I think I'd take it further back than ten years; clients were only a 'present' problem towards the close of my calendar days, usually they stayed at home or, if they had to come along, went off and had fun whilst the girls and I worked - also having fun. In fashion, it was very rarely that any were present - I just picked up the clothes, sometimes discussed a theme, but mostly it was a case of jumping into the car, or on a 'plane and heading out, or, if the budget sucked, staying in the studio.
It was one of the advantages of working mainly 35mm: no Polaroids. With one client, though he understood that Polas weren't on the menu via the Nikon, he did still want some idea of what I'd done during the day, so we did those SX(?) things with a separate camera where the pic peels out the front. I then masked the things off with tape to show the 2:3 format and that was it. In later shoots, he didn't need anything at all. It was great for several years, until one year he handed over the job to a guy much further down the company food chain, who forced me to use local models instead of the best the country could give (from London). Why? Because it let him tie the calendar in with some local mutts that did local PR for him. I rest my friggin' case: you can care more about the company than can your goddam client. It was my last production for them.
Oh well, sweet memories.
Rob C