From Payne Road to Paris

July 3, 2018

It’s no secret that I love fashion. So when asked along to the fashion parade at my local school I agreed straight away.This is the lovely, little primary school that my boys attended and where I occasionally teach. It was a wonderful day filled with designer fashion, bubbles, lovely friends and best of all it was raising funds for the school library. Books are another of my passions! I like to think that perhaps karma and a little bit of Mrs Beesley magic played a part in what happened next.

The school fashion parade was on a Sunday afternoon and little did I know that on Monday I was in for another fashion surprise. You see it was only on Monday that I told my friends here at She Society that I was heading off on holidays to visit London and Paris. Imagine my surprise when the next email I received was from Paris asking me to save the date as I’d been invited to….. wait for it…. Paris Fashion Week.

I immediately emailed SheSociety to see if they were pulling my leg. No,they had verified the emails. I was not dreaming. It was real. I checked the date. It wasn’t April Fool’s Day! I rechecked the dates for the fashion shows. I wasn’t in Paris on those dates but I was in London, just a quick Eurostar ride away. I still could not believe that this could actually be happening. I pinched myself! Could my dream of one day going to Paris Fashion Week be a real possibility?

I showed my husband the email and he agreed it was an opportunity too good to pass up. I felt like I could hardly breathe for the first two days after receiving the invitation. I still didn’t think I would be able to go so I didn’t tell anyone but the family and one very close friend at first.

We checked our itinerary. I had one day free, the 3rd July, which was perfect, as that was the day most of the fashion shows were on. Could my wildest dream be coming true?

My youngest son came home from work and said, “ All the girls in the office were impressed about you going to Paris Fashion Week.”

Oops, the cat was well and truly out of the bag. Still I worried! I began to tell a few more people who looked like they didn’t really believe me. Even my husband gave me that indulgent smile as if to say, “ I’ll humour her. This will never happen.”

People seemed truly shocked and very sceptical. I guess it’s not every day that a writer from Brisbane, Australia receives an invitation like this. Everyone’s first question was, “ What are you going to wear?” That scared me. What on earth would I wear?

The emails from a lovely man called Romain from Mephistopheles kept coming but still I wasn’t sure.

I boarded my flight to London with SheSociety reassuring me that all had been confirmed. Romain sent me an e-ticket and reassured me that my name would also be at the door, but it wasn’t until the paper invitations arrived at a friend’s address in Paris that I knew my dream had come true. My friend had opened the envelope addressed to me and out had tumbled a pile of invitations from some of the best couture designers in the world- Patrick Pham, Rani Zakheim and Maria Aristidou were just a few of the amazing designers who had invited me to their shows. Maria’s show is called Serendipity which seems to sum up everything that has happened to me.

So here I am in my apartment in Soho, London. We’ve bought tickets for the 5:40a.m Eurostar on Tuesday so that I can be in Paris in time for the first show. If I look a little tired in the photos you’ll know why! I have a few outfits in mind to wear and all are by Aussie designers, although I’ll take one of my beloved Dior bags for luck. It seems like my dream is coming true. I can’t wait to share my experiences, impressions of a couture show and some beautiful Paris fashion with you all next week. Never, ever give up on your dreams. Sometimes they come true!

1 Comment on From Payne Road to Paris

  1. I cried reading your article Michelle. It really is so serreal. I am so thrilled that your passion for writing and fashion and Paris all converged. Thank you for sharing the night before with David and I. I look forward to reading more articles in the future about the fashion shows, the book launches and the other wonderful people, places and experiences you have to share. Xxx

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