LIFE | London Fashion Week Disaster

My almost hysterical reaction to the email saying I was “cordially invited” to London fashion week completely interrupted my (how appropriate) English class, where I was checking my email at the moment. But then booking a flight or train seemed impossible. After the train accident near Brussels there were no Eurostar train tickets available and prices of last minute plane tickets were also far out of my budget. But being the pushy person that I am and always getting overenthusiastic and carried away about my current obsession I convinced my mother to DRIVE ME TO LONDON AND BACK IN ONE DAY. My mother lives in Brussels, and looking at the map Brussels-London didn’t seem far at all. I was wrong.

My trip began at 5.30 in the morning, leaving from my home in Utrecht, The Netherlands to the nearest train station, to catch the first train to Brussels at 6.08 AM. There was a lot of snow that morning and my little brother (who was also obligated to drive me to the station) could only drive very slowly. I missed the train and had to wait an hour for the next.

I arrived in Brussels at 10.30, instead of 9.30. And I continued to push my mom into racing to the Ferries to cross over to England. My mom had never driven that fast. At 160 km per hour we reached the Calais Ferries too late, and again had to wait an hour for the next. I don’t even remember what time it was at that point but I know that I would kill myself if I didn’t even try to make it on time. So we waited for the next boat to England and rushed to London. Long story short: when I arrived at Great Queens Street the show was just finished.

What I thought I learned: Don’t be so insanely pushy and spontaneous anymore Ivania. But after calling a dear friend when I was standing in front on the venue she made me realize it was still so great to be in London and she even thought it was a pretty fun story. Now, a week later I can finally put myself to even look at pictures from the London fashion week and laugh about my crazy day.

I did get to see a tranny show of The House of Blue eyes, which cheered me up. And there was also a nice exposition going on. Sadly, my stupidity seems to have no ending because I completely forgot to charge my camera the night before and only made a few pictures.




images from Elle

When we got to the center of London, my mum dropped me off somewhere near the venue. She would park the car and call me a few hours later. She drove off and I was left standing there with no clue of where to go and without a map. The map or some directions weren't needed because from blocks away fabulously dressed women in heels with big mens parkas, crazy colorfull jackets, extravagant furry coats and stylish camera crews were all rushing one way.