My First New York Fashion Week

   

I can’t believe I’m actually sitting down to write this post! Mostly because I’m still having a hard time grasping the fact that I got to attend my first fashion week, say what?!? It’s been such a dream of mine (even before this new age of influencers and bloggers) to attend Fashion Week in New York City. Over the last couple years blogging about fashion and being immersed into the blogosphere, I had so much FOMO every fall and spring when everyone flocked to New York for fashion week. I’d made it a goal of mine to attend in the next couple years, and the time finally came. This is to tell y’all that if you can dream it, you can do it!

*Edit: I didn’t insert any photos or videos from the events in this post! If you’re interested in those, check out the NYFW Highlight on my Instagram.*

So first things first: I attended this year for work, and also got to take advantage of a few blog-related opportunities. I’m planning another post that’ll be a Q&A diving deeper into tips on attending shows and events at fashion week, but today’s post is mostly a recap of the week and the events I attended.

For the most part, my week in NYC consisted of work meetings, brand events, and I ended up attending just a couple shows with my leftover time. I flew in on Friday afternoon, and ended up getting to my hotel later Friday evening. I stayed in SoHo this time, and it ended up being the perfect location. Super close to a ton of events, and also a great spot for trendy restaurants and amazing shopping. If I lived in New York, SoHo would absolutely be my #1 pick for neighborhood to live in. (The price tag isn’t so pretty though; SoHo’s one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city hence insanely high rent.)

Throughout the weekend, my best friend Melody tagged along with me to all of the day’s events. Melody lives in NYC, so every time I travel to the city we get to hang out. It was so much fun having her along with me! It made the whole experience so much better to have a friend. Events can be super intimidating, so I recommend finding a friend (or two!) to attend Fashion Week with if you plan on going.

Friday evening there was a VS party and a show that I was really looking forward to, but unfortunately my flight ended up being delayed so I wasn’t able to make it. This is kind of a trend for the rest of my week in New York… there were quite a few things I wanted to make it to, but honestly having a meticulous schedule is pretty much just asking for disappoint. That was my biggest learning from my experience; I planned for the trip with every half hour planned out, down to my exact travel times from event to event. During our events Saturday, I realized that wasn’t working out so I pretty much threw our plan out the window and just went with the flow. The type A in me was going crazy without an exact plan, but honestly it made the whole vibe of the experience 10x better without the stress of making it everywhere exactly on time. After all, isn’t being fashionably late very New Yorker?

Friday Itinerary

Check in to NoMo SoHo

Victoria’s Secret Bombshell Launch Party

Kendra Scott Showroom

Brand Dinner Meeting

Saturday ended up being one of the absolute best days. After a rocky morning, we decided to take it easy and just make it to the events we could smoothly make it too. This was honestly one of the best decisions. Of course, we weren’t able to make it to everything, but the things that we did make it to were so much fun, and we got to truly enjoy ourselves at each without feeling too overwhelmed.

Saturday Itinerary

Get dressed + head uptown to The Gregory for hair + makeup with Caravan NYC

Nails at manicurist near hotel

Kate Spade Garden Party at Elizabeth Street Garden

Mejuri x NYFW

Target 20th Anniversary Designer Event

Coach Originals Pop-Up

Shopbop Pop-Up in SoHo

WWD Future of Fashion Panel

Photoshoot in SoHo

Adonis King Collection SS20

The highlights of Saturday’s festivities: the Kate Spade garden party ended up being a lot of fun! They had Van Leewuen ice cream for guests, and the best part was that all of the plants sprinkled throughout the garden were up for grabs. I wish I lived in NYC, so I could’ve grabbed one! But we made sure that Melody was able to snag one, which she took home with her. A fun little momento from our time at fashion week. I highly recommend picking a hotel near photoshoot locations, for all my fellow blogger gals! This was such a lifesaver for photoshoots, since, as I’m sure you can guess New York isn’t super conducive to high heels. The Mejuri event was also fun; they had the apartment set up super cute, and were doing piercings and touch ups. I unfortunately chickened out, but all the girls walking out of the event looked gorgeous!

Sunday Itinerary

Morning at the Met

Shopping on Fifth and Madison

Record Podcast at Grace’s + Catch Up

Langham Hotel Flower Pop-Up

Alexis Bittar Pop-Up

Fashion Palette Australian Designers SS20 Runway

Sunday was much more slow-paced. I’ve been wanting to visit the Met since the Camp exhibit started, so we made a point to stop by before it closed Sunday night. After that, we headed over to my friend Grace’s to record an episode of her podcast, On the Grow. We stopped by a couple things after that, but we were pretty tired and called it an early night.

Monday Itinerary

Indonesian Diversity SS20 Collections Runway

Hair + Makeup Touchup with Neutrogena at the Madison

Cynthia Rowley Show

Friends 25th Anniversary Pop-Up

The highlight from Monday’s events: the Cynthia Rowley show was so fun! They did it outside in an alleyway, and it was so cool to see a ton of my favorite influencers lined up down the street. It was also amazing to meet the Neutrogena PR team. They rented out a suite at the Madison, and their glam team was so kind. They did a super fun winged liner look, with some lavender eyeshadow. Definitely went into the Cynthia Rowley show matching her fun pops of color!

All in all, fashion week was a blast. I got to experience the hustle and bustle of all the events, and attend parties hosted by some of my all time favorite brands. With that said, I do want to give a disclaimer that in no way is Fashion Week as glamorous as it seems on Instagram. You see all these insanely gorgeous photos on Instagram, but in reality things are pretty different than they seem online. I got to meet a ton of the influencers I’ve looked up to for years, and the reality is that we’re all just people, and we all have our flaws. Instagram makes things look perfect, but just keep in mind that everything’s not always as it seems.

Anyway, I hope this helps any of you guys who are hoping to attend next year! Also, I’ll be writing my Q&A soon, so if y’all have any questions on anything Fashion Week related please comment them below. Anything and everything from how to get into shows, where to stay, tips for traveling to NYC, etc. I’m here to be a resource!