How to Attend New York Fashion Week: A Step-by-Step Guide
I attended my very first New York Fashion Week last year, in September 2024 and it was everything I always dreamed of and more. I felt like I was in the movies watching all the models in the runway shows and all of the amazing different fashion designs. Although It was my first time, I managed to get invited to 5 shows (for free,) earning over $500 worth of freebies. Here’s exactly how I did it:
Research the Brands, Reach Out and Apply
Every year NYFW will post the schedule of all of the shows ahead of time, this is where you start your research. These range from big industry shows, huge household designer names, to open-to-the-public shows. Typically the Industry shows are very hard to get into because you have to go through the process of applying, get approved, and maybe paying an application free, just for a chance to purchase a ticket or be invited. The public shows however are also amazing, they include big name brands and are way easier to get invited to for free.
Once you see the schedule you can research the brands and reach out to the brand’s pr team by email, Instagram or sometimes they have a form you can fill out to be apart of their press. When emailing them I would introduce yourself and provide context on why they should invite you, for instance when I emailed them I provided my media kit (portfolio) and links to all of my social medias. As for the press option, the brands have to approve you for their media pass and you would be surprised with how easy it is to get in. I am a content creator with less than 20k followers on TikTok, and I was accepted to the majority of media passes I applied for. When I was applying for the media/press passes, I saw that they had all kinds of videographer, photographer, writer, content creator and podcast options. So I would advise to just “shoot your shot” with the brand’s media applications because why not.
Its all about who you know, not what you know
Join the local’s instagram group chats and connect with the people you meet, I can not stress that enough. In New York I’ve learned that everyone knows someone. There are going to be locals who either work in the industry or are fashion students, and they have all of the tea. From how to get into the hottest after parties, to hidden application forms on how to get invited to the shows for free, and fashion shows that need to fill seats and are giving away free tickets. They also list various fashion show opportunities including volunteering opportunities to work the huge shows, and makeup artists and modeling jobs. The group chats fill up fast so be sure to look for them on TikTok and when you go to the shows connect with anyone you can, you never know who anyone is or will be.
Visit the brand pop-ups
The second thing I love about New York Fashion Week is all of the freebies you get from brand pop-ups. Here are a few brands just to give you an idea, Prada, Lancôme, Poppi, and Laneige had some iconic pop-ups during New York Fashion Week last year, and the goodies they were giving away were so worth waiting in line! However, the experience of the pop-up itself was worth everything and the best part is they are totally free. Sometimes you can sign up early to reserve a spot but most of the time you just wait in line are you can go in. Plus the wait times weren’t terrible considering its a free event, I waited about 30 minutes to get into the Prada pop-up. Usually the brands will announce when they are going to be in the area closer to NYFW so keep an eye out on their social medias for the announcements.
WHERE TO STAY
New York City doesn’t seem big until you’re running late and you don’t know where you’re going. Before you decide on what hotel to stay at, consider where all of the shows you want to go to are. For instance, most of the shows I went to where located in Soho and Midtown so I decided to stay closer to those areas. To get the best deal try to book early, hotels tend to get more expensive towards fashion week. Also, make sure to look for discount codes to get a discount on your hotel stay, I used a stylist’s influencer code during my stay and I got $80 off!
Hopefully after reading this, you have a better idea on how to attend New York Fashion Week. The most important thing to remember about attending anywhere new is to be safe and make lots of memories. Be sure to get all dressed up and have fun with it! New York Fashion Week happens every year, twice a year so if you miss an opportunity or can’t decide which show to attend because they are at the sam time. you can always go again. Now all that’s left to do is act on everything you learned from this post and pack for New York!
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed and/or learned something from this post! Comments are always welcome! What would you like to see more of? Any questions? What did you love, hate, feel inspired by? Let me Know (:
