24hours
Sun Herald
Sunday April 22, 2001
One flight, eight cabs and a $340 pencil case. It's all in a day's work for
magazine stylist Lisa Chivers.
6am Magazine stylist Lisa Chivers wakes in her boyfriend Derek's South Melbourne home. Five days and three photo shoots after their latest reunion, she's heading back to Sydney this morning to her employer, Belle magazine. It's been six months of long-distance love for the 30-year-old and her long-term partner. "But I'm in Melbourne fairly often," she says. "It's a perk of the job."
7am Arrives at the airport by cab to find her flight is delayed, "as usual". "I don't know why I bother to get here on time," she mutters.
8am During the flight she examines the transparencies from the Melbourne assignments - artist Mark Schaller's studio, Richmond's Amo Gallery and a vintage poster shop in Armadale. "I helped style the photographs, but the idea is that the end result should look natural," she says. "If there's an old chair that looks lived-in, we'll show that because it reflects its owner's personality. In the past the stylist would borrow loads of props. We're now leaning towards keeping it less contrived."
8.30am Falls asleep captioning the pictures.
9.40am On the ground in Sydney, Chivers catches a taxi to her one-bedroom inner-city apartment. Reference books line the walls, along with artefacts from five years sourcing props. Two favourite pieces are an antique walnut bed and a painting by Thornton Walker. "Friends never quite know how it will look when they visit," she says. "I change my living space all the time."
11am A quick shower, then dresses in Chloe jeans, a leather top and white leather scuffs. "I'll dress well if I have appointments, otherwise it's just jeans and a T-shirt. This job is so physical. There's no point looking glamorous when you're unpacking boxes," she says.
11.10am She's out the door and in her third cab of the day. "I live in cabs - parking's impossible in the city," she sighs. It's all part of the job she's wanted since she was 19 and a receptionist at Vogue. "Even as a little girl I always loved being surrounded by beautiful things and colour." After studying professional writing and fine arts and working for "most of the style magazines", she finally landed the plum post of interior design editor at Belle.
11.20am A caffeine hit at bills cafe. "This is my unofficial office," she says. "It's where I open my diary and go through the day's appointments, or meet up with photographers." Today, though, she's solo. She flips through some of her favourite magazines: an air-freighted copy of W and Vogue Italia.
11.30am She orders toasted coconut bread and jasmine tea. "I won't have time for lunch so I may as well eat now," she explains. "I don't eat a lot, I'm often just too busy."
Noon Hails another cab, this time to David Jones' city store. "I'm borrowing some Hackmann Tools cutlery. Normally we'd go to the wholesaler but in this case it's faster to go to the retailer. It's a beautiful range. They also do great saucepans. People often ask me how I can be so passionate about something like a saucepan. But that's just me. This job's about love, not money."
12.15pm "I'll have the stuff back by this afternoon," she assures the sales assistant. He escorts her to a range of stainless steel products. "Hmm... these four. No, these ones," she says, picking out salad servers, a cheesecutter and a bottle opener.
12.30 On the way out, she stops to admire a sofa in the display window. "I love the way each half is made of a different fabric," she says. "I get inspired by so many things I see during the day. It might just be an old Murano glass ashtray in a vintage shop."
12.40pm Up the road at Gucci. Chivers has come to collect a $340 pencil case and a $490 notebook for the Poser Presents page in stablemate fashion mag Harper's Bazaar, for which she also writes. "Interiors and fashion are all related, they're often following similar trends," she says, signing for the items. "There you go, a grand for something to scribble with," she giggles.
1pm Walks two blocks south, to Belle's Park Street office. On the mobile, she phones a colleague who comes down to collect the loot from her at the courier dock. She hands over her packages, then hails another cab.
1.05pm "Whoops, I've forgotten something," she tells the driver, who whips around the block. "I left my mobile in the courier dock," she frowns. Five minutes later, she's smiling again. The mobile rings: it's the managing editor, chasing captions. "You'll have them by the end of the day," she says.
1.10pm Another call. This time it's Chanel to say a leather cuff she ordered for herself has arrived. "Please hold it, I'll be there tomorrow." Looking guilty, she explains. "I'm a sucker for labels. That's why I can never save. I'm a reflection of that saying, 'champagne tastes on a beer budget'."
1.30pm Arrives at the Paddington apartment of Frederic Rimo, state manager of clothing label Calibre. His newly renovated home is to feature in an upcoming issue. Chivers' face lights up: "I love this place - the amount of natural light, the fact that it's filled with mid-century treasures."
1.40pm Takes Polaroids of a L'Uovo lamp on a B & B Italia sideboard, both from Space, as well as Frederic's Saarinen tulip chairs and an original Le Corbusier chaise-lounge. "See the Marrimekko print on the wall? There's a growing movement away from minimalism and a strong return to soft furnishings. Prints, draperies and carpet, wallpaper and bright colours are back."
2.30pm A taxi to Crown Street, Surry Hills, and the pint-sized shop of interior furnishers Chee Soon & Fitzgerald. Chivers is here to discuss the style of wallpaper the shop will supply for the Belle stand at Melbourne's upcoming interiors and design trade fair, Designex.
3pm A taxi to fabric house Wardlaw St James in Boundary Street, Rushcutters Bay. Manager Rebecca Greenance greets her like an old friend. "Well I'm here at least once for every issue," Chivers explains, helping herself to some mints from a bowl. "I love this Islamorada Cotton Print." She fondles a Brunschwig & Fils fabric. "Everything's cyclical; the '70s and early '80s prints are returning," she says.
4pm Catches another cab to Belle's office. Twenty e-mails and 32 phone messages await. "It seems everyone wants something," she sighs. A photographer wants to meet her to show his portfolio, a fabric company wants its material back and a young designer wants to send in some products.
5pm Time to go through layouts with the magazine's art director. "We're near deadline for our June-July issue so it's hectic," she says.
5.30pm A production meeting to discuss captions. "They do take a lot of time because I have to ring each individual supplier and get a full description of their product and a list of stockists," says Chivers. "It can be quite fiddly and it has to be right."
7pm Finally out of the office. No more cabs. She's walking home. On the way she stops at Una's in Darlinghurst for a takeaway veal schnitzel with rosti. "I love comfort food, especially when it's my first night back from Melbourne."
7.15pm Rents a couple of videos from her local store, "to help me switch off. I find it hard to go to bed early because I'm always thinking about work."
9pm During The Virgin Suicides, Chivers is inspired by a scene. "It's just given me a great idea for a still-life shoot." She grabs pen and paper and starts jotting down ideas.
Midnight Settles into her prized antique walnut bed. "This is an early night for me - normally it's at least 1am," she sighs, switching off her Kundalina lopo lamp.
© 2001 Sun Herald