About a month ago, invitations to some NYFW runway shows started rolling into my inbox. I couldn’t believe it! Attending New York Fashion Week would be a dream come true. I pretty much thought it only happened in movies or to the biggest bloggers out there. I didn’t think I’d ever get to go, let alone this early in my career!!
I owe a huge part of this opportunity to my boss babe group, Style Collective! SC has tons of resources for bloggers, including an entire guide to NYFW, complete with contact info and an invitation-request form to submit your info to! I’m so glad I discovered this and was able to submit my information. However, this all happened last month, as I mentioned, so time moved very quickly. One minute I got the email and was daydreaming about NYFW, and the next minute I was booking flights. As high-stress as it was to put everything together so quickly, I loved how spontaneous and fun this trip was! I usually plan months and months in advance, so this was a nice little change of pace.
After I confirmed I had at least one runway show to attend each day [Friday, Saturday, Sunday] I knew it had to happen. I called my mom [my BFF, and my plus one] and she agreed with me. We booked tix, started looking into hotels, made some reservations at restaurants and bam! Everything was ready to go. First I’m going to do a day-by-day little diary, and then I answer some requests and questions at the bottom. So, if you want, feel free to scroll! I know this is a long post but I just really wanted to share the entire experience with y’all♡
DAY ONE
I landed in LGA at 8:50am. My mom had just landed around 8:30! We met up in the airport, and three minutes later we were in a cab on the way to our hotel on Park Avenue 😍The entire time leading up to this trip, from the second we booked flights it didn’t feel real. Everyone I talked to knows I just kept saying “I can’t believe this.” or “This doesn’t feel real!!”
However, once we pulled up to Royalton Park Avenue and walked inside, I knew it was real. My heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t believe this was really happening!! The lobby was beautiful, with a stunning color scheme of black, white and purple, complete with a gorgeous fire pit. We weren’t expecting our room to be ready at 10am, but it was! I was so grateful, because I had planned on just putting my contacts in and doing my makeup in the lobby bathroom, but Royalton definitely made us #FeelRoyal and we got to go straight up to our room on the 11th floor!
After touching up our hair and makeup, we were off to the races. We walked a few [read: a lot] of blocks toward the Chelsea area, and arrived to the Industria about an hour before our show. We wanted to scope out the area and see what our next move should be. [Fashion Week uses lots of locations in NYC, but the main three are Spring Studios, Pier 59 Studios, and the Industria.] Literally the second we got to the Industria, a security guard starts announcing to get in line if we are here for the 1pm show. We were, so we got in line. I was third! I knew with a standing-only ticket I would most definitely not be third let into the studio, haha but it was still great to know I’d be toward the front once they let the standing people in.
I held our place in line while my mom went and got us coffee, because after our 4am wake up call that morning we were starting to crash. While I was waiting I was handed a copy of The Daily Front Row [*squeals*] Literally every little thing that happened made me happy, because HOW! COULD! THIS! BE! REAL! My mom came back with lattes from The Butcher’s Daughter [right around the corner, y’all – I did my research] and it was just in time because they let us in! We walked up a huge ramp and then were told to stand in the left line if we were standing-only. We were first in that line, whoop-whoop! However, we realized quickly just how many seated people there were… And they just kept pouring in, for a very long time. Even the security guards were like “How many more….?” haha! I didn’t mind at all though, I knew I was standing-only for this show and just getting to watch the people who walked in was fun! You truly see every type of style at NYFW!
Finally we were let in, and I ran toward the front of the runway to snag a standing spot where I could [kind-of] see. Thank goodness I wore booties that day, I knew I was going to need the extra height. The show started and y’all, it was JUST like the movies. There was music that matched the mood of the collection, models strutting down the runway, lights moving and cameras flashing. It was SO cool to see. The FASHION HONG KONG show displayed three designers, all three uniquely different. I loved all three, but I think Anveglosa was my favorite. The first brand, 112mountainyam was really colorful, edgy, and avant-garde. They had similar patterns mixed throughout the models and the makeup and hair all matched the tone. Anveglosa was simplistic, chic, and what they defined as “a toast to the good old days.” The outfits were sleek and elegant, the models’ hair and makeup once again matched the tone, and they completed the mood perfectly with a remade version of the song “Seven Nation Army.” I was thriving. Last up was Heaven Please+. This show was almost exactly what I pictured when I thought of a runway show at New York Fashion Week. The models all had their hair done in multiple fun, teased buns and the outfits were extremely colorful, patterned, and varietal in nature. Afterwards, I got a tote bag with some collateral inside, and I took a little boomerang and tagged the show to express my gratitude! Thank you again, Fashion Hong Kong, for having me!
