The night had fallen on Friday and my traveling companions and I were filled with newfound optimism since I had gotten into Versace. At this point I really felt like I had nothing to lose because my trip would have been worth its while, just from the things I did that day. So I cast off the fears of what would happen to me if they wouldn't let me in a show, kick me out etc.
Although it rained continuously since the afternoon, I couldn't have been happier to be there. This photo was taken by my friend, Lauren. I loved how everything glistened from the reflections of street lights.
My friends and I decided to try for Armani the next morning. Armani also had two shows, and we appearently arrived too late for the first one. This time we decided to just try and go through the line for the press. I was hoping it would be like last time and I could stick close to the wall and they wouldn't check each person one by one. I spent a lot of time in line with the rest of the photographers/videographers, waiting for the security to allow us to come set up. As I waited, I noticed that a good number of them had passes around their necks, but some of them didn't, so I held hope. I also noticed that we were dressed somewhat similarly (mainly just because I had a jacket with a bunch of pockets), which was a good thing because it always helps to blend in.
As I was waiting in the light rain, I started to hear somewhat of a commotion and saw an entourage of people coming to the entrance. It was Jada Pinkett Smith (wife of Will Smith) and her daughter, who appeared as happy as I was to be there. They passed the rather amusing group of people hitting each other in the face as they prepared for the rain with umbrellas as they left.
When it was finally time for the herd of photographers to advance, I began to get a little nervous; they were checking everyone's pass one by one. There were two photographers that I was intending to pretend to be associated with, they showed their passes and proceeded. I tried to follow close behind and that's when I felt it: a hand on my chest, which kind of took me by surprise because I was looking in the other direction to avoid eye contact. The man who stopped me said "Can I see your pass?" I acted confused, pretending like I lost my pass. I then pointed to the group I was trying to get in with and said "assistant, you know? assistant" in a way that made it seem like there was a larger language barrier than there was. The security guard said "No thats not true. What is your name?" as he looked at his list, and for some odd reason I couldn't think of a good fake name so I gave him my real one. He looked at the list and said "No, sorry," and I followed with, "What? Really?" in a pathetic tone, and he just replied "Yes." I stood next to him, moping, thinking of ways to convince him. As I stood there some sort of miracle took place. There were a bunch of journalists that were accidentally in the photographer line and they started to occupy my security guard friend's attention. I knew it was crazy and I'd be stopped after I took ten steps, but I did it anyway; when the man turned his back I started briskly walking in the direction of the other photographers, expecting to be grabbed by the shoulder or tackled at any minute.
Surprisingly, I wasn't though, and I spotted a man with a photography-style backpack and a tripod sticking out of it so I followed closely behind him. We walked briskly through some rather beautiful modern architecture that I don't really remember because I wasn't paying attention. As we came to another security guard in a suit, I think the photog I was following showed him his pass around his neck. I was right behind him, and I just kind of held up my camera and nodded; he nodded back and I was in, again. Rather unfortunately for me there weren't many press people set up. I was still afraid the man I slipped past at the door might come back and look for me, and it was not good that I did not yet have a sea of photographers to hide in. I sat there for what must have been at least 30 minutes with the hood of my jacket over my head looking down so that no one could spot me. I started to get a bit nervous as the photographer in front of me started chatting up the security guy but I kept my hood on (although it was quite hot) and pretended to do something important with my camera until the lights went down and I could relax and have fun taking pictures.
I absolutely love the way the light casts beautiful silhouettes onto the larger screen in the background. Actually, while shooting I never noticed that the background changes, because it was quite slow and subtle.
It was interesting to see how much larger this venue seemed compared to Versace; they probably didn't have that many more people but the bleacher-like seats made it appear so.
Just the number of pieces was amazing, and made for quite a long show.
And that was Armani.
It's always fun to see the audience of the shows disperse throughout the city after the show.
Couldn't resist taking another photo of Milan's beautiful duomo as the sun came out.
I thought this guy was interesting; he seemed to have a vintage, Steve McQueen-ish vibe.
