Audrey’s remarkable dedication to fashion has engraved her name and face on the minds of many top designers all over the world. According to Donna Karan, ‘everything in this business is irreplaceable…not Audrey…she makes a difference…’ For decades, Audrey has committed herself to making fashion shows as memorable as they should be; training many who have since become icons in the industry and giving her longtime friends an incredible support. ‘ Our key ingredient is love…’ she says with enthusiasm. Making her indelible mark in the industry positioned her in the category of ‘New York’s top six entrepreneurs of 1998’…7One of her favourite things in the world remains a picture of herself sketched by Karl Lagerfield in 1975 and it constantly reminds her of why she so deeply respects his genius. In this fast paced interview with Motunrayo Bello and Kwevi Quale, the vivacious Audrey tells of her climb up the fashion ladder.

Becoming The Ground Crew…

I have lived by one quote through out my business years, ‘There’s only one way to do it…the right way…the Ground Crew way’. For years, there was a void in the fashion industry; many designers with fantastic designs didn’t have the right avenue to showcase their works. I came in to fill that void. The ground crew has been around for 30 years and in the beginning I did not have the opportunity to produce an entire show because the designers I met at the time thought they knew how to produce their shows. But as a former editor of a fashion magazine, I used to travel for shows in Europe and NY and I knew that backstage was total hysteria and I couldn’t imagine why any designer should put up with that. So, I did a little study before I started my own business, just so I could understand how things could be fixed; I came up with the decision that at every show, nothing will be missing (almost impossible, but we got it done) We put order in the business as models and stylists were co-ordinated and organized. Thus, I guarantee the designers that it will pay them to hire the ground crew because not only would we dress the models, we will ensure that the models are on time, in line to go down the runway when they are supposed to, with the right dress, right shoes, just the way the designer wants it and when it’s time to clean up after the show, everything will be in place.

Backstage production…

When we meet with a designer we talk about how many models they’ll be having at their fashion show. Most new designers have no idea what’s needed for backstage, so we put them through our own process. For instance, if you are having a fashion show with fifty models with thirty looks, then each model is going to wear two outfits; plus, we will provide you one supervisor and 7 or 8 ground crew dressers. Some designers want to have a dresser for every model, but if the model is only wearing 2 looks, then it really isn’t necessary. If we have 3, 4 or 5 looks per model or 1 model that’s going to be in 3 to 5 looks, we know how to do make that workright arrangement for them to go out on stage; we figure out what exactly every designer needs and we do about 200 shows a year.

Some designers don’t know that they need a ‘run-off’ show for every fashion event; it’s the order with which you want the clothes to come out. You’d be surprised how some designers get it wrong; they don’t have the racks set right, don’t have the models arranged correctly…we go in there and we turn everything around.

We work with a lot of stylists before the show; some don’t know how long it should take to style a model for a fashion show. For example, a model’s shoes might have like 3 or 4 straps, it could take them forever; timing is very crucial…everything happens in seconds. Some people need to know that a fashion show is different from a fashion shoot, where you have as much time as you need. It takes about 30 seconds to get models out one after the other but that’s it.

Under control…

We make shows easy for every designer that we work with, because they have a lot on their minds. As a designer, you are hoping that you sell these clothes, hoping that the models look great to the buyers enough for the press to give you good reviews, so we are always ready to take this stress off you. You don’t need on your mind the details that we can take care of for you; we make sure that the models and the looks are just the way the designer intends it.

High-profile designers…

I have on my website the new top clients that I am presently working with and those I have worked with these past three years some come and they go but we are currently working with the Black Entertainment Television on the ‘Rip The Runway’, which is totally different from the other shows that we do; I’m the co-ordinating producer in the show. We have been doing this for 4 years and we’ve done 5 shows so far. It’s been an amazing and extremely popular show with over a million viewers.

Ground crew fever…

In the beginning most of my clients were women, the male clients didn’t use us as much as the women did. A woman hired us to do a show for Saks 5th avenue, we did the show and she was simply amazed. After this we did the show for for Donna Karan who liked what we did, then we did Bill Blass… Bill told Oscar de la Renta, Oscar told Caroline Herrera, and that’s how we got our reputation. We do our jobs and do them right whether you are big, small, just starting out. Our supervisors are always half an hour earlier, and we stay longer than we charge you for. We guarantee you nothing will be missing and that everybody you hire will definitely show up. We always hire more people than you expect or pay for, because you know people always come up with different excuses for why they are late or don’t even show up at all.

