Fashion Week’s completed. After being at it, and on it, every day I’m severely beached. So to clear my head, and re-evaluate things, I’m going to an island off the coast of Samoa for the next week or so. 5 things that stood out for me this week were; the palava and protocol that comes with the fashion industry, a lengthy fireside chat with our next PM, my packed party at Pony, interviewing the super human DJ Carl Cox, and meeting a bionicly beautiful Brazilian model.

After witnessing 19 fashion shows in 4 days, and with enough goodie bag tit bits to fill Santa’s sleigh, I am now ofay with the dos and don’ts of the fashion industry. Some of the things I found helpful to do were; wear your fanciest garments at all times (even better if you can manage a costume change or 2 throughout the day). Take the time to talk with as many people as possible, you never know where your next leg-up might come from. Act like you are the greatest designer on the face of the earth (why not, everybody else is), it will open a lot of doors, maybe even onto the 100ft launch moored out back. Bring your credit cards, drinks and canapés aren’t always on the house. Bring your camera, you’ll see some sights that you’ll want to remember, a classic get-up or even a celebrity or 2. Go to as many shows as possible, even if you have to sneak in the fire escape, sometimes it’s the one’s you least expect that are the gems. Remember to put your mobile on silent, I forgot during Anna Stretton’s show, it rang at the most inconvenient time and Ice Ice Baby echoed, oh the embarrassment.

For me it wasn’t the garments that were memorable, most of those sights have long since faded (apart from the glowing shimmer of World’s collection), it was the rare designer that went the extra mile, and put on a bit of a show. For instance Lucie Boshier’s cabaret fully choreographed extravaganza, she used promo girls and a very stocky drag queen to show-off her style. Or, the epervessant Michael Patterson, who in 7 minutes put on a show I will always remember. A freaky evil carnival clown on stilts storming the catwalk, then a hunchback gimp midget on a scooter zooms through his legs chuckling. Michael’s 2009 range is uber fresh, yet not far fetched, check it out. It’s these designer’s names that people talk about, remember and order stock from, coz that’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.

One thing that startled me was the re-occurance of what I call the cheese grater (where the fabric is nicked all over, so the material droops in that spot), and flower power (multiple petal-like decorative flaps). I recall 4 designers using the same “cutting-edge” technique, I think there’s been some secret espionage a foot, or they all went to the same show in Milan earlier in the year.

Amongst all the lashings of pre, post and wrap parties, I was asked to be in The National Party’s campaign commercial. They filmed it at the ornate, and quaint, Hopetoun Alpha. It was a surreal occasion, there were children signing, NZ flags, complimentary biscuits, copious clapping cheering smiling and waving. What took the cake was when the leader, John Key, chose me to kill time with before shooting began. Fortunately I had brought my ‘A’ game, we spoke about why Labour chose Nov 8th as the election date, what his campaign will be based around, how he stays alert and sane, the last time we’d met, his plans for Fashion Week and if he reads my guide at all (he’s been getting it for over a year). Just before I began to struggle for conversation content the director piped up, calling for order.

I don’t put on many parties (I prefer to attend other peoples), and whenever I do I say to myself “Right that’s it, never again, it’s not worth it”, this one was no exception. Last Wednesday I put on “Hump” at The Pony Club, the usual stress leading up to the start was intense, but when the lasers, plasmas and mannequins were ignited, and place began to fill, that all fizzled away and I felt like a million dollars. And like usual, I thought “what did I need to worry about, things always work out OK”. Things worked out better than OK, I’d never seen Pony so alive, and with such vibrant happy people. I’d planned to quash things about 2am, it was a school night after all, but due to the sensational mixing of Kyle and Elmo we went till 5.30, giving the club one of the most successful Wednesdays ever.

I was instantly nervous when I got the call from Rhythm & Vines headquarters. I’d never interviewed an idol before. I had just over 24 hours to prepare for the15 minute interview. I searched every associated website and got advice from seasoned journalists; I was going to be as prepared as was humanly possible. 9.35 Friday night rolled around, I’d already been to 2 parties, where the drinks had been complimentary, so I was exceptionally enthusiastic. For the next 16 minutes it was like talking to a long lost friend, who just happened to be a 46 year old superstar DJ with an English accent.

Carl Cox is the headline act for this years Rhythm & Vines 3 day music festival in Gisborne. He’s not just zooming in though, playing, and jetting out, maximising the massive earning potential of NYE, oh no he’s doing a motorcycle road trip at a very leisurely rate.

I learned that dance music’s ambassador will continue to push the musical boundaries till the day he “carks it”, he’ll never grow too big for his boots and always have time for fans.

The chat could not have gone any better, what could have was the recording device that I’d Macgyvered together. In a nut shell it was faulty, now I have no record that the conversation ever took place, apart from a hefty Vodafone bill.

Feeling on top of the world I went back into Huffer clothing’s after party at The Hilton. Probably the only catwalk model that I found remotely attractive during Fashion Week was a Brazilian bombshell, brought in by Clyne Models for a few major contracts, FW being one of these. I’d taken quite a number of photos of her during the shows, and had thought about her often, but now all of a sudden here she was a hop skip and a jump ahead of me. With pep in my step, and new found, Carl created, confidence oozing I approached with caution and a smile. She has to be the most captivating lady I have ever laid eyes on, in the flesh. Then all my Christmas’s came at once, it turns out that she likes to party. We exchanged numbers and have been in communications for the past few days. When I get back from overseas I am so taking her out. I’ll keep you posted on that front.

That’s me really, many more fun times were had over the past 168 hours, some I can’t tell you about, others I could but it’s just more of the stuff that I have written about before.

Remember, that when you see me out and about, please come and say hi. I may have a lovely Brazilian on my arm, here’s hoping