Okay, so real talk: I’m ready for NYFW to be over.
Truthfully, I’ve had so much fun with the whole experience, but what you don’t see if the rushing, the sweating, the dehydration, the time crunch, the running around, the blisters on my feet… okay, I’ll stop complaining now and leave my whole recap experience to another post (which I’m so excited to write by the way!).
This will probably be my last recap post since the bulk of the shows I went to happened yesterday and the day before (I still have a few sprinkled here and there).
My Monday started off with the Indonesian Diversity show, which took place at Spring Studios. This show I believe happens every season and highlights four Indonesian up and coming designers. It’s basically like four shows in one, which each designer showing a sampling of their collection.
The first designer was 2 Madison Avenue by Maggie Hutauruk Eddy. The designs were very colorful and streetwear inspired.
From there, Yogiswari Prajanti took over the runway, whose designs were also colourful and featured cartoonish characters on the clothes over top of fun colored polka dots.
The third designer was Ayumi, which was very fashion forward. Think lots of texture and cute skirts and dresses, leaning more towards formal wear as opposed to a casual style.
Lastly, Julianto’s designs were my favourite from the whole show. His pieces were very done up and featured intricate beading and oversized ruffles. There were so many looks that I was in awe of and his collection was very showstopping.
On Tuesday, I hit up Pier59 for the Pamella Roland show. This show was the highlight for me since I went from standing to front row. I sat across from Nicki Hilton and Katherine McPhee (and a bunch of other females that looked very familiar) as models wearing beautiful dresses and suits strutted past.
The designs in the Pamela Rolland show were truly stunning. Lots of sparkle and tulle and multicolored fabrics with colours that ombred into each other. The designs were so beautiful and were truly breathtaking
From there, I grabbed a Lyft to the Cynthia Rowley show which was in a back alley in SoHo. I actually got there right in time and loved the designs. The clothes were a lot more contemporary and wearable for everyday. Lots of black with multicolored prints that really popped off the fabrics. There were also some bright colours and I love how the designer paired them with clashing colours for a showstopping look.
After Cynthia Rowley, I made my way back to Pier 59 for BAILUYU by Fu Wenjie, who is a Chinese designer. The designs were very minimalistic and monochromatic in palettes of white, cream, and sea foam. I loved the simplicity of the collection and how breezy the designs looked on the runway. She also played with different textures which added a bit of complexity to the looks.
I will be doing a full NYFW post soon on how to get invites, what happens before and after the show, as well as some other tidbits on what it’s really like. This whole experience has been so eye opening and I’ve truly enjoyed every moment of it. Seeing these designers’ work has been incredible and if you’ve always dreamed of going to a fashion week, I say you do it, it truly is magical.
Have you ever wanted to go to Fashion Week?
Like this post? Check out these related ones:
Coming at you today from a very busy weekend.
I’m not gonna lie, New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is very exhausting. Fun and exciting, but exhausting. I didn’t do any related activities yesterday (I felt bad for poor Zig for leaving him home all day for the past few days), but Friday and Saturday were jammed packed with activities.
On Friday, I headed to the Kendra Scott presentation, which was at her showroom in the Garment District. I was walked through and told all about her upcoming collections, which featured some stunning jewelry. Think rose gold, textures, stones, and layering pieces.
From there I made my way to the Tractenberg Studio, which was a gifting suite by Tractenberg & Co., a NYC-based PR firm. The Studio featured two rooms with various booths, each by a different beauty brand. We we walked around we learned about new products coming soon and got to demo and take home many of them.
The item I’m most excited to try are the Eylure Promagnetic kit, which includes a magnetic eyeliner with magnetic lashes. You guys know I love my TOK magnetic lashes, but these work a little differently in that you apply the eyeliner first and then the lashes will pop onto the liner holding them in place.
