Eve editor Christine Koech reveals secret behind fashion magazines

In October, thanks to all the readers who voted for us, Eve Magazine won the award for Newspaper with Best Fashion Segment at the Kenya Fashion Awards.

The award got me thinking about all the work that goes into a fashion shoot.

The first time I went to a photoshoot for a fashion editorial page, I was a writer, sub editor, editor, shoot director, stylist, stylist assistant and special effects makeup artist all rolled into one. It was my second job for a magazine in Kenya but the startup I had worked for before had used photos provided by the models. I was basically like an intern when it came to directing shoots.

So here I was with professional photographers waiting for me to give them a brief. I had my models, two kindergarteners who were excited to be in a new environment (and couldn’t quite contain it) and a time limit for half a day’s shoot (about four hours, above which we would have to pay for a full day).

The pictures required were of Marianne, one of the children, making cut-out cookies in a makeshift kitchen (basically a table we had stocked with kitchen gadgets and utensils to look like a kitchen counter).

 I helped Marianne knead the dough and made sure there was enough flour splashed on the counter and on the child’s apron and hands to make it look authentic. Before long, we had perfect pictures and we were all in awe.

The second child was younger, and was to stand next to a clock, looking impatient. He was quite the actor and got it right in no time. All I had to do was stand behind the photographer and show him how to pout.

In the years that followed, I attended many photo shoots for glossy magazines like Drum, True Love and finally Eve…some that took a few hours and some that lasted several days. It is that first shoot that helped me appreciate the amount of work that works into putting editorial shoots together.

Which is why I want to thank every single person who has helped make our fashion pages a success.

Since none of my teammates will be coming out to toot their horn, I will do it for them and let you in on the process of planning a photo shoot and seeing it come to life on a page.

Before a fashion page concept is born, the stylist and editorial team go through brainstorming and research. It’s not always a formal process. Eve stylist Lucy Robi will agree that some of the best ideas for our Eve fashion pages have come from brief chats on phone or SMS with the ideas growing wings and taking off with each step; we rarely ever know the outcome until it is all finally ready to go to press.

Once the shoot date, model, photographer, make up artist, location and shoot assistant are confirmed, the concept begins to take shape and it comes to life on the shoot set.

When the photographers, photo editors and photo retouchers have done the final touches on the photos – editing them to a specific frame, adjusting the lightness or darkness and colour correction, the photos are ready to be laid out by the graphic designer.

Once on the page, the photos come together with the captions (descriptions of what the model is wearing) and stockist details (where to buy them) and the sub editor, editor and revise editors go through every detail to make sure it is correct.

Finally, the production crew take over, ensuring the pages are printed to the best quality.

Don’t get me wrong, things don’t always come together so seamlessly. We have our ups and downs; anything from dresses not quite fitting the model to computers crashing at the last minute because of the number of photos on a page. But with the professionalism of the team members and their resilience, the paper always goes to press before the deadline.

I want to thank every single person who has helped make our fashion pages a success. Here’s to all the people who work behind the scenes of our fashion editorial spreads.

Many thanks to our stylist Lucy Robi, Kuyoh Photography and Phocus Photography for believing in our dream and upholding our vision, to all the models who have graced our covers and fashion pages every week and to the various stylist assistants, hair and makeup artists who have made up the Eve glam squad.

On the editorial side, there are photo retouchers and editors, graphic designers, sub editors, editors, revise editors, production editors and managing editors. 

I would also like to recognise the admin teams that work tirelessly to ensure all these teams have the resources they need to make it all a success and to our management who grant us access to these resources. We thank the rest of our colleagues for cheering us on and listening to us when we groan, chiding us when we stumble and believing in us even when you don’t quite know what to expect.

To our esteemed stockists, the fashion designers and vendors who lend their ‘babies’ to us to showcase, with only a  promise that we will bring them back in one piece, we say asanteni sana.

And to our readers, who voted for us, who cheer us on and whisper their valuable feedback to us, you are why we do this.