MANILA, Philippines?When I was still working as fashion editor in Manila, I often dreamt of going to the big shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris and to experience firsthand the madness and the sartorial highs of Fashion Week. I wanted to be one of the first to see the new collections, to spot the front-row celebrities and to write about the clothes. Style.com for all its exhaustive coverage of the shows couldn?t quite capture the feeling and the atmosphere of being in the thick of the fashion world?s month-long extravaganza.

Now that I am based in Hong Kong and working on two magazines on fashion reportage, I have joined the flock that moves from one city to the next in search of trends, lust-worthy accessories and new creative geniuses. I have become part of this group that makes the journey four times a year for both the women?s and men?s collections despite missed flight connections, freezing temperatures and heat waves, putting new meaning to the term fashion victim.

I have also exchanged but a few words with people whose work I admire?Cathy Horyn of the New York Times, Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune, the photographer Mario Testino and the designers Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, Donatella Versace and John Galliano. And from my second-, third- and sometimes even fourth-row seat, ogled at the sight of celebrities I only used to read about?Anna Wintour, Andre Leon Talley, Carine Roitfeld, Anna Piaggi, Naomi Campbell, Rupert Everett, Stella Tenant?the list could go on.

And while all this is happening I often end up pinching myself, unable to believe that?for the lack of a more modest term?I am living my dream.

Notes and sketches

With the conclusion of another fashion cycle, I return to the office and flick through my notes and odd sketches, futile attempts at rendering the more outstanding looks from the runway, really. (I should have sat with the very talented Ivarluski Aseron when he offered to teach me fashion illustration.)

I look at my notes and realize that I jotted down equal parts criticism and random thoughts and observations on the mood and the spirit before and after the shows, a fashion mise en scene, if you will. Observations that range from the obvious?how a riff of Rihanna?s song ?Please Don?t Stop the Music? equated the bouncy step of the models at the D&G show filled with Pollyanna meets Penelope Tree looks complete with flower prints, tiered bell sleeves and patchwork denim or how Roberto Cavalli, perhaps to make up for the hour-and-a-half-long delay, defied convention and showed up on the runway and entertained questions from the world press as models coming from the previous show dashed backstage for hair and makeup?to the quirky and intriguing?how the fashion flock seem to favor Moleskine notebooks, or how The Sartorialist actually disappoints in person or why the model Irina Lazareanu was sitting at a coffee shop across from the Gucci venue while the show was in progress. Perhaps she didn?t make the casting?

Anna Wintour, for all her supposed diva behavior, was punctual to all the shows despite the early call times and heavy downpour.

Milan

What came out of the Milan shows? A surprising collection from Roberto Cavalli, which had none of his usual Euro trash aesthetic. He showed frocks that morphed into flowers perhaps inspired by the young American designers Thakoon and Rodarte.

The trio of white dresses on Natasha Poly, Racquel Zimmerman and Freha Beja Erichssen, which opened the show, transported the Cavalli customer to the French countryside, picking lavender blooms instead of downing Dom Perignon on a super yacht in Cap d?Antibes.

The same three models starred in a David Lynch-directed television spot for Gucci?s new fragrance, which was debuted before models in combinations of white, black and yellow sashayed down the runway to the sounds of ?Strangers in the Night.?

Transparency and lightness were echoed at Jil Sander where Raf Simons layered rectangular cuts of organza to make a dress. Tomas Maier at Bottega Veneta expounded on the themes from his fall/winter collection, exquisite draping and surprise darting on dresses, minimalist luxury.

Circles, a theme previously explored on by Inno Sotto (see Mandy Santos? Philippine Tatler Mother?s Day photos), were resonant in Karl Lagerfeld?s collection for Fendi be they oversized, multi-hued appliqués or optical illusion prints on full skirts.

Donatella Versace mixed the safari look with the brilliant colors of the flowers in the rainforest.

What happens now that the shows are over? I would have to pore over photographs, visit the showrooms to get a better view of the collections, and discuss with photographers the best way to photograph the clothes while remaining true to the visions of the designers. Should we photograph models on a flying trapeze to convey the lightness of spring?s new offerings? Or should we set them up like art canvases much like the idea behind Dolce & Gabbana?s paint splattered pouf gowns?

Through all this I will be thinking of the next round shows (January for the men?s collection and haute couture) and I will be just as thrilled and star-struck as I was on my first show ever.

Blue Carreon was fashion and style editor of Philippine Tatler before moving to Hong Kong, where he is now style editor of Hong Kong Tatler and editor of the fashion magazines Couture and MenMode.