From London, With Love

I just got home from a quick 4 day trip to London, and what a trip it was. It was so insanely packed, with work, events, shoots and meetings. The most special moment being The British Fashion Awards (BFAs) which I’ll tell you all about in a min.

Firstly, I had to leave Rob and Ismail at home, which is always painful. Rob sent me so many videos and pics whilst I was away, and I was so excited to see just what new things our baby boy was learning whilst I was away. He learned how to roll over, and how to grab something. How the heck do they change so much in just 4 days? It’s so incredible. On the third night, whilst in bed, trying to get to sleep, I had a full on cry at one of the videos that Rob sent. It was such a happy video, and they were tears of joy, but sadness at being away.

Whenever I have to be away, before confirming, I ask myself if it’s something that I truly have to do, for my overall career. If it’s not, I pass. If it is, I try to only stay as long as I have to, and then I get right back home. I realize I'm justifying my career/parenting. It is what it is. I love being a parent, and I also want my boy to see how hard we work.

When I landed in London, I was so excited to see that it was sunny and cold. I love London around the holidays. The city is covered in lights. It’s magical and makes me miss my homeland so much.

On Monday, I had the BFAs. I had my outfit planned well in advance. I designed a suit I wanted, and worked with my favourite Pakistani Designer to bring it to life, adding his incredible Pakistani Embroidery. When it arrived from Pakistan, at my home in Salt Lake, I didn’t know how I wanted to style it, so the day before I left for London I tried it on with a bunch of shirts and found the perfect one for the suit. The suit came with a matching turban, which is what I’d requested in my initial design, but it felt too much. Actually, it was my sister who convinced me not to wear it. She said “it's your first UK Awards show. You don’t wanna hide away the thing you’re known for. They won’t know who you are on the red carpet without it”. She was probably right.

I got ready and headed to the event. Alone. Traffic wasn’t an issue at all, so I got there a few minutes earlier than I wanted to, so I asked the driver to pull over and hang for a bit. I called Rob and asked him to talk me through my nerves. I felt physically nauseas. I was so afraid to do the red carpet and be at the event alone. I'm fine doing them back home, in America, where I feel pretty comfortable on a red carpet, as Hollywood folks usually know who I am, or at least the shows I'm on, and I always have someone to say hello to. Here, I knew next to no one, and I assumed no one really knew me. Rob is the best. He made me feel so much better. I hit the red carpet, and as soon as the cameras started to flash, I felt like it might all be ok. I posed up a storm, and felt great in my outfit choice.

When I got in to the venue, so many people were so lovely to me. They made me feel so welcome. I hung with my love, Alexa Chung, and met new friends like Tom Daley, Kylie (AAaaarrgh), the cast of the new Gossip Girl and many a super model.

My friend, Naomi Scott (Princess Jasmin) invited me to an afterparty, and although it was 11pm, and I had to be up for a photoshoot at 7am, I agreed to go for an hour, as I rarely go out in London. I'm so glad I did. I had a blast. I went to THE afterparty, where apparently everyone from the awards also went. Even Madonna was there!! I didn’t meet her, but she was still just a few meters away. Insane. I had such a laugh with my London friends and ended up staying until 2am. Way too late, but totally worth it.

I would tell you about the rest of my trip, for the 1 day I had left, but I wanna end on the high of my late night. So, I’ll leave it at that for now. All in all, I'm so glad I didn’t pass on this trip. It was one for the books.

See you next week.

P.S I couldn’t get a cab at 2am, so I walked the 15 minutes back to my hotel, but I was wearing 4inch heels and my feet were killing me. So, I walked back barefoot. I felt like a college student all over again. I'm so glad no one saw me. A guy in a very extra couture outfit, barefoot at 2am, walking the streets of London. Chic.

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