After the show, my mom and I headed to a nearby restaurant we had found online called High Street on Hudson. It was cute, quaint, and DELICIOUS!! She had a glass of wine and I had a cold pressed beet juice margarita. We cheers-ed to our first NYFW show and then dug into our food, because we hadn’t eaten all day!! This place was known for their breakfast sandwiches, so I got the High Street Leo, which was lox, eggs, and scallion chive cream cheese on an onion bialy. To die for!
After lunch, we knew we wanted to check out the TRESemmé hair studio pop up so we headed over to Spring Studios. We thought it would be perfect to have our hair done before the party with Ann Taylor that night, however once we arrived we realized how naive we were! Lol. It really is an experience, y’all, let me tell you. Just trying to get inside Spring Studios was hard haha. The security guard asked if I was a member. I was caught off guard, and just said I was looking for the TRESemmé pop up. He said, “Okay, go on through to the lobby.”
The lobby was A M A Z I N G. Papyrus x Nespresso had a whole coffee bar set up, TRESemmé was doing hair, and Maybelline was doing makeup touch ups. The hair studio was completely booked for the day, but could take us early Saturday morning. We were extremely grateful, because we had a lot to do on Saturday, and an early appointment was the only way we’d be able to get our hair done! We snagged some lattes from the Papyrus bar, left the lobby and headed back to the hotel to change before the party!
My mom and I changed our outfits and touched up our makeup in record time, because we wanted to have time to look up dinner options and check out the rooftop lounge our hotel had! We did some research but never settled on a restaurant, and headed up to the top floor. The lounge was beautiful, with leather couches, multiple restaurant tables, city views, and tons of greenery! We plugged my phone in to charge [🙌🏼] and then ordered a pre-party drink! The bar had a cocktail on the menu that screamed my name. It was called the Infatuation, and it was vodka, fresh strawberry syrup, mint, lime juice, and topped with prosecco. It. Was. So. Good. We asked our bartender for some dinner recommendations and then we headed out to grab an Uber in time for the Ann Taylor x Style Collective party.
The Ann Taylor party was at their HQ store in Rockefeller Plaza! We were given light bites, bottles of prosecco, and a gift bag with an Ann Taylor clutch upon arriving! My mom and I loved it, and after shopping around a bit we were going to leave for an early dinner. However, then I ran into two girls I knew from Instagram, and the rest was history! We stayed the entire length of the party talking, taking pics, filming vlogs, etc. Shalom had brought her mom to NYFW as well, so our moms had a blast talking to each other. All around, it was an amazing evening, and while it was only one night, Joyce, Shalom and I are very close and still in touch! I hope to see them again someday soon♡
The party ended and I had one thing on my mind… SHOES. I needed to buy flats immediately or I would not make it through the rest of the trip. I saw a girl at the Hong Kong show taking off flats and putting on heels for the show, and I knew that was the move. So my mom and I popped into H&M across the street, and bought the cutest little scalloped sneakers I’ve ever seen. I’ve worn them every day since. [I’m wearing them right now!] They are so cute and comfortable and they were perfect for wearing around the city with any outfit.
We then opened Yelp and typed in food near me. A restaurant named Valerie was right down the street and was labeled as “new and upcoming.” It just opened in December. We decided to go check it out, and I’m SO glad we did. It was bustling with people, playing good music, had a great vibe, and even greater food! My mom and I were extremely pleased. We split the truffle fries appetizer [DUH] and then she had a chopped salad while I had the tuna tartare which had “avocado, spiced kewpie aioli, fried capers, yuzu, and cilantro, served with corn tortilla chips”. It was SOOOO good. I cannot even explain it. After dinner we were exhausted and headed home to shower and SLEEP.
