This past Thursday, February 19th concluded Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2015 and also marked the close of my 11th consecutive season covering New York Fashion Week. That’s right, you can consider me a seasoned veteran of NYFW as I’ve been attending as press since February 2010. Just one season prior to that I had my first experience ever under the tents (back when they were hosted at Bryant Park!) as a VOLUNTEER. It was my one dream growing up watching the shows play on NYC Access TV and watching fashion commentators like Constance White and Phillip Bloch do reviews of the shows live on air, that one day I would have the opportunity to sit front row at the shows.
So it comes at no surprise that once I found out about an opportunity to volunteer at the shows and FINALLY get my foot in the door – I took it! At the time I was an intern at BET Networks and I asked my boss for permission to miss a few days of work so I could fulfilly my lifelong dream of going under the tents at Bryant Park. All I wanted was access. I just wanted to be under the tents – the mecca of high-fashion trends – and rub elbows with the best of them. And be validated as an insider.
THE BEST OF NYFW FALL 2015 STREET STYLE
Fast-forward 5 years and 11 seasons, and I’ve now had the opportunity to attend many of those same shows I was dying to get access to, I’ve covered every designer under the sun and been backstage to see many of the beauty trends before they even hit the runway. And now after 11 seasons, countless broken heels, arguments with rude PR girls and 3,807,403 celebrity selfies later – guess what? I’m over it.
Before you think I’m completely DONE with everything Fashion Week related, let me preface this open letter with this – I still love and appreciate everything Fashion Week represents. It’s an amazing opportunity to see the work and art that many of these designers have spent countless hours creating and conceptualizing for the world to see.
I love what Fashion Week is supposed to be. I hate what Fashion Week has become.
What I can no longer stand to endure is the systematic and (sometimes) intentional dismissal of certain audiences from the conversation around high fashion.
If you look around the rooms at the most prestigious NYFW events you’ll see a very select group of black editors, bloggers and influencers covering the shows. And only them. We all know each other. We wink, wave and nod at each other from across the runway. And season after season we ponder about why there are only a select few of us in attendance. Season after season we have to re-confirm with the same PR girls our names and affiliations, assure to them that we are (in fact) on the invite list and then proceed to be placed in 2nd or 3rd tier seats because an editor of color with an audience of color obviously doesn’t deserve to be in front row.
I think, more than anything, I’m really over how pretentious and phony people are during Fashion Week. Attending the shows used to be about the thrill of seeing the trends hit the runway first, keeping your audiences on the brink of what they’ll likely see in stores the following season, and giving beauty-obsessed girls (who may not be able to afford the high end luxury looks) a chance to get the runway look via hair, makeup and nails. These days, NYFW is more about getting your picture taken by Tommy Ton or The Sartorialist on the steps of Lincoln Center by wearing the most absurd an overtly over-the-top ensemble, than it is about covering the shows.
RUNWAY REVIEW: BEST OF FALL 2015
It’s about seeing and being seen. And while I LOVE the opportunities that blogging and digital democracy have afforded online writers and influencers, our worth and importance under the tents is now determined strictly by the number of social media impressions we can give a designer’s hashtag. Not about our genuine love for the brand, or our audience’s likelihood to purchase. It’s about the numbers.
Anyway, though I’m not as in love with it as I was when I first started my career, like an ex you never get over – I’ll always have love for New York Fashion Week. The truth about New York Fashion Week is that braving the tents has taught me so much about myself and about what it takes to succeed.
Cape: ASOS | Top: H&M | Leggings: Missguided | Shoes: Zara | Bag: H&M | Necklace: Street Vendor
I’ve learned to be comfortable with rejection and comfortable with hearing the word “no” over and over again. I’ve learned not to take things personally when people are incredibly rude to me when they don’t even know me because, well, being rude at NYFW is a way of life. And above all, I’ve learned my worth and what I will not accept or tolerate. And those life lessons – all learned within a 7 day span of time, only twice a year in February and September – those lessons are priceless.
So next September during Spring 2016 shows when you see me snapping an “obligatory #selfie in front of Lincoln Center”, know that there’s alot more being endured behind those tents than meets the eye.
What are your thoughts on New York Fashion Week? Does any of this surprise you? Feel free to leave me your opinions in the comments section below.
Photos by Lydia Hudgens
Definitely not surprised that any of this is going on behind the scenes. The fashion world can be very catty/rude and bias/prejudice. It’s sad that while women of color hold the most buying power, these PR companies aren’t reaching out to more and fresh bloggers/influencers of color to attend these shows and events or bothering to put them on the front row.
Round of applause. This is why I only attend shows Im working aka getting paid for or really truly, sincerely support like HFR. It’s way too much and not enough.
Um, you’re so right. I skipped it this February because it was too cold to be dealing with rude PR. It has become extremely ridiculous. I’m actually there to truly review a show and have been passed up for someone who is there just to take a photo and say hey I was here. I will never forget last February I waited on line for a designer’s show for 30 minutes only to be told that the show was at capacity and had already started. I was so furious because it’s like, why give people an okay to attend your show and you don’t have room. Why make writers wait on line to be turned around? I will attend this September but I think I just really needed a break.
I hear you. This season was actually my very first. And to be perfectly honest about half way through the week I was done. During one of the shows I had a major WTF moment, and checked out mentally. I worked so hard to get into the tents. When I got my first invitation to MBFW I cried. But then…the disconnect came. I can handle rudeness, I can handle entitlement. But when I watched a photographer rip into an assistant when she asked him to hold something, I realized that nearly everyone is there to claw into someone else for their own selfish reasons. I’ve seen photographers from the stands scream at models on the runway, fellow bloggers literally ask me to move simply because they wanted my seat (one that I was assigned to – didn’t move!), and consoled a girl who works for a major fashion house in the back of a cab at 3am because the pressure broke her. I learned from a fellow freelancer what it means to be abused in the industry, and…
basically, yeah. I hear you.
Wow, I really appreciate your candor and willingness to be open. So many young women of color have similar dreams, and it’s sobering to know that the fashion world mirrors the discrimination and marginalization that exists in broader society.
xo
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