These days, Fashion Week is almost a better PR opportunity than a movie premiere. Even your own. Case in point: Probably nobody remembers Aussie actress Teresa Palmer from the Bedtime Stories premiere in 2008, but anyone who attended Peter Som on Saturday knows that the pretty young blonde was the only celeb (or “celeb”) in attendance, because she — or her people — played it very smart.
The first step is always getting noticed, and in a room full of editors who are sometimes too tired even to take off their coats, Palmer did that in a lovely, summery, short-sleeved yellow-and-silver dress, and a very Kate Bosworthian side-braid snaking around her neck. Next up is remembering your manners: She greeted the ensuing interviewers and camera crews — all of whom were so excited to have ANYONE to cover that they treated her like the actual Kate Bosworth — with authentic enthusiasm, a handshake, and a bubbly, “It’s so nice to meet you!” Then she dropped a few tidbits, like the fact that she’s at Fashion Week looking for dresses for a big red-carpet premiere she has coming up, but she’s juggling runway shows with re-shoots on a big Jerry Bruckheimer action movie with Nicolas Cage — which, oddly, she declined to name, but which anyone with the Internet knows is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Maybe getting us to do a search on her name was the whole point. Indeed, one member of a camera crew shrugged, “No idea who she is. That’s what Google is for. We’re just glad she talked to us.”
Finally, she perched next to the people everyone stares at when there’s no one else around: the Voguettes. Palmer sat two down from Virginia Smith, then got introduced to seatmate Hamish Bowles — whose mustache is looking delightfully perky lately — and Meredith Melling-Burke, then rushed over to greet Harper’s Bazaar’s Laura Brown with a squeal and a hug, all of which are moves that let everyone know she’s on people’s radars. And it almost completely worked: At the end of the show, a Japanese camera crew waited patiently while she finished an interview, then rushed right up … and asked the interviewer if they could photograph her clothes. Ah, so close to total domination! Still, overall, well played, Palmer, or whoever in your camp is pulling the strings. It’s proof positive that if the pond you pick is small enough, a fish of any size looks really big.
Watch a slideshow of the Peter Som collection.
