There are innumerable components that work together to create the perfect catwalk show: the designer, models, stylists, hair and make-up, lighting and music technicians, show choreographers and dressers. Yet working feverishly out of the limelight are the seamstresses — hemming, stitching, refitting and embroidering to ensure the clothes are flawless for their brief stride down the runway. And while the flamboyant faces of fashion houses may change with the seasons, these stalwart figures remain the same, many working for decades within the same company. From the historic lineage of Chanel’s Metiers D’Art to the team at Alexander McQueen that, with Sarah Burton at the helm, remained unchanged after his death – those who wield needles and thread are the backbone of a design house.
And similarly the tools of the trade have changed little over the course of centuries — reels of cotton for stitching everything from the sturdiest velvet to delicate organza, fearsome hole punches for making leather perforations, steam to smoothe out the creases and battered sewing machines. All this is crammed backstage behind the glittering façade, yet play perhaps the most integral roles in the creation of the vision of perfection that emerges for the audience to gawp at. Here our photographers in Milan and London capture the intricate last minute work performed by seamstresses before the models can be shoved out onto the catwalk.
Text by Tish Wrigley