We also received a few different perfumes by Lavanila and Tocca, as well as sunglasses from Diff Eyewear, a moisturizer from Ahava, Jergen’s moisturizer, Curel, Bare Minerals, Drybar, and much more.
From there I made my way to the Redken Styling Suite, which was located in the Cutler Salon in the Arlo Hotel. Unfortunately by that time it had started to rain, so although I loved my hair that the stylist gave me, by the time I was trying to get an Uber, the rain and wind seemed to damper the style. Nevertheless, it was such a fun experience and Redken was there with Essie and Maybelline for beauty and nail touchups, as well as a gifting bar, where you got to pick out travel-sized deluxe samples of many of the Redken styling products.
I was supposed to head to the show at Pier 59 for 4 p.m., but unfortunately my Uber kept cancelling on me (the traffic was insane and it was raining) and the subway stop was about a 12 minute walk, which I didn’t want to do in the rain (and by that point it was already 3:45 p.m.). I ended up just staying at the Arlo for another hour before venturing out into SoHo to pop into some shops.
My last event of the night was the Byredo launch party at the Byredo store on Wooster for their new fragrance Slow Dance. Slow Dance has notes of opopanak, geranium, labdanum, violet, patchouli, and vanilla. Since the theme of the perfume is prom, the sales associates were dressed in their best ’80s prom gear and we got to sip some bubbly while browsing the perfumes and learning about the new scent.
On Saturday I made my way to the Rebecca Minkoff presentation, which was at Pier59 Studios from 1-3 p.m. I got there around 1:45 p.m. and was let in shortly after 2 p.m. The presentation was made up of different “rooms” which were document boxes stacked and illuminated in different colours. The models were wearing a variety of different looks, everything from casual to more dressy. Since the whole presentation was office-themed, each look was tailored towards to the working girl, with the last vignette featuring a plus-sized model for her partnership with Stitch-Fix. At the end, attendees were given blue pouches that said “Freedom” on on side and “Self Made” on the other.
I had wanted to keep my Saturday fairly open so I could spend time with my boyfriend, so afterwards, we bummed around the Chelsea and West Village neighbourhood before making out way back home to change. From there, I headed to Spring Studios for the Chiara Boni La Petite Robe show.
Photo credit: Darian DiCianno/BFA.com
Photo credit: Darian DiCianno/BFA.com
Photo credit: Darian DiCianno/BFA.com
I absolutely loved this show by the Italian designer, which featured elegant designs. It was definitely a fun show, which started off with models and mother-daughter duo Pat and Anna Cleveland who sang to the audience before walking the runway themselves. The designs were very western inspired, with cowboy boots and hats donning the catwalk. The styles transitioned from animal patterns ranging from leopard, giraffe, and tiger stripes to paisley motifs, to finally, multicolour butterfly patterns.
From there, I headed to just south of Chinatown for the Vingioni by Rodell Gray show, who is an Atlanta-based designer who showcased youthful pieces based on primary colours and an unorthodox mix of fabrics. The show was actually held in the basement of a church and definitely fit the more street style, laid-back vibe of the pieces.
Although I did have some invites for NYFW-related things on Sunday, I chose to keep it pretty easy and just relax since I had been running around non-stop for the last few days. I do have a few shows coming up this week (including one I went to this morning), so stay tuned!
Like this post? Check out these related ones:
It’s always been a dream of mine to go to a real fashion show.
I feel like high school fashion shows are a regular thing that everyone does, and although it’s just a measly fundraiser, I always took it so seriously. I’ve always been one to splurge on labels and brands and try to be fashion forward, so even when I was in Grade 12 and had our grad fashion show, I still went over the top with it.
When I was in college and university, I remember thinking that it would be a dream of mine to go to Toronto Fashion Week, never even considering that any of the major fashion weeks would be in the cards to me. Until this year.
When I found out that my boyfriend was doing his fellowship in New York City for a year I instantly thought of all the fun things I could see and do while I was here, and one of those fun things was New York Fashion Week (NYFW).
