How to Go to New York Fashion Week
In my #tommyxgigi tank!
When I first decided to go to fashion week in August 2016, I googled “how to go to fashion week” and stumbled across a few different articles, but found this post by Poor Little It Girl to be really helpful, and this post by Gorgeous in Grey to have great insight.
Fashion Week is a pretty unbelievable experience. A quick peak into the nearly $3 trillion industry. I think this is an important stat for all us fashionistas to remember. The clothing industry is one of the biggest, most successful economy’s in the world (annual growth rate of 5.5% McKinsey Global Fashion Index). Making fashion weeks like New York, London, Paris & Milano, some of the most exclusive, world-encompassing events of the year. And subsequently, one of the hardest events to get tickets too. Fear not, you can still very much experience fashion week, attend a few shows, be in the same zip code as Beyoncé & Jay Z, and even get a few instagram-worthy shots of celebs like Kendall & Kylie Jenner, Bella & Gigi Hadid, and my personal favorite, Hailey Baldwin and now her fiancé Justin Bieber. I just love them!! #longlivelove
I’ve listed my tips and tricks on how to get into the action. Here’s what I learned. I hope it helps!
Have a NYFW tip or story? Share your experiences below!
What I learned during my three NYFW’s:
Send lots of pitch emails to designers.
Draft your pitch email, Gorgeous in Grey has a great template. I sent more than a hundred pitch emails about my influencer status my first year and ended up getting an invite to three shows. The website modemonline.com is a one-stop shop for most things fashion related. They have the show schedules and suggested contact(s) for most brands. Using both modem’s contact list and some rough and tough research, I emailed about every brand that was having a show, from press@brand.com to socialmedia@brand.com to ceo@brand.com. (I emailed Becca McCharen, founder of Chromat, and she got me and my cousin on the Chromat after party list!!).
Follow up via email or phone.
I followed up (very politely) a few times... “just wanted to bring this to the top of your inbox” “If you could point me in the right direction” “give me any information/advice”. We’re all just trying to help a sister out, right? I’m sure it’s annoying to get a million requests for a show, but if you’re polite, how mad can someone really even get? :)
Also, make sure you save all the email addresses to add to your rolodex for next season.
Being outside the show can be just as fun as being inside the show.
My favorite Italian blogger, Chiara Ferragni and her hubby were outside the Jeremy Scott show and I got a great shot of them and said “Hi! 👋. It’s seriously one of my most treasured NYFW moments. And I didn’t even end up getting into the JS show!
Follow the brands & their hashtags on social.
On the day of the show, start searching the brand’s hashtag. Makeup artists, hair stylists, and nail techs are usually the first on set and when sharing their public insta posts they usually tag the designer and their location. Then you just roll up. And don’t be afraid to be crafty. Talk to the girls at the door. Ask them for a standing seat. A lot of these shows have a public line sort of. And if there’s enough room they’ll let people from that line in. So get there early to get a good spot! I didn’t have the best of luck getting into Jeremy Scott’s show. But at both DVF and tommyxgigi, my cousin and I rolled up to the show and ended up getting in!
There’s a lot of free, open to the public events.
The presentations listed on the NYFW site can be pretty celeb filled! At the public Club Monaco presentation I saw Katie Holmes and Jeremy Piven (Ari from Entourage). The Rebecca Minkoff flagship party had loads of free Chandon, which was yummy. The Met always has a display. Brands going through a relaunch (most recently JCrew) host events at their flagship stores across the city. Usually Alexander Wang does a contest before his show for people to get tickets to Wangfest.
Show up at NYFW home base venue
NYFW typically has one home, most recently Skylight Clarkson Square, prior to that it was Lincoln Center and prior to that it was Bryant Park. Find out where it is and show up. A lot of designers show at the NYFW venue. You will most likely have luck as a walk-in to the smaller shows.
Head to the media door.
There’s usually a back entrance or something around the building. After the show starts you might be able to get in that door. Be confident and persuasive!
What I learned from my three NYFWs is that while awesome, it didn’t really result in any conversions for my brand. And cost me money. But instead was a wonderful weekend for me to really just visit my cousin (who lives in Manhattan) and for us to do something pretty special and exclusive together. When you have a free place to stay, you can really take advantage of some of the perks of fashion week without thinking you’re getting nothing in return. I mean a lot of people who also have no access, come to NYC and get hotel rooms, meals, transportation, outfits, and never recoup their costs. Fashunnn is SUCH a large conversation to make an impact in. But a pretty cool industry to be a part of as clothing touches nearly everyone on earth. And, in my opinion, even 2 Instagram-worthy NYFW shots can add a lot of fashion credibility to your brand. And then you can use that as leverage in your pitch letter for next season. And then the season after that.
I recently had a baby so I’ve missed the past few seasons. One day I hope to carry on the tradition with my cousin and for us to take our kids too!
xo, c