Vetrina and Me

A few weeks ago when Joan emailed me asking if I wanted to volunteer to be a dresser at the Vetrina show along with a few girls from the other class, I was hesitant. I haven’t had the best experiences being a dresser in the past. I'd also never heard of Tracey Pincott or Vetrina before that day. I don’t know if it was because of my need for practicum hours or the fact that had Joan told me how good of an opportunity it was, but I decided to do it.

Come show day I left school and walked over to Vetrina. I was nervous as I don’t love meeting new people and I wanted to make a good impression. Upon meeting Tracey my nerves were gone. She is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, she made sure to answer any questions we had and treated everyone equally. You could tell she really loves her job.

We started off by learning how to properly tape shoes. Once the shoes had been taped we started to finalize runway looks. Tracey first showed us what she already had put together while asking for our input, we also got the opportunity to choose accessories for the looks.

Once we knew which models were going to be wearing what, we separated them on to their on racks. Once we were organized we got to meet the model we’d be working with. Tracey then got us to practice dressing our models in any garment that could become challenging when put on quickly.

Once fittings were over with, the owner of the store, Rachel, came in and thanked us all for coming and helping out. We all had a glass of Prosecco and did a small photoshoot before the start of the show.

When showtime finally came around, it was stressful. Even though it was very fast paced and not every model went out on time, the show went very smoothly. My model, Steph, was great to work with and walked on time for every look. When all the looks had been down the runway, the models, hair and makeup artists, and the styling assistants all walked the runway.

Once we all got back upstairs, we had to quickly change the models in to their own clothes and then clean up. Clean up involved hanging up and merchandising every garment from the show so it could be sold afterwards. We also had to take the tape off all of the shoes and repack them.

Earlier on, Rachel had invited us to stay for the small party after the show. A few of us stayed and had a drink before making our way home. Overall, this was a very good experience and I really enjoyed it. I would love the opportunity to work with Tracey again as she is so welcoming and I really learned valuable skills during my time with her.