We love what we do, we have a passion for fashion and most importantly, we just do it with love. We have a prayer before every show…hoping that the show will be the very best show the designer has ever had; we care about our designers and want for them the best. Though we have a lot of competition out there and they are much less expensive than we are, still we keep getting higher and people keep hiring us…we are not millionaires but we are more than millionaires.

Audrey Audrey Audrey…

Every designer has someone they can rely on…as for Donna Karan, she knows I am always there. My presence is always felt, whether she spoke to me or not before any show, she never has to worry. In the 26 years I have been with her, she knows the job was always done just the way she wants it. From London to Milan, I have been with her all the way and she constantly tells everyone how she feels about me and how I get my job done. Now I am not at shows anymore, there are other fantastic ladies I send to work with these designers…so, it’s not just about me anymore. These designers are still rest assured that everything is going to be just great; you see the ground crew and you know you have nothing to worry about. I always tell them when I meet with them, ‘Don’t worry, you have enough on your mind…we’ll take care of everything for you’. We give you more than you anticipate…more than you ever dreamed of…we never do LESS, we do MORE…One guy said we are very spiritual…That’s the difference…our ingredient is LOVE. We keep getting new clients, because someone’s there to say, ‘I worked with Audrey 10 years ago…20 years ago, you should hire the Ground Crew’…so good word does get around.

Memorable moments…

‘Oh, I have many of those…the good, the bad and the ugly…’ Many times models have fallen on the runway, music has stopped, lights have gone out but the show does go on…just keep it moving. At the Isaac Mizrahi show many years ago, the lights went out, but thank God, I was not in charge of the lights…it was another production company that was. The photographers who were there had to turn on the lights to their cameras to work and get great pictures. I also did this show where the music stopped, but still sent the models out without any music…I told those girls, ‘I don’t care what you do…you better hear the music in your head and work that runway like the music is the most fantastic music you ever heard…’ We also have girls whose heels have broken on the runway, shoes come off, and earrings fall off…the show goes on. One time we had this show with Bill Blass, and about 4 models didn’t show up less than an hour before show time, so we had to rearrange the entire show…he couldn’t believe we could pull off that show with four less models, he just couldn’t stop thanking us…the show goes on.

In 1987 right on the Hudson river, in Harlem I had the most amazing show ever; it was outdoor…I had all black designers and designers from Africa and it was incredible. 3,000 people showed up… it was just beautiful. The show was called ‘Harlem On The Hudson’. I have traveled with Mercedes Benz doing fashion shows all over the United States; I also opened up for Ray Charles in 1999; promoting Mercedes Benz cars. We do all kinds of interesting shows… I did a show once in Jamaica where it started to rain…we knew it was going to rain and we tried to rush it, but these models were taking their time on that runway…we walked the runway through the pouring rain and it was one of the most beautiful shows I’d ever seen. ‘The show must go on…what’s a little rain?’ (laughs)

Fashion shows slip-ups…

The commonest mistake that designers make is that they don’t realize that they need to have a ‘run-off’ show; also that they need a photograph of the model along with the clothes that she’ll be wearing so that people will know, they don’t know how to line up a show. They don’t realize that when you use model number 1 you can’t use that same model until at least model number 10, 11 or 12 goes out; you can’t make her model number 6 because there’s just about 3 or 4 models between them, so if you are having a big show you have to do a lot of spacing. And the only way we know how to do things is the right way

The Woman with a view…

While freelancing for Vogue magazine, I wrote a column for Vogue in 1978. Before this time, they didn’t have anything for black women, so I presented a one page proposal called ‘Beauty From A Black Woman’s Point-Of-View’… I’ll never forget this…it was 1984, and I did a whole story on Vanessa Williams, who that year became Ms. America. When the magazine came out in September she was crowned Ms. America that same month, but I had this story way back in July. I just knew that this girl had something special…It was like heaven-sent; I knew she was going to be a star, and I was not wrong. For the story I did on black women, I interviewed different people; Aretha Franklin and we talked about black beauty and much more. I’ve done shows in Ivory Coast in 1995, Cote D’ voire, Ghana the next year, I’ve been to Africa for so many shows and that’s how I met Kwevi Quaye…in Senegal. We met 15 years ago and that’s when he started calling me ‘Madam Poisson…’ Everyone in the industry calls me that now.

