before I actually properly worked in the clothing industry, and had knowledge of what it was like from the inside. I remember walking around, having ditched the catering uniform, aching to be part of these brands. It is so nice to be able to say that I no longer want to be part of any of them. The role I desire is on the outside, using the industry for inspiration and ammunition in equal measure.
Now, this wasn’t the first fashion tradeshow I have attended. Previously I have attended some in Paris and London, but not for a number of years, and certainly not with the amount of access that the press pass, company cards and my nearly-thirty-years-old increased confidence gave me. In fact, the last clothing tradeshow I attended was actually through being part of the catering, from which I was able to ditch my BBQ company uniform, and stalk the stalls with my mate pretending to be buyers! What I was attempting, aside from eating as many free sweets from the stands as possible and generally having a nose around, was to get lots of contact info from which to apply for jobs. This, in hindsight, was actually pretty stupid, as I wanted to work in production, and the people there were from sales departments. But anyway.
This time I wasn’t after a job. I have a job now. I was at Bread & Butter to report on up and coming brands and to take photos of the freshest products. I got my work done, then got to have a good look around, even, between you and me, using my company cards to secure a few extra interviews for my own ends (eg, see the previous post). The tradeshows I went to in the past were before I actually properly worked in the clothing industry, and had knowledge of what it was like from the inside. I remember walking around, having ditched the catering uniform, aching to be part of these brands. It is so nice to be able to say that I no longer want to be part of any of them. The role I desire is on the outside, using the industry for inspiration and ammunition in equal measure.
1 comment:
Hi, Zoe, I'm Esther, Andrew's friend, from BCN.
He showed me a link and...surprise! It's your blog!!! I'm going to put it on my Google reader, so I can read you everytime you post something.
Congratulations for your new life!! (Say the same to Patrick, ;))
I hope we can meet soon.
Kisses!
PD: I practice my English with your blog, you can improve your Spanish with mine, lol!!
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