My first London Fashion Week - Amy's CQ adventure...

With our brilliant Editorial Director Jess busy cycling across Kenya, team CQ needed some extra help during London Fashion Week this year. So we called upon the fabulous Amy Hill to help us out. Now she's had time to sleep and digest, here's what she thought of her first LFW experience...
When Catwalk Queen invited me to cover London Fashion Week with them, I think anyone within a 10 mile radius heard me squeal with excitement. A chance to work alongside professional writers and photographers, to interview designers backstage, and watch next season's collections come to life in front of me? How could I say no! I wasn't about to let a broken big toe break my spirit, even though it meant I couldn't wear any particularly fashionable footwear...

In favour of extra time in bed, I picked out suitable outfits a few days before, which above anything else, stopped me from having an emotional "oh-my-god-everything-remotely-fashionable-I-own-is-in-the-wash" breakdown. Knowing that days were going to be long and chaotic, I always made time for breakfast; although I was running on so much adrenaline on the first day that it wasn't until I got home in the evening that I realised I hadn't eaten anything at all!
Each day was completely different - sometimes I was up at 6am, others I worked until 1am, furiously typing and attempting to string together coherent sentences before falling asleep at my computer. The week began at Somerset House where I met Editor in Chief, Gemma Cartwright and our videographer, Liam Southall. After quickly obtaining our press passes and exploring the press lounge, I was ready to eat, sleep and breathe fashion.
I quickly discovered your phone becomes your lifeline and your enemy rolled into one! It's your alarm, your touch stone, your backup camera and your Dictaphone, with emails flying backwards and forwards, it would be in my hand before I'd stepped out of bed in the morning.

The shows buzz with electricity and creativity, both on the catwalk and backstage. No matter how aware you are of how much time and effort goes into a show, it's still a shock to see one model sat in a chair with four people backcombing and styling her hair at once, two people applying all new make-up, and someone on their knees taking off and re-applying nail varnish. At the shows I had to learn fast how to juggle my phone, camera and notebook at the same time. Reviewing from the office was equally feverish, hunting for livestreams for any shows we couldn't attend, using Twitter like an informal press release to assess the tone and inspiration behind a collection from blurred photos and 140 characters, and writing up reputable reports before anyone else.
Highlights of the week include swooning over the Burberry show with Gemma, celebrity spotting at PPQ, people watching in general, going backstage at Jean Pierre Braganza with Beauty Editor Steph Powell, and enjoying DAKS with Shopping Editor Kate Williams.
It's been physically and mentally exhausting in the best possible way, and I feel so privileged to have worked alongside some extremely inspirational people over the last few days. After all of the sweat, blood and tears that is London Fashion Week, in the end the reward comes from getting to work with a fantastic team who support and encourage you.