DAY TWO
Our alarm went off at 8am. We were a little tired, but filled with excitement about what the day would hold. We were going to get coffee on the way to TRESemmé, however, getting ready took too long and that takes precedence. We Ubered back to Spring Studios and this time he asked if we had tickets to a show and we said “Nope! Just an appointment in the lobby.” We had also made appointments with the Maybelline counter, where I was given lipstick from their new “Made for All” line, and a tube of their new “snapscara”! I. Love. It. It’s specifically made to not clump or flake off, and it goes on and comes off “in a snap!” I got purple, and my mom got black. TRESemmé set me up in Michael’s chair, and we had so much fun! He was actually from Orlando, so we had lots to talk about, and he did a phenomenal job curling my hair. It looked absolutely stunning, and if only there hadn’t been a gale sized windstorm outside it would have stayed that way!😭Oh well. We took some photos at the TRESemmé photo booth and then we headed out and walked to brunch which was extremely close by. [Again people – research!!]
We had reservations at Laduree SOHO, and thank goodness because when we looked on Friday to try to change our time, they were completely booked the entire morning. My mom and I had an incredible meal full of rose lattes, Marie Antoinette tea, eggs, ham, croissants and apple cinnamon french toast. It was so delicious and so much fun. We topped off the morning with a glass off bubbles and three of Laduree’s famous macarons!
After brunch we walked to the nearby NYFW showroom, which we had gotten free tickets to on Eventbrite. It was a cute little room that looked like a boutique. Definitely full of cute clothes and accessories, but we were in and out of there in about three minutes! Then we walked to the Bumble Hive Lounge, which I was sooo excited about. Tickets to this were also free on Eventbrite, and we enjoyed multiple pop ups in the room. We got to learn all about Vivrelle, which is an incredible rental service for designer handbags. There was also Mejuri piercing and jewelry bar, and an Essential oils stand. Joyce and I had so much fun taking pics, making gifs at the Bumble photo booth, and just catching up!
My mom and I then headed down to Seaport because we were further south than we were north, and we needed to find the nearest TKTS booth. We killed some time at a delicious restaurant called The Trading Post and then rolled into the booth and snagged the last pair of tickets next to each other for that night’s performance of Waitress.
It was then time to head to the Chelsea Piers for our 4pm show. We got there a little after 3pm, so we were a bit worried about how long the line would be, but for this show we had seated tickets, so the stress wasn’t as high as it would have been. When we arrived people were taking the elevator up, so we followed suit. We found a security guard at the entrance of a main room, and he said “check in will begin at 3:35 downstairs.” Luckily, I had to use the restroom SO badly, and he let me in to go. What we entered we were NOT expecting. It was basically a VIP party?? I’m not sure, but I knew I wasn’t leaving lol. I was in – so, now I was an attendee. Hehe. We passed multiple bar pop ups and grabbed a glass of sauvignon blanc. The sun was shining so we actually exited out to the roof where people were lounging and enjoying the weather and music. It was truly magical, and I couldn’t believe this was real life. At a rooftop party at NYFW? What?!
The doors then opened and we got to go in with the seated people. This was a whole new experience. We were seated in the second row on chairs that said “Designer Guest”! It was wild!! Miss USA, Sarah Summers sat right in front of us! We got to talk to her, and multiple other people around us. It was surreal, and just such a contrast from yesterday! The OXFORD FASHION STUDIOS show was incredible. It featured seven designers and once again, all were extremely different from each other. I truly enjoyed all the different collections and the models! I think my favorites were Chaahat Thakker, Farah Naz, and Ron Ramos.
After the show we walked a few blocks to Catch NYC, where we had reservations. We had the BEST sushi ever [seriously, even my mom agreed] and of course, truffle fries. Then we went back one block because we had passed a Starbucks Reserve on our way to dinner. It. Was. AMAZING. I had been wanting to visit one for a while, so I’m glad we were able to pop in. We shared one pre-show drink and then headed to the theater!
Waitress was phenomenal!! Neither my mom or I knew what it was about, so it was kind of fun for two theater buffs to go in without any knowledge about a show! We were exhausted afterwards, and freezing, so we went home and straight to bed.
DAY THREE
Slowwweesst start everrr…. I did NOT want to get out of bed. Luckily my mom let us order room service, so I could have my coffee and bagel in bed before forcing myself to get up. We didn’t leave the hotel until 9:30, which was scary because our show started at 10. So, if there was a long line, it was already super long. However, it was not a problem, we got to Pier 59, checked in, and got in line. Soon after they let us in and we were seated in the second row. There were roses on each seat, set by one of the designers [a lingerie line]. The show was ABOVE TIME’S INTERNATIONAL SHOWCASE and it was fascinating!! Instead of separating the show into segments by designers, it was just models after models after models and the clothes slowly moved from gowns, to swimsuits, to lingerie, etc. It was great! Once again, sooo different from each of the other shows. My mom and I loved that all three days were so different!
