Hey and thanks for talking to us here at Her Campus! We’re very excited for this year’s LRFS as we’re sure you are too. Firstly can you introduce yourself?
Helena de Carteret – 3rd year English student – Capricorn with a mild cream egg addiction, Zara footwear enthusiast who enjoys an occasional gin and is rarely on time for anything – Spring chicken (Lauren is a year older than me) of the LRFS 2017 model management duo
Is this your first year of being involved with LRFS?
Yeah my first year doing anything LRFS related – I had a friend from home on the styling team last year and she said she loved it so I couldn’t not give it a go, particularly in my final year (really needed to perk up my CV!!)
How did you find the selection process for models this year? Were there any particular qualities you were looking for when selecting this year’s models? Was there a big turn out?
Selection was for me really tricky and one of the hardest parts of the show process so far. We held castings back in November, which we had to start planning just days after we’d been given our place on the show committee – we wanted to get as many people to get involved as possible because we were really keen to champion diversity among the models on as many levels as we could. After 3 days of open castings, which involved having to walk in the style of a certain adjective, we sat down with the head stylist Tiff, who just happens to be Lauren’s housemate, and over a bottle of red wine (used to lubricate so many LRFS meetings) narrowed down the 150 people who came to castings to just 75. Making sure we had a variety of different looks, ages, genders and races was important to us and we feel we have achieved that.
The show is called Samsara and is all about eco friendly fashion – how did you go about choosing this and why?
Samsara was decided upon by the whole committee. We all knew that the show was based on sustainable, ethnically sourced clothing with inspiration for many of the looks coming from nature and the earth but with really personal touches added here and there. Samsara means cycle of the earth and we wanted the show to highlight that nature can inspire some beautiful fashion pieces.
How have rehearsals been going? And how often are they?
Rehearsals are going really well – we’re coming to the end of them now as the show draws closer but everyone has been amazing – enthusiastic and willing to learn, totally driven to try and nail mine and Lauren’s complex choreography visions. The way in which the models walk and the formations in which they do it are different for all 6 scenes so trying to make sure that each scene is as slick as the one before and after it is essential. We’ve been rehearsing every Tuesday and Thursday since the beginning of semester 2 and have also added extras during show week, as so to achieve maximum slickness!
What can we expect from the show? Any inside scoops you can provide us with?
From the show, you can expect to leave thinking about fashion and sustainability and the way they link together completely differently. We want to show that anyone can wear something as long as it looks amazing on them and make sure that people no longer assume that ‘sustainable fashion’ is all hessian sack and organic linen trousers. I have very little to add with regards to inside scoops but I can say that the finale will be a guaranteed eye opener.
Finally, when and where can we see it?
You can see it on 23rd Feb – next Thursday from a VIP, Premium or Standard seat from 8.30pm and in order to celebrate the fabulous success of the show Backroom will be hosting our official after party.
Thank you! HCXO