All the world's a rehearsal stage, after a fashion

Fashion producer Alan Bailey is renowned internationally for staging some of the most spectacular shows seen. He established Gregg and Bailey with partner John Gregg in the early 1970s in London. Since March last year, the design presentation company has been based in Hongkong.

Monday UP AT 7 am and what should have been a quiet morning working on the Gottex show turns into a constant barrage of phone calls. Paul Husband, of Pacific Place, calls to fix a production meeting which I set for later in the day.

At noon I race off to meet Christine Rodrigues, of the French Trade Commission - we are designing and staging the Parfum du Jardin exhibition which opens on May 6, also at Pacific Place. As we leave Grappa's, I bump into Lane Crawford's Mason Chan who wants us to do their show, but I have to decline, something I hate to do, due to our busy schedule.

At 3 pm it is off with my sound engineer, Ah-chiu, to record the music for the Play House children's fashion show.

Then we dash back to Pacific Place for the meeting with Husband and then, thankfully, my Hongkong partner, Anita So, has everything ready for rehearsal at 7 pm for Cotton Collection. Everything runs smoothly and someone reminds me it is midnight so we stop.

After packing up, it is into a shared taxi back to Kowloon again. I make it to bed by 1.30 am. Not bad considering I also manage a 30-minute phone call to London to update my partner John Gregg.

Tuesday After a 6 am wake-up call it is back to Pacific Place at 7 am and a technical run-through with Ah-chiu and my lighting designer, Chow-ming, before starting full dress rehearsal for today's show at 8 am. Again we have some kids in the show - where are they? Anita's getting mad, I'm getting madder - this is going to be long day.

The kids finally arrive - but how do you shout at five-year-olds? At 10.30 am rehearsals are over and it is panic time.

Anita rushes away to buy a taxi full of flowers for the next show. The dressing room now looks like a florist shop.

I leave to meet a representative of Ngee Ann City Shopping Centre in Singapore to discuss the staging of several fashion shows. He flew to Hongkong especially to see five of our Pacific Place shows.

Then it's back for the 1.45 pm Cotton Collection show. After this I take a break with Husband who is so full of enthusiasm it is wonderful! By 3 pm Anita and I are with Seibu marketing manager Raymond Leung who wants us to produce the themes for his show.

We have an encouraging 21/2 hours planning and merchandising his show, then it is back to the dressing room where everything is ready for the second Cotton Collection show at 6 pm.

At 7 pm it is back to Seibu for a short production meeting, then at 9 pm Anita and I head for our homes, still talking non-stop about plans for the next six shows to come, and going through our many check lists.

There is a mountain of faxes and telephone messages which need to be dealt with, thanks to the sterling behind-the-scenes efforts of our secretary, Brenda, who spends much of time her taking our many calls each day.

It is 9.45 pm and I should be at dinner with friends, but Du Pont calls wanting an update on its Lycra Sensations Asian tour we are producing. An hour slips by so I cancel dinner and head for the Regent's Harbourside restaurant.

I get home at 12.30 pm to find the phone ringing. It is Pauline, my London secretary, then I return calls to New York, Paris and our Los Angeles partner, Rommie, to run through scheduling and costings for a Beverly Hills gala we are staging later in the year.

Still more calls regarding models and fitting changes. Tim Wu from Taipei is desperate for me to finalise the list of dancers for the Sogo shows.

Wednesday Up at 6.30 am to run through the music for the Gottex swimwear show the following day while showering and dressing, then it is time to go to the rehearsal studio.

Rehearsals begin at 9 am and the models are late - so new ground rules are set - every minute late is one off the lunch break and one over the scheduled finishing time! I have to admit the delay does allow a quick call to Du Pont to arrange contacts in Europe to source young designer collections for their Beijing show in May.

Rehearsals are going well, then a real shock for the models - the finale takes 41/2 hours to set.

It is 6 pm and everyone is exhausted, but I have to be in Central at 6.30 for fittings with Ivy Ling from Pronto for their show next week. Ivy has just arrived back from her European buying trip so I'm not alone in being fatigued. Fittings run smoothly -the collection is very strong. As always in Hongkong, it is back on to the telephone in every spare minute.

