DANIELE GEORGIOU'S ACCOUNT
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After two years of training when I was young, I passed the CAP (Certificat d'Aptitude Professionnelle) to become a hat designer or milliner, and after watching the sumptuous salons and the fashion shows, I felt myself attracted by the world and ambiance of high fashion. I chose to get involved in sales after listening to the good advice of the salesperson from the fashion department. The buyer who kind of liked me contacted the representatives of the fabric suppliers and that is how I was sent to Pierre Balmain's boutique since they were looking for a beginner salesperson. Therefore I had to take English classes from Berlitz at night located at Place de l'Opera. I applied for a job with that great high fashion designer, Pierre Balmain, 44 rue Francois I, a stone's throw from the Champs Elysees. (600 employees at that time.) When I arrived, the director was not there yet, the sales manager told me to come back an hour later. Barely out of the boutique, I had made up my mind not to come back. Being very shy, I had been very much impressed and intimidated by what I saw. The next day, my parents received a telegram for another appointment. So I went back saying how sorry I was and then I was warmly welcomed. I started working on August 1, 1956 and soon after I felt I was in my comfort zone and I was very excited by my job working with customers and in time I conquered my timidity. The same year, I met Karl Lagerfeld, a very kind and pleasant man who was then starting out as a fashion designer at the studio. M. Mortensen was then M. Balmain's assistant. It is by working with M. Molinari, the Sales Director, who was well known in the Paris crowd, that I learned the basics of the job by listening and watching him involved with a very wealthy clientele. The collections were presented twice a year, spring/summer; fall/winter for the high fashion as well as for the small collection . At 11 o'clock, every morning, there was the presentation with the runway taking place in the grand salons on the first floor .We were supposed to take turns to bring the clothes upstairs from the basement, then take them down one by one, which necessitated quite some physical effort on our part. After welcoming the clientele and making them feel comfortable, we would make announcements from the podium and describe the clothes that all bore a special name. |