I’ve been eager to see in first-hand the rush of the “assembling line” of each designer at Moda Lisboa, but the chance never came.

The confusing first day, the beginning of that crowd of people to create a show… and me, there, in the middle, without a clue of what to expect of this new experience. My greatest desire was to get inside the backstage, to see the real “assembling line”, the hairs, the make-up, the fitting and all those cameras waiting for the best and the most beautiful.

Usually I’m not fond of this kind of work, since I don’t consider myself a photojournalist.

Most of my time, at the beginning, was to understand the dynamic, the movements, the compass, the velocity and, most importantly, the restlessness of each and anyone. One of the things that caught my eye immediately was the fact that there were two completely different paces separated by the main corridor: on the left, the make-up and hair, where everything starts to get shape; on the right, a waiting room with chairs and expresso machines. People waiting for their turn – the highlight for me: seeing all those faces on hold, waiting for their turn to participate in the show.

They all came to sit in it in certain occasions, with certain functions and, above all, during certain lapses of time. For some it was a resting occasion between make-up and hair-dos, for others, a brief chance to rest while they were waiting for more orders. But one thing’s for sure: every single one of them came to sit there.

I greatly enjoyed seeing these coming and going movements from the chairs, in contrast with the production whirl and the search for glamour. In my opinion the glamour is for the spectator who has access to the final product. At that same “assembling line” I really didn’t notice it; instead I saw an organized turmoil of people working for that glamour to be imprinted on the end result. For some, the holding time to be part of that glamour implied to sit in that plastic chair.

And that’s how the plastic chair came up as a way to show all this other side of the show.