I manage to make dinner at Va Bene at 8.30 pm with my good friend, Henry Wong before going home for the midnight round of calls to London and New York. Bed at 1 am.

Thursday I am up at 6 am, and out by 6.45 am as I'm too nervous to eat. Today is the Gottex press show and the launch of the new collection. Caroline Cheung, who imports Gottex to Hongkong, is already at Pacific Place when I arrive.

It is a tough show and rehearsals run on and on. The hairdressers from Roger Craig wait patiently for the models to finish rehearsing by 11 am.

I disappear for a meeting on the Lycra Sensations project. Backstage at 1.15 pm I find it is frantic. Everyone is on edge and the adrenalin is rising.

At 2 pm the shopping mall is packed to capacity and by 2.30 pm it is all over. The client is thrilled, but we still spend some time tightening a few steps for this evening's show. I'm living up to my reputation for being extra meticulous.

I have a mid-afternoon meeting with the Island Shangri-la to arrange the details for a thank you party we decide to throw after all the shows for everyone involved and we book Cyrano for the evening of the last show.

Then it is off to Seibu to finalise the menswear collection with Anita. At this stage we are drained so we have to force ourselves to take a break and head for the Japanese noodle bar in the foodhall.

At 5.30 we are back for the Gottex celebrity show which is over by 6.30.

The day doesn't stop, however, and after 30 minutes to say thanks and enjoy the reception thrown by Gottex, it is back to Siebu for womenswear fittings which finish at 10 pm.

We need to go back to Garden Court where the stage is set up to speak with the contractors who are changing the set for our next series of shows. Eventually we leave at 11.30 and it is the Kowloon taxi routine once more. At least Anita gets to see her husband, Dominic, as he visits her daily at the shows.

Friday It is up at 6 am again and off to the studio for rehearsals for the Play House show. Twenty kids, 20 mothers and 20 cameras! In the show we have two adult models, Russell and Le Bon, playing different characters.

Chow-ming arrives at 11 am having refocused all the lights overnight. By 5 pm Anita and I have splitting headaches. This is the noisiest rehearsal ever! At 5.30 we're back to Pacific Place for menswear fittings with fashion house Profilo. At 7.30 it is more fittings - this time for Seibu menswear.

I manage to get home tonight by 10.30 pm, only to find the phone ringing. It is Husband telling me he is on his way to The Regent and how about dinner? So it is Regent Harbourside once more! I meet lots of friends there and spend 15 minutes table hopping before Paul arrives and we can relax.

We're too tired to eat, so it is a green salad - I'm full on a green salad! Husband invites Gregg and Bailey to stage the next two seasons fashion shows at Pacific Place. We should celebrate with champagne - but I am too tired, so we toast on black coffee.

Saturday Wake up at 5 am panic struck! Can't sleep so channel hop on STAR TV until 6.30 and it's time to leave for Pacific Place and full dress rehearsals for Play House - will the kids remember? Patiently we run through scenes.

I forget I'm meant to be photographed working with the kids for Elle magazine and at 11 am the journalist begins the interview after patiently waiting for me for two hours.

At 2 pm the dressing room is bedlam. I ban the mothers and try to get the children quiet. Anita's living on Panadol and both of us lose our voices. The Play House show is on at 2.30 - the children suddenly become professional models and it goes smoothly.

At 3.30 it is back to the recording studio to finalise the Pronto/Profilo and Seibu music tapes. At 4.45 it is backstage and back into bedlam - the kids want to do their second show there and then, and are already lined up.

At 5 we start and again, miraculously, all goes according to plan.

By 6 one collection is out, and the next is in. The Crocodile team has arrived with the clothes for tomorrow's show. There is a bit of peace so I run through my notes and the music again. The models drift in ready for more rehearsals, just having watchedthe kids show.

Rehearsals should begin at 7 but Pacific Place is still full of people. I'm too self-conscious so I delay rehearsals for an hour and grab a hamburger with models.

We start by 8 and by scene three we have an audience of drunken Rugby Sevens fans to contend with before these crazy gweilos are removed by security. I decide to set the show in the cramped back stage area instead and we have a final run through on stageat 11 pm.

My week has finished exactly where it started - rehearsing show on stage in Pacific Place. We finish at 1 am and I'm beat. Only four more shows to go!