Editors, stylists, designers and other fashion industry members are gearing up to create the perfect conditions for their successful participation in one of the most important events on the planet: the upcoming MB Fashion Week in NYC. As a fashion writer and a regular over the past 5 years – experiencing also the impressive transition from the iconic location at Bryant Park to its modern, high-tech equivalent at Lincoln Center – I have lots of words of wisdom to share with you, mostly of practical nature.
Remember that you are getting there in order to be informed, network with other professionals, get noticed by fellow fashionistas and photographers, have fun and experience the perfect mix of business and pleasure. Your probably hectic 8-day schedule will include shows, presentations, peripheral events, drinks with industry people, showroom visits, fashion parties, cocktails and receptions. Think proactively in all respects, coordinating all your activities and creating a clean, easy-to-follow calendar. Organize your shopping to get all the items necessary for 8 eye-catching looks plus a few for special occasions (black tie, white tie etc.). Here’s my own original list of things to do, wear, and pay attention to, in order to have a memorable and mission-accomplished trip!
Shopping for the Fashion Week!
– Summer sales will help you collect an array of sought-after designer items at reasonable prices from the SS14 collections. Go online and check favorite shops such as MyTheresa.com, MatchesFashion.com, Railso.com, TheCorner.com, and TheOutnet.com.
– Start with some stunners – mostly accessories – that are snapped faster. You need attention-grabbers that will inspire you to build a statement look. Go for hats, statement-necklaces, coveted designer shoes and bags, iPhone cases, sunnies, scarves and head-pieces. Think of trendy names such as Erickson Beamon, Vickisarge, Piers Atkinson, Kenzo, House of Holland, Eugenia Kim, Mother of Pearl (mostly sneakers), MSGM, Charlotte Olympia, Marni , and Tabitha Simmons.
– Continue with the basics that will offer a balance to your accessories-driven looks. You need to complement your crazy statement items with some more neutral great quality pieces derived either from your closet or from your recent shopping adventures. I’m definitely talking about a marinière, a blazer, a black leather biker jacket, a 70’s style flared pair of jeans, flared white pants, a crisp-white button-down, a white T-shirt to write your smart message on, silk or cotton tanks and camis in neutrals, and whatever can be viewed as a ‘blank canvas’ for your most outrageous choices.
– Before buying anything, try to compare prices, since many online stores share similar inventories – same pieces and brands. You might catch a bargain, discover a last or back-in-stock piece, find different versions of the same motif or design, and notice difference in prices. Make sure that you got your favorite items at the best possible price and even extend your options to other logistics such as the lowest shipping fee, or the possibility to fit a larger size on you with the help of a seamstress. You don’t necessarily need to spend a fortune on your Fashion Week wardrobe; just make smart moves. You can also borrow some stuff from fashion brands you’re collaborating with, or from close friends.
Maintaining a functional Fashion Week calendar!
– As you go along in organizing your personal schedule during that period, you might (hopefully) be overwhelmed by the number of invites, the assignments, and the volatility of your action-packed chart of your stay. Write down everything right away and keep it in digital form (iPhone, iPad, tablets etc.). Don’t postpone keeping notes because it’s easy to forget some of your invites, and then mess it up. Every time you encounter two or more same-date-and-hour events, just make a quick decision on which one you’re finally going to attend.
– Send RSVPs on time, and keep your confirmed invites in a separate folder in your email box. It will be easier, then, to find them and retrieve the necessary barcodes for entering each venue.
– Close to the date of the event, request possible confirmation from PRs and designers that got your RSVP but didn’t follow up.
– If that makes it easier for you, print the official MB Fashion Week schedule of events out, and mark down with your fancy neon Sharpie the shows you are confirmed for. Add your extras at the back of the page.
– Copy the whole schedule to your iPhone (or other phone) and add notifications usually half an hour before the event. Distances are short in this city, so wherever you are, you might probably catch the forgotten event!
– Stay in contact and respond on time to all kinds of publicists, event coordinators etc., because they sometimes need you to confirm and reconfirm, or give them extra info about days of arrival and departure, name of the hotel, or your intention to get backstage access and an interview from the designer (if you’re press).
Tips for targeted networking during the Fashion Week!
– Networking means meeting new people, exchanging views and ideas, and keeping contacts that will probably help you at some point with your job or personal life. But you want to take it to the next level, and make it more purpose -driven. In fact you only want to meet the right people; the most likely to be contacts instrumental to your professional endeavors this moment. Make sure that you politely and artfully skip all the rest and irrelevant.
– Do your research to discover the places the most-interesting-people-to-you are hanging out or visiting. Ask friends who are better ‘insiders’ than you, and google a lot!
– Design your business cards so as to attract attention from the right people. Your cards have to include specific information about what you want to promote as being your job or major project right now. They should also be the right color, font, and layout. They should look unique without being over-the-top.
– Create a well-coordinated list of other-than-the-main-schedule things-to-do including independent events and little presentations with people you think they might be useful to you. It’s not only going to fashion shows! Just fill in your plan with other minor occasions that are related to your job. Of course, leave some time for lunch and dinner in-between, because the last think you want to happen to you is getting starved and crashing down.
Survival kit and luggage for the Fashion Week!
– Organize in advance the actual content of your luggage and the way to arrange everything inside. Create beforehand your daily outfits, photograph them and keep them in a digital file. Keep notes of everything you want to include, or buy last minute. I usually write them down in my iPhone!
– Since the trickiest part is your beauty case, just make a detailed list of necessary products and tools, including makeup remover and cotton pads, which I tend to forget.
– Build up a meaningful survival kit that includes first aid, a stylist’s essentials (double adhesive tape, buttons, stain-removers etc.), and stuff you mostly need while on-the-go. Go to the drugstore to get some helpful ideas about these tiny saviors. Get them all travel-size!
– Your luggage should not be heavy and hard to carry. Think wisely and choose fashionable items that are lightweight, non-iron or hard-to-crease, durable, resistant, and easy-to-pack. All these considerations should be made quite early, to have enough time for modifications, shifts, and unpredictable situations to be addressed last minute. Be prepped! Fashion Week is coming!
xoxo
Elena Sendona
