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| Source | Harper’s Bazaar |
New York Fashion Week is the biggest, most coveted event on every Fashionista’s social calendar. It is also one of the most inaccessible events unless you are a famous celebrity, public figure or Paris Hilton. How do the rest of us regular folks get in to experience this one of a kind event? We attended a few Winter shows in February (of this year) with less than 3000 Instagram followers at the time and thought we would share a few tips. Keep reading to see how YOU can attend NYFW.
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Start Preparing
There is an old saying that goes
“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”
Media Kit 
One of the first steps is to get things in order –start tidying things up. I strongly recommend getting a Media Kit together with all your stats, brands you’ve worked with, a brief bio and of course a photo of yourself. Make it look as clean and creative as you can as it will serve as your resume, it will speak for you without saying a word. There are many places you can go online to create a Media Kit or DIY in Adobe – for online we recommend Canva.
Start Reaching Out
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| Source | Budget Traveller |
Now that you’ve created your Media Kit and it looks great with all the info about your Blog, It’s time to reach out! Who exactly do you reach out to? Designers, Public Relations Agents, Brands, Event Producers/Coordinators, basically anyone who holds the “key to the city”. What I did last year was to have an open call for up and coming designers to be featured on the Blog (before) the event to introduce them to our audience and the public on a whole and also (after) their shows just to see the collection and all their beautiful photos.
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| Designer Michael Lombard |
After that, we maintained the relationship and gave them shoutouts when they had new collections or anything new throughout the year and truly followed up with them. We built a friendship and once they realized I was genuine, they invited me to their shows.
Apart from the Designers, I was able to attend a with a new brand called Fashion Mingle which is a Fashion Directory for Fashion Entrepreneurs – think of it like a Social Networking brand for creatives like Photographers, Bloggers, Models – just anyone creative with a legit brand. They go all out to connect individuals and provide opportunities.
Apart from the Designers, I was able to attend a with a new brand called Fashion Mingle which is a Fashion Directory for Fashion Entrepreneurs – think of it like a Social Networking brand for creatives like Photographers, Bloggers, Models – just anyone creative with a legit brand. They go all out to connect individuals and provide opportunities.
You definitely have to be strategic and be intentional and genuine about what you want.
We recommend doing follow-ups with people you have contacted as these are busy people and they might simple overlooked your email.
TIP: Don’t be desperate or thirsty – space the number of times you contact them. We recommend reaching out at least 3 months in advance.
Organize your Schedule
I did this after I made travel arrangements (which is the next tip) and I missed so much! Once you’ve received confirmations from people you’ve reached out to, create a schedule. There are some brands who will create one for you with your name on specific dates and events—it’s super important to make note of this beforehand and let them know whether or not you will be able to make it.
Make Travel Plans
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| Source | Self.com – Karlie Kloss travels in style |
New York is a popular place that people go all the time, so flights are usually hard to get. With your schedule organized and ready to go, start looking for flights. There are 3 ways this can be done:
· – Directly on the airline website – American Airlines, Delta etc
· – Through a Travel Agent
· – Through a 3rd party site like Travelmedia, booking.com etc
I find that when I search online between midnight to around 3am flights are cheaper as someone might cancel last minute and the airline needs to sell a ticket quickly! If you are lucky enough to have the brand book the flight at their expense, be sure that your travel documents are up to date! Another thing to consider in your travel plans is ground transportation! This is often overlooked as you might get excited and caught up in the process.
For NYFW I had my cousin purchase a 7-day unlimited pass to use the bus and subway while I was there and it worked out really well. Decide how you will get around when in the city and factor that into your budget.
Click HERE to read about our experience in February.
It is a little late to apply these tips for this NYFW, but they will be great for the next season, but if you are lucky you can still apply them.
We have a small favor to ask. People are reading the Haute Lifestyle than ever since our recent placement in the South Florida Blogger Awards but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. We do not have investors and everything Blog related is funded out of pocket– we want to keep our journalism as fun and open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. Our article takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective and voices matter – because it might well be your perspective, too.
