Fun & Famous
BEHIND DAVID BECKHAM IN ROW TWO?
6 x how to make the best of it
I once sat next to Kim Feenstra during Amsterdam Fashion Week when a cheerful photographer came bouncing up to me. If I could sit a little to the side. Then I wouldn't be in his shot.
I would have preferred if he had opened a hatch in the ground through which I could disappear than this extremely awkward moment. Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist aka the world's most famous street style photographer) once tapped me on the shoulder in a little café in Milan across from the Dolce & Gabbana show location. I knew what was coming, straightened my back, placed the blue Birkin from Hermès a little more prominently on the bar stool, and breathed softly through my mouth. He tapped my shoulder again. He was interested in the tower of sugar packets next to me. Not in me.
Photographing and being photographed, that's what it's all about during fashion weeks. And there is one thing worse than being asked to step aside for the perfect shot. That is when you accidentally sit next to or behind an A-lister and you are not asked anything at all. That you are sent out with a toothpick between your teeth to ten million followers of a certain person without being asked. I once took a photo of Grace Coddington with a Dutch fashion journalist next to her who didn't exactly look good in the picture. I deleted it anyway. With a heavy heart.
So if you suddenly find yourself next to or behind Beyoncé, or okay Anna Wintour, then it's important to act wisely.
1. Don't be impressed.
That makes the absolute worst photo. That you are sitting there texting your friend group looking incredibly happy. Make it seem like the most normal thing in the world and that you totally belong there.
2. Look down
That always makes the best picture. We don't do it for nothing on our Instagrams. Even if you have bags under your eyes down to your knees from the jet lag and your makeup is something you applied seven hours ago but has since faded due to New York snow and wind, you come off best with the looking down pose.
3. Dive into the WWD
At every fashion show, there are happy girls who want to hand you the fashion magazine Womens Wear Daily. Normally, you would decline because you would just be lugging it around, but photo-ducking-wise, it's a good idea to take it. Then you can suddenly be deeply engrossed in an article and not turn into a photo background.
4. Study your invite
Another way to make yourself invisible...
5. Go on the attack
Make real history by making bunny ears behind the star's head. There's a chance you might be escorted away by bodyguards afterward, but hey, at least you still have the photos.
6. Take a ussie
If you're going to be awkward anyway, you might as well make the best of it. Lean your head forward and ask; Can I? But do wait to text your friends until after the show, understood?
