NYFW: Tips & Tricks
Hey babes!
I am back from NYFW and I seriously had the best trip of my life. I’ve never really, truly enjoyed New York the way I did on this trip and I cannot wait to go back. Next year, we want to do NYFW, then fly to Europe and do London fashion week & Paris fashion week. WHAT A DREAM. But! I wanted to share some tips I learned while being in NY for fashion week for the first time… things I knew or wish I knew before I went & things I learned along the way!
LET’S JUMP IN:
Q: HOW DO YOU GO TO FASHION WEEK?
A: You just DO IT. You book a flight & a hotel and make it happen. Hotels rarely sponsor anyone to go (everyone I know who went paid their own way) so figure out which area you want to be in and book it. Flights you obviously want to book as soon as you know you are going for the best prices. Research which airport will be the cheapest to fly in to (if you’re on a budget). Look into JFK, LaGuardia, Newark…
I went with a group of 5 girls (including myself) and we split the hotel room cost which was nice. We each paid $325 for 3 nights. Not too bad!
Q: HOW DO YOU GET INVITED TO SHOWS?
A: Apply for an account on GPS Radar (they have an app as well). This is where 90% of my show invites came from & and you can also request invites on there as well. Brands can also personally reach out to you and invite you if you have a good relationship with them as well.
There are also a ton of events + showrooms that happen during the week as well. Reach out to brands you consistently work with and ask if they are doing any events for fashion week & you can try to get on lists that way!
It helps if you go with a group of girls that way you can all combine your connections. I went with 5 girls which was a little hard to get everyone into everything but we didn’t have any issues for the most part and if some girls weren’t invited, the girls who were could try to get a plus one and take them. We all had different shows so we did split up a few times to do our own thing but everyone was really cool about it and it worked out so well.
TIPS:
Where comfortable shoes: Pack your heels in a bag, you and you’re feet will thank me later.
We did SO much walking that I carried a large bag around with me (my louis vuitton neverfull - best investment ever) and kept an extra outfit + comfortable shoes with me at all times. I also kept water, gum & snacks…
Pack water & snacks for the day
Most of the days we didn’t really eat that much. We would grab a quick breakfast + coffee at a coffee shop then start the day. With shows happening at different times and locations we only ate lunch a few of the days. Packing snacks seriously helped save my stomach. We would eat dinner late most days.
Add 30min to travel time: one word. TRAFFIC
No matter what your apps say about traffic in New York (much like LA), the traffic is unpredictable. Sometimes it would take the same amount of time to drive somewhere as it would to walk (walking shoes come in handy!). We were late to a few things because either a train was late or there was terrible traffic with the uber. Point is: PLAN AHEAD.
Shoot Content: Go early in the morning = less crowds
For shooting content, you will get your best photo the earlier you get there. Obviously NYC is a very touristy place and crowded at the popular destinations. It you don’t mind crowds of people in your photo then you don’t need to worry about this, but if you don’t want to be photobombed I’d get there asap. STORY: We got up early (7am) to go to the MET steps & we probably left our hotel around 8am… When we got there, there was a marathon going on and SO many people were out. We tried but it definitely did not work out how we had planned and that’s ok!
Go with the flow
Try not to plan too many activities because things take longer to accomplish in the city & you don’t want to be disappointed if you don’t get something done. We planned a rough idea of what we wanted to do each day but most of the time, the plans changed and we were all okay with it.
BUDGET
Set a budget of what you want to spend because that can determine how affordable or expensive your trip will be. Here is what my budget looked like:
Flight: $400 (after taxes & wifi)
Hotel: $325
Food: $200
Shopping: $300 (I went over this because I bought the vintage Fendi bag
You get the idea… Just make sure you know what your limits are because food can add up quickly & so can shopping!
If you have any other questions, let me know in the comments! I will probably be updating this a few times to make sure I add all the info to share with you guys :)
Check out my NYFW vlog HERE
