Close Encounters of the THIRD Kind
July 08, 2004
So the finalists have been selected ... and they've been working hard every day and night since! Trust us, we know, the girls in the schools and contestants office have been on the phone and glued to the computers in constant contact with all 23.
Perhaps you were wondering what the ITS#THREE bunch is like? Well we've had the pleasure of meeting all of you (one of our favourite parts of this job) in some shape or form, whether it be through emails, phone calls or even encounters during our scouting tour in February. And not only, we actually had someone fly here themselves from 3 countries over to hand-deliver their portfolio, which, later, was chosen by the preselection jury.
Most of them we've never met, and there's one we've never even heard the voice of, because Vladivostock is just too far away to ever be awake to call. We know this, because our first attempt in phoning, we discovered that at 6 in the evening in Italy, it is 2 in the morning in Vladivostock. This was explained to us by a very polite girl who answered the phone and in good English explained that we had not called the University but a private house, but she hoped very much that we find the person we were looking for. Thanks to the professor, we have been in touch exclusively through email. And of course a huge thank-you to all the professors, those who cosely followed their student through this process, phoning after receiving every letter, reconfirming, lending us your expertise... they have an invaluable role in all of this! We are all looking forward to the big days in July when we actually DO meet each other face to face.
We know that being selected has thrown a loop to everyone's spring... what was it like for the finalists to find out they had been chosen by the jury to come to Trieste? Well some jumped up and down like school children, some were in disbelief and shock ...and on the phone some thanked us over and over (but really don't thank US, thank the jury!) And after the reality has begun to set in, how are they doing?
We can communicate that they are doing quite well ...along with the rest of their lives going on at the same time, the ITS#THREE generation has now taken on this commitment and are busy as bees. We are here following their progress for their visa applications, fabric deliveries, working out kinks in computers, as well as facing personal adversities... We'd say it's been quite a start! Some of them are so sweet on the phone they have made us smile from ear to ear! We have even been serenaded on the telephone, no-- if only, but to describe their collection title one of the finalists actually broke into song!
For some of you this has been a great lesson about deadlines... something that certain people handle better than others... because ultimately it is ourselves to which we must answer... of course there are things beyond our control, that is the variable called LIFE! How we deal with it is up to us. We hope that this ITS#THREE preparation has served not only to construct a contest that we are all waiting to see, but also to learn about balancing time, and sorting our priorities. Remember, don't apologise too much, either.
We have to apologise, though, if we've ever mistaken any names, sometimes mixing up letters, or surname with name, or adding letters. Thank you to those of you who always replied promptly, even if just to tell us they'd received our email, with greetings like "happy everydays" and "smile", because it really does change our day.
We have received beautiful personalised letters in fabric hand sewn envelopes, fantastic stationary and little drawings as well? and we have saved all of it. It was at times a struggle to overcome language barriers, talking in Spanish, French, English, Italian, and at times with our hands, even though over the phone that doesn't work too well...
After all the frantic phone calls and pulling the hair out of our heads about photo shoot deadlines and train schedules, it's time to take a quick ... sigh- and rest for a moment... Everyone deserves a hearty bravo. OK, time's up! Back to work! We have less than a month to go and so much to do before we will finally see everyone here in person! But until then we are relishing the phone calls and virtual correspondence ...
