LIM College

Oddly enough, New York Fashion Week is something I actually try and stay clear of. I volunteered once in my first semester, but the stress of having companies not realizing you are still in school and teachers piling on the assignments was greater than the actual enjoyment of the experience, so since then I had kept a clear distance.


Catherine Malandrino at her show

However, that all changed this semester when a friend of mine back home in the UK contacted me days before New York Fashion Week was about to commence. She currently works for a magazine called Twenty6, a successful startup that has come a long way in a short period of time. However, due to the company being so small, they do not have the budget to fly their writers out to New York to cover the shows. They have a couple of people who have covered New York Fashion Week for them in the past, but she thought to contact me this year to see if I was interested, knowing that I was in New York studying fashion.


Iris Apfel at Ralph Rucci

The task included attending the runway and trunk shows, as well as presentations, and live tweeting and Instagram-ing them under the magazine accounts, followed up with a write-up of each show by the end of the day. As much as this sounded amazing, I was a little hesitant at first, wondering how I was going to manage balancing this and 7 college classes. But after I stopped hyperventilating over the phone to my mother (who talked some sense into me), I worked out what I could reasonably take on and got back to my friend with my availability.

Bill Cunningham at Jen Kao

And it worked out with huge success! I braved Nemo and saw shows all over the city, even sitting front row at some, and discovered amazing new designers such as Jen Kao. Other crazy experiences included catching a ride in a police-driven Porsche to Lincoln Center with an InStyle editor who took pity on me; being within a 3 meter distance of idols Bill Cunningham and Iris Apfel, and having coffee in the Penthouse Suite of the Plaza Hotel whilst perusing O Jour’s Italian leather shoe designs. But most importantly, Twenty6 loved my social media correspondence and said they would not hesitate to contact me with regards to New York Fashion Week Spring Summer 14. Hurrah! I have fallen back in love with Fashion Week.
O Jour’s trunk show in the Penthouse Suite at the Plaza Hotel - mink lined sneakers!