NYFW happens every September and February and the collections are typically for the next season. So the September week is for spring/summer of the following year and February is for fall/winter of that year. When I was booking my trips out here to visit I definitely put September on my list since the beginning of the month marked NYFW SS20, and now friends, it’s finally here.
I’ll be doing a full post on how I planned my week and all the effort that went into getting invites (hint: start pitching early!), but before then I wanted to provide some recaps on what I saw and did.
NYFW officially starts on Friday, September 6 and goes to the following Friday, September 12, however, there were a ton of events happening starting at the beginning of the week. My official NYFW (I can’t believe I get to say that!) started on Tuesday when I headed to the DryBar in the Upper East Side first thing to get a blowout. I have never been to DryBar before but always wanted to go and it was so nice to sit there and have my hair washed and styled.
From there, I made my way to the All Things Mochi presentation at The Standard East Village. All Things Mochi was founded in 2013 and is a colourful collection that draws its inspiration from the cultures and communities where each individual collection is born. The presentation, which was held in a loft at The Standard East Village, showcased their Philippines Collection and was full of tropical, colourful prints and designs that took reference from the many beautiful islands of the Philippines.
This line is definitely my kind of style and the clothes were very resort-worthy. As soon as the elevator doors opened up, you were transported into a tropical paradise thanks to the drummers and the motifs throughout the showroom. The models stood on risers complete with tall grass, and as you walked outside, you were given beautiful 360-degree views of the Manhattan skyline with a bar that served up tropical-inspired drinks.
From there, I headed to Spring Studios, which is where most of the shows take place and made my way to Gallery II for the RIZHOU show, which was part of TMall China Cool runway shows, which showcased heritage and emerging Chinese designers at NYFW.
I had been invited to all four shows (PEACEBIRD, THREEGUN, SONGTA and i-am-chen, and RIZHUO), but I only had time to take in the last one, RIZHUO, which was at 6 p.m. The collection at RIZHUO is designed by Luijan Zhang and was contemporary women’s wear that portrayed the brand’s peaceful attitude towards life. There was a lot of loose, structured shapes and minimal colours; lots of black and beige. Truthfully, I found the whole collection to be very samurai and loved the simplicity of the styles.
On Thursday, I started my day in the afternoon with the L’AGENCE presentation. L’AGENCE is a California-based label which merges laid-back Cali influence with the timelessness of Parisian fashion. Their pieces are very effortless and timeless and definitely items that you can have in your wardrobe for many years.
The collection was so beautiful and had tons of floral and leopard details and menswear-inspired styles; there were so many everyday pieces that I would love to incorporate into my wardrobe that can easily be dressed up or down.
From there I made my way to the Tula party, which celebrated their new Rose Glow & Get It Cooling & Brightening Eye Balm (preorder it here and use code SHAYNA for 20% off!). I love the original Glow & Get It balm so I was so excited to see they released a new version, which has the same ingredients but also has rose hip oil, which is a plant-based retinol alternative, as well as rose water, which hydrates, softens and tones skin.
The party was so fun and they gifted us the eye balm and a cute bag which they customized for us at the party.
After the party I headed to the Afffair runway show at Spring Studios. Afffair is designed by Azerbaijani fashion designer Rufat Ismayil. The pieces were very statement making, but feminine. There was lots of mesh detailing with sparkles, as well as confetti-like textures layered with sparkles and mesh and feathers. The collection was so beautiful and every piece that the models wore was jaw dropping.
Other blogger friends had mentioned to me that fashion week was chaotic and it definitely has been since it seems like the events and shows are all other the place. I will say that the days have been flying by and I’m definitely trying to just take everything in and fully experience it.
Today is a busy one and I have a few shows tomorrow and fun events as well. Make sure you follow along on my Instagram to see all the fun stuff I get up to.
Have you been to a fashion week before?
Like this post? Check out these related ones:
