The venues varied greatly - from a glass walled debating chamber in City Hall (the Mayor's office) to Rochelle School in Whitechapel. Some were not normally used to stage shows, and all presented their own unique sets of logistical and practical idiosyncrasies.
Overall LFW lighting co-ordination and project management was by Adam Stevenson, and the two site teams were led by Andy Keightley (Smith, Deacon, Macdonald) and Simon Honnor and Tony Austin. Entec worked for Inca Productions on the Macdonald, Deacon and Fashion Fringe events, for DSA Production Services on Paul Smith and for My Beautiful City on the Kisa show which was staged at the Orangery, Kensington Palace. Additionally, Entec Sound supplied rigs to the Giles Deacon and Julien Macdonald events.
The Paul Smith show kicked off the week for Entec in the newly refurbished Royal Horticultural Halls in Victoria. LD Simon Tutchener filled the vast void of the hall with thirty-six 2.5K HMIs, rigged in three rows of six onto two trussing structures built by Outback - one at each end of the catwalk.
One end had heavy ND filters applied to the lights, whilst at the other, the fixtures were run as bright as possible. This was to achieve the even light balance for photographers that Tutchener required along the full-length of the catwalk.
The Giles Deacon show was staged at Rochelle School, Whitechapel, an old Victorian schoolhouse close to Deacon's studio. This extremely tight-for-space venue entailed some lateral thinking from Tutchener and the Entec team. With absolutely no room for lights inside the building, Entec built a trussing structure outside along the lengthways wall, onto which were rigged 21 2.5Kw HMIs.
These were pointed through 7 large arched windows onto a mirrored surface on the far side of the catwalk which was also mirrored. Light from the top row of fixtures was focused onto the mirror wall and bounced back onto the models lighting their far side, while light from the bottom row of HMIs lit their near side (directly in front of the audience who sat along one side between the wall and the catwalk).
To cover the front of the catwalk, rigger Al Beechey created a stunningly subtle structure - painted white to match the theme of the show - from scaff pipe and acro props, which accommodated eight 1.2K HMIs. Entec also supplied the 200 KV generator to power all of this plus some ancillary lighting, and some bad weather contingencies which luckily weren't needed.
Audio-wise, Entec Sound delivered a DJ set up - a Pioneer DJM600 mixer and a pair of DJ1000 CD dex - for Steve Mackie, who mixed the show live giving it a special extra Deaconesque edge. Speakers were eight white d&b E3s and three Q-SUBs, powered by d&b D12amps.
The glamour, glitz and celebrities were out in force for Julien Macdonald's show at The Grand Ballroom, Hilton Hotel Park Lane, again with lighting designed by Simon Tutchener.
It was a dramatic spotlight show, and closed 2006 London Fashion Week with a flourish, with the principal runway lighting sources being six Pani 1200 spotlights. Two were positioned at the rear end of the catwalk and four at the front, on two 4-legged ground supported platforms also supplied by Entec.
Two flown mini-beam trusses flanked both sides of the 20m catwalk, loaded up with fresnels for audience lighting and some ETC Source Four Zooms for various logo projections. Twelve floor-mounted VL2000 Spots, six a side were used for ceiling washes and patterns, and to light a series of ostentatious glass chandeliers in the roof. Entec also supplied 10 carbon dioxide powered truss-mounted confetti cannons for the final walk up.
Lighting