We walked along the Hudson river for a bit and then went to the Brooklyn Bridge to take some pics. Then we went back to the hotel and packed our bags and left them with concierge. [Thank you, 2pm late check out!!] We then walked a few blocks to our last restaurant, Upland. O. M. G. It was PHENOMENAL. Y’all, seriously, I could make looking up restaurants online a career. This place was California inspired, and let me tell you, I FELT like I was back in LA. It was incredible. I got the California BEC, which was egg soufflé, bacon, and american cheese on a caramelized onion bun.
We walked to the Flatiron Building to take a few pics and say a formal goodbye, and then we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and get an Uber to take us to the airport. I could not have imagined a better first NYFW trip and I am beyond grateful to SC, NYFW, and my parents for making it all possible!!!! What a dream come true. Now I have a lot of saving and research to do before September! 🤩
REQUESTS TO BE COVERED FROM IG
Okay, and then I asked y’all what specific topics you wanted covered or what questions you had! I pretty much covered everything by doing a little Travel Diary, but here are few I didn’t really touch on:
FAVORITE SHOW + FAVORITE PIECES: I loved all three shows soooo much! As for favorites within them, definitely Anveglosa at Hong Kong and Ron Ramos at Oxford. Above Time also knocked my socks off. I loved the red dress and hat combo from Ron Ramos, the blue dress from the Above Time show… all the black leather from Anveglosa, basically everything lolol.
HOW DID YOU PITCH TO PR TEAMS TO GET INTO SHOWS AND HOW DID YOU FIND ABOUT PARTIES? So I learned a lot from Style Collective, like I mentioned. They have an entire guide that basically covers everything from budget, how to get invites, etc., all the way down to what to pack, haha! There was an example of how to pitch to PR brands and so I just started researching how to find the contacts. One site that helped me was Modem. They had lots of brands PR contact info. It’s best to reach out 2-3 weeks before, and then follow up in a week or so. I read before I went that people receive invites up until as late as 20 min before a show starts, so you never know what could happen!
As for parties, I literally checked Eventbrite every day. I found a couple events that would have been AMAZING but conflicted with my schedule. I also checked FB events lol. I literally did so much research it was insane. I DM’d TRESemmé on Instagram, that’s how I confirmed they were having a pop-up. Otherwise I would have never gone to the Spring Studios lobby! I emailed a couple companies and contacts I have developed over the years too, but nothing really panned out. It didn’t help that I was only there for 3 days, too haha! You really just have reach out to anyone and everyone and monitor Eventbrite like crazy. The Ann Taylor party was completely set up by Style Collective, so that was a huge plus! I also was recently accepted to LiketoKNOW.it and RewardStyle and I know they have events but they’re invite only and [from what I’ve heard] only in September!
DID YOU STAY IN A COMPED HOTEL AND HOW EARLY TO REACH OUT? I did not. So, I have had a hotel stay comped before, and I have another one coming up in March. I do have experience with hotels, but in NYC I think it’s way harder. I did some research and most bloggers [especially micro-influencers, which I 100,000% am] get discounts or media rates. As I mentioned, I didn’t even know I was going to NYFW until about two weeks before, so I didn’t have a lot of time to pitch to hotels. Ideally, you would pitch them a month or more in advance. For shows you want to do it as close to the event as possible, stay on their radar, not get lost in the shuffle, etc. but hotels need more notice. Especially because I got a few responses that said they were interested but they have a cap of how many influencers they can work with per month and they were already at capacity. So, if I had known more in advance I might have had more opportunities.
I was blessed my mom was my plus one and she wanted to spoil us by staying at the Royalton! However, in the future I’ll hopefully go with other bloggers, and one thing you can do is pitch to hotels how you need one room and both you and your plus one have a combined reach of XXX, which is always higher than one person asking! So, that’s another tip. I did get a couple offers of discounts or media rates, but a lot of the locations weren’t great for where we needed to be, or they weren’t ideal for me and my mom. Lol. So, yeah long story short – I didn’t, but it can be done, or at least a discount!! xoxo
I hope y’all enjoyed this post and I can’t wait for September’s NYFW!!! Let me know if y’all have any questions or comments. Please comment, I love hearing from you!
Amazing post!! I loved all the details and you and your mom are the sweetest! I hope we get to meet up for September!!