Is 365 days a reasonable amount of time to fill in the gap between being a student and being an international competition jury member?
September 21, 2004
If we are talking about the script of Cathy Pill's life, it is almost obvious
Chapter 1: La Cambre student begins to dream
I remember the first time I saw you, it was in February 2003, in Brussels; you came to present the ITS#TWO competition. You all looked so nice and relaxed, not how we normally imagine organisers of a competition. I remember we all wanted to participate because of the great video you showed us, all the fun we saw and the place looked amazing!
So when my teacher called me the 10th of April to tell me I was a finalist, I just screamed my joy out.
Chapter 2: your life can change from dusk to dawn
I arrived the 10 of July to Trieste, it was so beautiful and sunny, I new immediately that it would be four amazing days, but what I didn't know was that I would live such a great experience!
They were four very busy and very exciting days. First the welcome dinner, then the fittings, the JURY, the press conference, and then the final fashion show and of course the prizes!
A new adventure begun after having heard my name after the "Collection of the Year"...
I came in a new dimension, a dimension were suddenly the press is very interested in what you do, questions are asked, like "What are you going to do with all that money?", "Are you going to begin on your own now?".
Chapter 4: how can you stay on top of the wave?
It was a very exciting and frightening experience. I knew it was something that works for a short time and if I wanted to make it last I had to stay feet to ground.
I knew it was a great beginning for a fashion career, but I knew it was just the beginning, and that I had to work a lot to show I could continue to do better and better. So that's what I tried to do. With the prize that I won I made a new collection of 15 outfits that I was to show at ITS#THREE.
I tried to make a more mature collection, that wasn't created to be shown only on a catwalk or for a presentation, what I wanted was that people really wanted to wear it, and it worked.
Chapter 5: 1 year later something changed: you or the world?
ITS#THREE was for me a whole different experience. The EVErs gave me the opportunity to sit along the jury, and to spend four days with great people of the fashion world. Very interesting discussions came up with all very interesting and very different people. I would have never thought that one day I would have had a great discussion about the difficulties of the fashion world with Maria Louisa Poumaillou or about the difficulties of the beginning for a young designer with Raf Simons. It was just such an interesting time.
A special moment was the deliberation of the jury for the prize giving? not easy!! Three hours of discussion; decisions were not taken lightly, because everybody knew, there were very important consequences to it, just look at myself sitting there, on the other side of the barrier.
Finally we found the "winners", but what I've learned of the difficulty of finding ONE winner (well, it's a competition and you have to find someone) is that there are really a lot of winners at ITS but you can't give the first prize to everyone.
Conclusion:
What is extremely important is that even if one does not win a prize, strictly said, still you are a winner, very often people, in the jury or not, have noticed you, because it's not a coincidence if you are a finalist at the ITS competition!
This last year was a very exciting year, that will help me for my future, and that I will never forget!
