New York Fashion Week: Expectations vs Reality

Pamella Roland F/W '17

I’ll never forget the first time I witnessed fashion week for myself. And by that I mean I’ll never forget Season 1 of Project Runway. Let's fast forward to the first fashion show I ever saw up close for myself. I had e-mailed my old boss from my internship at Cosmopolitan.com to tell her how much I liked an article Ed2010 had done on her. To my surprise when she replied, she told me that they'd been asked to send a former intern to the Rebecca Minkoff show. Talk about a best case scenario! The show was at Skylight Clarkson Square, one of the main locations of post-Lincoln Center Fashion Week, and also happened to feature a performance by Zella Day, one of my favorite artists. The whole thing was totally surreal and mind-blowing. 

I'm so fortunate to be able to attend some of the shows, and I thought it would be fun to talk about how attending fashion week measures up to the idea of it. Here are some things that I expected from fashion week and how things actually happen: 

Expectation: Oh it’s spring fashion week! I can’t wait to wear sandals and dresses and look cute

Reality: Why is it snowing?

Via Giphy

Expectation: 12:05pm with phone at 65% "I can’t wait to blow up my Insta with all of my photos."

Reality: 12:06pm "How is my phone dead already?!"

Expectation: Okay I don't have too many shows today, so I should be fine if I wear my crazy heels.

Reality: Not even a little bit. One thing I’ve learned over the years that I've talked about before is to always wear comfortable shoes. Each season it's a fun challenge to look for the cutest sneakers, chelsea boots and flats to wear to the shows. If you have an Uber driving you around everywhere, maybe this is a different story, but for the most part I recommend avoiding anything taller than three inches.

Via Giphy

Expectation: I’m gonna go to so many parties this time!!! 

Reality: It’s 9:30pm, the last show of the day just let out, and I’m ready for bed.

Expectation: I'm going to take lots of amazing photographs and my Instagram is going to be lit.

Reality: Getting a good picture from fashion week is really hard. Sometimes the models practically run down the runway and if you're not in the first row, you're gonna get some heads. Presentations are definitely better photo-ops because no one is moving, but everyone ends up taking the same photos.

Expectation: I’m gonna look fabulous, I bet someone’s going to photograph me and I’ll appear in a slideshow of Vogue’s best dressed.

Reality: Someone may photograph me but if they do, chances are I’m never going to see it.

Expectation: This is going to be so fun!

Reality: Okay, so most of it is really fun. Despite being stressed about getting from one show to another, getting the perfect photo and wearing the right outfit, it's a totally awesome experience to see some of the most talented designers in the industry present their work. 

To see my experiences at Fashion Week, be sure to follow me on Instagram and Snapchat!

yours,

Austen