On tour with the fashionistas

By Arabella Greenhill  on Wednesday 28 January 2009

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Marie Claire's senior fashion editor, Arabella Greenhill, gives her low-down on the shows in Italy's fashion capital, Milan.

PACKING UNDER PRESSURE
My job is to filter the extreme looks of the catwalk and decide which trends our readers will like. I then call in these looks for our fashion shoots. It’s stressful packing for these trips because you have to look chic from 8am till midnight. My suitcase is bulging with my highest heels and most glamorous outfits. My first show is Just Cavalli and the floor is covered in sand. Everyone panics about their shoes which is pretty funny.

SEE ALL THE SHOWS, READ THE REPORTS, SEE THE FRONT ROW PICS & PARTY PICS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COLLECTIONS HERE

CELEBRITY SPOTTING
Cate Blanchett is at the Giorgio Armani show looking gorgeous. The show is late so we gossip to fellow magazine editors about who might be changing jobs, magazines that are launching and what everyone else is wearing. In between the shows we have appointments; we do hundreds of these during the week. We meet the PRs and look at each collection again in more detail. It’s important to see everything up close and feel the fabric. I start compiling my personal wish list for next season (it can get very long and expensive).

SEE ALL THE CELEBS FRONT ROW HERE

MY FAVOURITE MOMENT
I love the Jil Sander show; the clothes are beautiful and inspiring and they have used old 1940s film lighting so everything looks fantastic. After Paris, the shows will start to blur into one because there are so many to absorb.

SEE JILL SANDER'S S/S 09 SHOW HERE

THE MARIE CLAIRE PARTY
Some models fall victim to the impossibly high heels at the Prada show but it’s the beautiful pearl drop earrings that catch my eye, as well as those of the models who apparently all ran off with them afterwards. The Marie Claire party is at the Bulgari Hotel and is a huge success, with lots of PRs and advertising people. I wear my D&G black sequinned dress.

SEE MARIE CLAIRE'S LONDON FASHION WEEK PARTY HERE

THE LOW DOWN ON NICOLE KIDMAN
At the Ferragamo appointment I see all the outfits made for Nicole Kidman in the film Australia, which had to accommodate her baby bump. I squeeze all the look books and information about next season into my suitcase and head for the airport. I have to squeeze in a winter shoot in Biarritz before Paris shows begin next week.

SEE OUR FAVOURITE NICOLE KIDMAN PICS HERE

This is an edited version of the full feature which appears in the March 2009 issue of Marie Claire.

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