New York Fashion Week
Wow where do I even start… NYFW was definitely unexpected, but ended up being one of the most memorable experiences of my life! In this post, I’ll explain how it all happened: the process before, the shopping, the night itself, and afterwards. All of it!
So for starters, I’ve always thought fashion week was amazing. I was stunned by it but I couldn’t really grasp it. Now I am in no way up with the fashion trends of the year or can predict what’s currently “in” versus “out,” but I love an opportunity to push myself. I decided I wanted to see fashion week in person, if it was possible (thinking it was a one week/one place thing - couldn’t have been more false)! Fashion week happens all over the world at different times of the year, for a bunch of different brands. While I can only speak for what I saw in New York, to my knowledge, there are multiple shows a night at a ton of different venues.
An Instagram account I followed had mentioned that general admission, standing room only, tickets were available for one of the opening night shows. I had intrusive thought like ‘wow it must be so packed I wonder where the photographers will find room’ and then I (metaphorically) stopped dead in my tracks. I wondered how it was possible to be a NYFW videographer …
So how are we getting there? First, I rounded up my friends, and we grabbed tickets to see the opening night show I saw on Instagram. Then I started to look online about how people become the press for these kinds of shows. Not to my surprise, mostly everyone is well-established in the industry. BUT to my surprise, mostly every piece of advice I saw for those who are just starting out said to reach out and send messages!
I think to myself..Mary…are you really about to slide in the DMs of fashion designers…
Yes, yes you are.
I think what’s the worst that can happen, they say no? They’ll probably never even see this message. So I found a list of the designers that would be at the shows in the following days, and reached out to those I felt I could connect with. To my surprise, I received a message from a designer shortly after!
The designer’s name is Tete Rosado, and she creates formal evening-wear gowns. The brand is run by a mother and daughter duo from Mexico, and talented doesn’t even come close to describing how wonderful they are! Tete ended up inviting me to be a part of her video staff for her NYFW runway show, as well as a shoot promoting the dress campaign the next day. When I tell you my jaw hit the floor out of excitement…I’m not kidding (ask Teddy and Maria they got my raw reactions on the phone moments later hehe). At this point, I’m ELATED that I’m going to be seeing and working NYFW, but the only problem was -what on earth do you wear to this kind of thing…
Not gonna lie, it was daunting thinking about outfits. As we all know, fashion week is…well, high fashion (duh), so guests dress to impress. But after asking around and talking to people who had been before about what it was really like, I realized that what you wear to this isn’t really that deep. Yes, it’s fun to dress up, but it should just be a fun event for guests not a stressful time trying to find the “perfect” fit (because let’s be real I had no clue what even constituted a perfect fit). But what I do love is a good hunt….
It had been on my NYC bucket list to check out thrift stores here, so I decided to go thrifting to find my outfit. I did my research (admittedly YouTube videos and Tik Tok), about where some cool thrift and vintage stores were, and I ended up having the best time shopping around!
So great, my outfit is secured. Next it’s finally time to go to the shows. My friends and I get to the standing room side which is located behind half the of seats around the runway. Naturally, we move to the end of the rows of seats in front of us to have a space to see the show since it was pretty crowded. Seconds (and I mean secondsss) before the show begins, one of the managers of the event asks us if we want to be seat fillers in the front row until the guests who are supposed to sit there arrive. Of course we say yes, expecting there to be a last minute switch and we’d only be there for a minute - but we were wrong. The ticket holders never show up and they let us sit there for the entire show! The runway was incredible as well as all the designers. Everyone was super friendly too. My friends and I couldn’t stop asking ourselves how the hell that had just happened.
The next day was the day I was filming Tete’s show. Hands down, one of the best experiences of my videography life so far. While I was extremely nervous, I soon felt at ease when I got to go backstage and film the chaos before the show (since I was considered press eek)! I saw the whole process behind the scenes of the makeup and hair stations, the fitting and perfecting the looks, all the way down to the practice walks before the runway. The other members of the press as well as the models were also very kind and easy to work with. We then headed to film the show itself (which once again was spectacular). Tete and her mother looked so beautiful and had everyone’s attention from start to finish!
The next morning I headed over to the Upper East Side to meet at one of the model’s apartments for the shoot. We filmed on a picturesque street with grand doorways before heading into Central Park for the grande finale of the dresses.
Overall, the entire NYFW experience was so special. Saying I’m humbled to have been there is an understatement. I need to give the biggest thanks to Tete, her mother, their entire team, the photographers, and the models of the event. Trusting and allowing me to learn hands-on at NYFW was something I’ll never forget, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity!
(I’ve also linked the vlog I made about the entire experience, as well as the videos I made for Tete (@teterosadomexico)!
