Fashion Week Lessons

Fashion week this year was a blur of parties, shows, and collections. See here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Whew! It’s a few weeks after the madness and I’ve had some time to reflect. This was my first time experiencing fashion week as a professional fashion blogger and I learned a lot about the fashion scene from the experience.

1. Throw Out Your Emily Post – The etiquette in fashion is a totally different ballgame. For example, being on your smart phone during an event is usually frowned upon – in fashion it’s encouraged. It was my job to be tweeting/instagramming/facebooking about the shows always. Additionally, outward praise is not encouraged. You clap twice during a fashion show, once in the middle and once at the end, that’s it. Looking or acting over enthusiastic is an amateur move, the real pros look bored the entire time and blog about it later.

2. Word Travels Fast – The fashion world is a highly connected community, and with social media, everyone knows everything right away. This can open a world of opportunities. While I was at the Candice Wu show at the beginning of the week, Christina K. Pierce and her team heard I was there. Mind you, I didn’t speak to or see any of them at the party, they just heard I was there. Within 10 minutes of me leaving the party I had exclusive VIP tickets to Christina’s show the next day. It really is about seeing and being seen.

3. You Have to Own It – The thing about fashion is you have to own your look and yourself or you’ll never survive. At these events you are surrounded by rich, glamorous models and socialites, all dressed to the nines. This could easily be a blow to a girl’s self esteem. I learned quickly that you have to walk into that room completely unfazed by everyone else there, and just know that you personally are fabulous and a valuable asset to the fashion community. You have to work it. Always.

Photo by Rebecca Isenhart.