Attended a fashion event in Roppongi on Saturday night that was a perfect example of a good idea with awkward execution. A fashion show sponsored by a luxury car company at the posh Roppongi den 57. The crowds certianly flocked in as the room was filled with a classic mix of aspiring models waiting to be noticed, older members of the Roppongi set (read: bankers), people watchers and celeb hunters. Unfortunately, the room was a bit too crowded as everyone crammed between a makeshift runway and the bar trying to fill up on overpriced drinks and still keep an eye on the action.
When the lights dimmed and the models trotted out, the action was difficult to see for anyone who couldn’t peer down the floor-level runway, and certainly difficult to photograph unless you were virtually standing in their path and had a really wide-angle lens. There was a runway “platform” each model would climb up to (much to the delight of the grinning 57 employee who got to hold their hands on the way up and down), but the speed in which they took the three meters was pretty amazing; you’d think they were racing.
A few girls did pause and take the time to pose girlishly with the jaguar statue at the end of the runway, though. There were a couple problems here, not the least of which being the metallic cat that reflected strobe straight back into the camera. There was also the tomato-red carpet the models walked along, which really drew attention away from the models in photographs. My favorite distraction, though, was all the hand prints on the wall from whoever loaded the statue up onto the platform:
Very attractive!
It would have been nice had they actually announced the names of the designers whose clothes the models were wearing. Would have also been nice to have a spot to dance, even if the DJs weren’t anything special. Though I guess the room was really too crowded for that.
Fashion photography is certianly not my forte, and I don’t really aspire to become a show photographer, but I wish I had gotten some better photos. Practice makes perfect…
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Good to see you posting again!
This post was funny! I like how you pointed out things that I probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. Sounds like quite a fun experience though. Yay for photography! !!
Maybe I was the only one who noticed, who knows! Either way, it was organized rather unusually, and probably would have done better at a larger venue. Good learning experience! :)