Two weeks later and I’m finally sitting down to write a recap to the famous and elusive September NYFW. The aforementioned two weeks have mostly been spent playing catch up and making sure that I don’t miss any deadlines and now that my inbox and calendar is (mostly) clear, I am excited to share all of the juicy BTS with you guys.
Kidding about the juicy part. I don’t have any tea to spill and as far as I know there was no Nicki Minaj/Cardi B Smackdown at the Harper’s Bazaar party this year. I just wanted to bring a little clarity to the question that I think a lot of you have and that’s simply what the heck do you do at NYFW?
Let me just start by saying, fashion week has a lot of different faces and it looks very different to a lot of different people. With that being said, I can only share what I know from a small influencer standpoint. I don’t have any insight to what the backstage of the Dior show looks like or how designers put together collections and presentations or the huge role that PR companies play in the whole circus. What I can tell you is all of the goings-on from the perspective of a little old social media personality who always thought attending NYFW as a dream that would never come to fruition. So, here we go.
To start, I want to answer that burning question of what influencers do at fashion week. This was my fourth time attending and for me, it’s always a lot of meetings, showroom visits, events and parties, and shooting looks in between. Before I went full time with this blog, I never understood the purpose of the meetings I saw larger influencers going to. Now, I understand how valuable it is to be able to meet someone face to face that you have been emailing daily for a year. Basically the only contact I have with any of the brands I work with is via email so NYFW serves as a great opportunity to set up those meetings, talk through upcoming campaigns, and just make a more personal connection with your contact. On top of that, some brands host showrooms in New York where they have product out and they will invite influencers to come by, look through and try on the clothing, and then pull certain items that they like to shoot and share throughout the week. I always find new brands and products that I love this way so the showrooms are some of my favorite appointments. This year I was even able to make a connection with Farfetch, which is a brand I’ve always loved and haven’t ever worked with. You guys particularly loved the outfit that I shot at their styling suite (the monochrome navy look below).
As for the events and parties, this is another way that brands connect with influencers, just on a much larger scale. The events normally have fun themes, food to snack on (thank goodness because food is hard to come by during fashion week), cocktail bars, and of course, photo-ops EVERYWHERE. These parties are normally where I catch up the most with all of my internet-turned-best-girlfriends and just have a good time. Fashion week is the perfect combination of work and play and we always try and schedule free time to hang out in the city and just breathe a little. It’s always exhausting but so damn fun.
As for the shows, I have only attended a couple in the past but that is something I want to incorporate more of next time around. It’s always just a juggling act to prioritize all of the people you need to see and network with in the amount of time you’re there. Oh, and you also have to sleep a little bit and eat too.
Another thing I wanted to address that I always get asked is how do you get invited? To be honest, there’s really no specific “invite” required. The first time I attended was in February of 2017 and I really didn’t have very many meetings or appointments to go to, I more or less was there just to see what it was all about and wedge my foot into as many doors as I could. Each year, I learn a little more and add a little more to the tentative schedule. This year, my friends, Kathleen Post and Bre Sheppard, and I were lucky enough to have been hosted by the LUMA Hotel Times Square. The location ended up being perfect and we had one of their skyline rooms with a window overlooking the Times Square area (you can see more of our room/stay on my IG Highlight). They were super accommodating and I highly recommend checking them out if you’re planning a trip to NYC!
If you guys have any other questions about fashion week, feel free to leave me a comment! I am sharing a few of my favorite outfits/photos from the week below!
xx
Candidly Chan
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