Petal Pushers

I loved watchig Petal Pushers and having an insight in the making of a fashion editorial photoshoot for Vogue. I loved it so much I've watched it three times, and I would watch it again anytime.
I can only imagine the sleepless nights these people have when planning such a photoshoot, especially for one of the biggest editions of the year, the September or March issues.
I would be even more enthusiastic about a bigger film series with these kind of "backstage" and "making of" videos, not just short film, so we can see even better what's going on in the Vogue world. But we, the ordinary people, should be thankful even for that! Haha!
I've always wanted to know how a photoshoot for a famous magazine looks like, how the designing team works to bring all these wonderful ideas together and create art with the help of other talented people just as dedicated as they are, such as stylists, make-up artists etc. I could see that Tabitha Simmons, the contributing editor, not only that loves what she does but lives in what she does. It's not a simple job you go and produce something and your manager/boss gives you the payment if you do it right. There is no "right" or "wrong" and what can be right one time can be wrong the other. There is just fashion. And after all the hard work you, as a contributing editor/designer etc have put into creating the whole story, the whole concept, bringing all those talented people and models and working together, sometimes it is not enough or maybe it just doesn't look good for the editor-in-chief and they dump the work you've done straight in the bin. I would be heartbroken if that would happen to me, but I think that experiences like that makes us want to give more and want more from ourselves.
I would be thankful for every minute spent working in a team like that if I had the chance. That state of mind, that effervescence or creative minds working together, doing what they know best, that thrill, that tension, that nervousness when creating against time. That is life. I would love to consume myself like that and then, when going to sleep, to know that I've contributed to something splendid. To go and rest and charge my batteries and the next day starting again! If only I could do that one day...
Another interesting thing is how they casted the models, making sure that they could work together and that they will both look beautiful one next to another, because it is always more difficult for models to shoot together rather than on their own. And that is right, even when working in a make-up team, is always harder to work with others on the same project than working individually. Or work on the same model and splitting the tasks! That's madness. I've experienced that when competing at uni at the "FaceOff" competition. It was really hard to split the tasks and get along well with my partner, not because I didn't like what she was doing but because I would have done it other way and we had different styles. But eventually we managed to work it out.
Other thing to consider is that a good shooting doesn't happen overnight. Despite the planning before the day of the shoot, there will be always things that will work slower or just won't work and we, as designers, we have to be prepared for an alternative. We have to overthink everything and foresee what if this or that happens to be prepared. Taking longer time than you expect to finish the photoshooting is crucial. That extra time could save a shooting. As Tabitha says: "first day is always tough".
I was so happy to discover how they plan the content of Vogue. I've never imagined it is thaaaat stressful.
If one day I could work and be on set with a team like that I would consider it life goals. Literally. I hope I will get that good to survive so much fashion though!
Oh, yes, not to mention Anna Wintour. In my oppinion she seems to be, as critics say, "Vogue's evil genius". Necessary evil.

" Most of us read Vogue not with the intention of buying the wildly expensive clothes, but because doing so educates our eye and hones our taste, similar to the way eating gourmet food refines the palate. This is a pleasure enabled by Wintour's ruthless aesthetic, her refusal to participate in the democratizing tendency of most of her competitors. To deny her that privilege is to deny her readers the privilege of fantasy in the form of beautifully photographed Paris couture."(Fortini 2005)


References:

• Fortini, A. (2005) Defending vogue’s evil genius. Available at: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/fashion/2005/02/defending_vogues_evil_genius.html (Accessed: 2 February 2016).
• Anna Wintour (2016) in Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Wintour (Accessed: 2 February 2016).
• Lookbooks (no date) Streeters - news - vogue march 2014 - Petal pushers. Available at: http://lookbooks.com/marketplace/streeters/news/vogue-march-2014-petal-pushers (Accessed: 2 February 2016).