Oprah, Halle and Michelle…

These are three amazing women with strong personalities and I would dress them in clothes that reflect their celebrity. Halle Berry would look fantastic in a Ralph Lauren for a day wear. Michelle Obama would be amazing in Tracey Reese for day wear and for night wear, either Carolina Herrera, Oscar De La Renta or Valentino (very upscale and sophisticated) I would put Oprah in a Gucci or Valentino (she loves Valentino) I think Valentino knows how to take a woman and make her look absolutely pretty. Caroline Herrera, Oscar De La Renta knows how to do it… very few designers know how to really do it. Also, Michelle Obama will look good in a sophisticated Donna Karan for evening too. She’s got butt and Donna Karan’s got a big butt too; the trick to knowing designers that can make you clothes to fit you like a glove is to know how the designer herself looks, ‘Does she look like me…If she’s tall, she’ll hook me up with my perfect fit…if she looks nothing like me, I can’t wear her outfit’. But with Karl Lagerfield, he just knows how to dress the world…

Nigerian Designers…

I’d love to come to Nigeria to show the designers (in a week) the total production of a fashion show, fashion shoot, and a fashion video. I never teach any designer how to design; all I do is teach you all that goes into the production of amazing shows that will definitely help you sell your creations. Plus, I can’t wait to be at the Pink Ball this month…fun fun fun.

Genevieve Breast

Cancer Screening Unit

One more reason to celebrate Genevieve this Christmas is the accomplishment of it’s promise to deliver a Breast Cancer Screening Unit, offering a beacon of hope to Nigerian women. The Centre, which is a direct result of the last Genevieve Pink Ball, was officially presented to the public and the media in an eagerly anticipated event held at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.

The Genevieve CEO also used this opportunity to announce that the orgainsation will continue to use the Genevieve platform to educate and create awareness on breast cancer issues. The building housing the unit is donated by the Lions’ Club of Ikeja, and is fully staff with a Radiographer, Radiologist and an Oncologist. According to Dr Femi Olugbile, the Chief Medical Director, “what Genevieve has done is remarkable, and will enhance the hospital’s vision of providing a wellness centre for the public”.

How do you respond to two 19 year-olds who tell you point blank, “We want answers to “the whole sex thing?” How do we know if he’s the ONE or if he is just interested in the sex thing! We need to know what goes on in relationships: why are guys so afraid to commit? How realistic is it to ask us to remain virgins until we get married? For heaven’s sake! This is the 21st century. Heart breaks are real and there’s a whole lot of pressure from guys who claim love equals sex and sex equals love! How do we survive in that jungle?

Hmm… In my day 19 year-olds didn’t ask such questions! They were supposed to see “no evil and speak no evil”. Then again, in my day there was a whole lot of hush hypocrisy, and the fact that we didn’t ask questions or talk about it didn’t mean we were saints! I knew there were issues with relationships as men and women continue to trade blames but didn’t realise it was this BIG until these students hit me with it!

It was expected that a woman like me would have an answer. Now mums, it is time we started talking to our children, and this generation does not want this sex thing coated in some gibberish or hieroglyphics (please no birds and bees stories). If they are old enough to ask, then they are old enough to know the truth before someone else gives them lessons in practical Biology 101. We need to be talking to our kids about the whole sex thing. Now to the questions posed by my teen friends, I am not an expert in relationships even though I have been in one for 25 years, but one thing I realise is that guys tend to want to have their cake and eat it! They want to sleep with every girl around and still expect to marry a virgin. One advice my friend gave her daughter on the issue of this sex thing without belabouring the fact that virginity may be old school but still very desirable is this; “how would you feel if after sleeping with a guy much against every wise counsel and he dumped you? Wouldn’t you rather preserve yourself for someone who will treasure you because of your moral values?” …