KEY POINTS:
It's amazing what someone's diet will tell you about what they've been doing all day. We asked three Air New Zealand Fashion Week attendees to keep a diary of their meals and drinks during the event. We wanted to know whether it was all cocktails and fancy nibbles or involved picking at bits of chocolate as they ran along the corridors.
RHIYEN SHARP
Rhiyen Sharp modelled in 13 shows during Fashion Week and he confesses that most of his food was begged, borrowed or stolen - not to mention nutritionally unsound.
Monday: Woke up late so breakfast was a bottle of aloe vera juice on my way to the Zambesi workroom for a fitting. Bottle of water and a yoghurt on my way back to the model agency. An apple - stolen from a basket for the L'Oreal team - backstage before the Love Lies Bleeding show. Got home around 8pm and attempted to make a Pad Thai. It didn't work out so well so I just ate the noodles, then had a pomegranate ice tea.
Tuesday: Kiwifruit and around 1.5 litres of water for breakfast. A cinnamon brioche and aloe vera juice for lunch from a cafe, then to my first show of the day. In the evening, planned to stop at KFC on the way to the Zambesi show but dream ruined by a phone call to get there faster, so instead had two mini Milky Bars, grapes, a cracker with cheese and some carrot sticks backstage. Between that and two vodka and Red Bulls, I'm feeling pretty good. After a few too many cocktails at the after-party, I hit KFC and eat until I'm ashamed.
Wednesday: Banana for breakfast. Skipped lunch because I was already an hour late for my call time. Backstage, another model stole me a muesli bar from the L'Oreal banquet, with two sugar-free Red Bulls and a beer to follow. After the shows I was starving but it was a bit late to eat out, so I had a large glass of wine and an apple before my next show. Got home starving and I was far too lazy to cook, so instead microwaved half a block of Milky Bar and ate it with a spoon of Nutella. Things have definitely gone downhill in the nutrition department. Aloe vera juice before bed.
Thursday: Woke up late and skipped breakfast to get to my first show in time. Water and an apple before my morning show, then a citrus slice on my way back to 62 Models afterwards. Got back to the tents just in time for the food delivery from Nando's and had a chicken salad. Then a couple of minutes later I pretended I hadn't eaten so I got another salad off a female model who fell for it! Genius. Another two glasses of water before my next show, followed by a gin and tonic. And a handful of grapes before bed.
AIMEE McFARLANE
Aimee McFarlane is one of the designers of the Lonely Hearts range shown at Fashion Week. Besides everything she lists below, McFarlane estimates she also drank about 15 bottles of Phoenix sparkling water and ate the odd Whittakers chocolate bar. Plus she ate all her nails.
Monday: 8am: Open the fridge and remember that I haven't been grocery shopping in about eight weeks. Nick off with my flatmate's Vogel's bread and have two pieces of vegemite toast.
10am: Soy flat white from Altezano.
7pm: Two beers while waiting for the Nom*D show to begin.
8pm: Feeling pretty hungry after the show and someone suggests Japanese so we head to restaurant. Closed. So we step it up a level and head to SPQR. It's my first time there and I'm feeling a bit like a fashion tosser. Nonetheless the seafood paella is incredible and two glasses of red are just right.
Tuesday: No time for brekkie as I'm in a mad rush to get everything set up for our first sales appointment at 9.
1pm: Break from sales appointments so I run to get a poached-chicken salad and a coffee at Benediction.
5pm: Last sales appointment finishes - two beers.
6.30pm: Not in the mood for cooking so we go down the road to The Horse and Trap. One glass of sav and a salad. Help myself to some decent spoonfuls of mash and gravy from the plate opposite (even though I know he hates that).
Wednesday: 8.30am: Stop at Gala Cafe on my way to the studio, grab a coffee and a ham, cheese and tomato toastie. Delicious.
6.30pm: Head to Bian Sushi, my favourite little Japanese joint. God knows it's kept us going over the past two months. Share a sashimi bento box, sushi, pork katsu don and a few hot sakes.
Thursday: 7am: Am thinking it's probably a good idea to eat this morning as the day could turn out to be rather hectic. Vogel's with Vegemite.
8am: Sitting outside the manufacturer in Otara as the jacket I'm waiting for isn't quite ready. Head to Mobil shop for a Red Bull and a New Weekly for the next half-hour sitting in the car.
10am: Nervously eating cashews as we wait for our stylist, Karen Inderbitzen-Waller, to arrive.
11.30am: Realise that I have missed something off my food diary: I now have ratty stubs for fingernails. Gross.
1pm: Helene [fellow designer] comes back with takeaway sushi from Bian. Salmon sushi and octopus balls.
4.30pm: Arrive at Fashion Week and we're running late. Realise that all the opaque stockings have been left behind and I feel a bit guilty as I think that may have been my fault. So I head to the bar to buy a round of bubbly while someone is sent back to get them.
5.30pm: More bubbly.
7pm: Show time. More nail-biting.
8.30pm: Packing up, feeling happy and relieved. Wine, bubbly, beer, wine, beer, something, wine. Then witness some very spectacular dancing and suspect I ate some chips at some stage too.
ANA MACDONALD
Viva fashion editor Ana Macdonald says the trick with Fashion Week is to have a breakfast that will keep you going for a while, in case you don't get dinner until a lot later when the shows are all finished - that's usually around 10pm. Being incredibly practical, she has also been known to carry a bag of nuts around to graze upon in times of need.
Monday: 7.20am: Muesli with yoghurt and banana. Coffee. Water with multivitamins.
10.45am: Coffee and apple.
12.30pm: Canapes at Air NZ Lounge. Glass of champers and a water.
5pm: Fashion Plate Cafe for an overpriced ricotta tart! Polished off with licorice and chocolate from goodie bag.
7pm: A fellow stylist had the foresight to bring a plastic container of grapes and pineapple from home and I brought some almonds in, so as we wait for the Nom*D show to start, we snack.
11pm: Late supper at home of roast duck, butter beans and spinach cooked for me by my sweet boyfriend! A little chocolate before bed.
Tuesday: 8am: Boiled egg, bacon, toast and coffee.
11am: Before I leave home, a date scone and Roiboos herbal tea.
1pm: Chocolate and water from a goodie bag.
2pm: Home again between shows, a homemade quesadilla.
4.30pm: Sauvignon blanc.
5.30pm: Lemongrass water at the Deadly Ponies show.
6pm: Chardonnay.
7pm: A Mojito cocktail in the Herald's VIP lounge, the Inkroom.
8.45pm: Deutz piccolo.
9.45pm: A box of mixed hors-d'oeuvres at the Zambesi show.
10pm: Beetroot salad and couscous at home. Water.
Wednesday: 7.30am: Toasted ciabatta with peanut butter and banana. Coffee. Water and vitamins.
11am: Coffee and water.
12.30pm: Mixed sushi.
1pm: Green grapes.
5.30pm: Canapes at the Air New Zealand lounge.
6pm: Champagne cocktail.
8pm: Deutz piccolo.
10pm: Antipasto platter and pinot gris. Chocolate and water.
Thursday: 7.30am: Porridge with walnuts and soy milk. Coffee and water with vitamins.
10am: Grapes.
12.30pm: Ravioli and rocket salad. Roiboos tea.
2pm: Orange and apple. Water.
4.30pm: Almonds and pumpkin seeds.
6pm: A Deutz piccolo at the Carlson show.
9pm: Japanese food for dinner: sushi, tempura, teriyaki chicken, prawn and some sake.
