Irina's Blog
Preparing for my first fashion show at New York Fashion Week
Mar 12, 2014
Preparing for my first fashion show was a very exciting, interesting and rewarding experience and I'd like to share it with you in this blog post. I think it may be simply interesting for some of you and helpful for the others who are also preparing for their first fashion show. I did search the web for some helpful information on this topic and didn’t find much so I hope this post will help other jewellery designers like me preparing for their first fashion show experience.
How It All Started
It all started with me receiving an invitation from Plitzs Fashion Marketing. They found my designs online, really liked them and invited me to apply for the fashion show. The idea sounded very exciting.
Plitzs Fashion Marketing team organize fashion shows for emerging designers during New York Fashion Week twice a year in February and September. I got an invitation in November to participate in the February 2014 show.
After I received an invitation to apply, I had to fill out an application form and call Plitzs’ creative director where he asked me a number of questions to qualify me for the fashion show. Our conversation went really well, Plitzs director also looked at the photos of my work online and approved me for the show.
Now that my participation in Plitzs New York Fashion Week was approved, I had a lot of work to be done to get ready for the show. Some may think that there is little preparation on designer’s side but you’ll be surprised how many things designers need to work on before the fashion show and that’s on top of getting the actual designer collection ready.
Brand and Designer Profile
The first step was to supply Plitzs Marketing team with my brand information and designer profile. So I was writing away - summarizing my artistic vision, biography and brand story. They also needed photos of my designs and my (designer) photo. I was busy picking and choosing the best photos representing myself and my collection at the fashion show. Fashion show organizers were going to use the profiles and photos for designer publicity on their website and through a press release.
Travel Arrangements
Another really important aspect was getting a travel ticket, reserving the hotel and researching the customs requirements for traveling with the commercial merchandise across the border.
I ended up buying a 2-way Air Canada ticket from Toronto to New York and making a reservation at Hotel Pennsylvania, the same hotel that the fashion show was going to take place. Staying at the same hotel was convenient and the location was hard to beat – right in midtown Manhattan, just steps away from Times Square, Broadway and Empire State Building. I allowed an extra day before and after the show, this was necessary both to allow extra time to prepare for the show and do some sightseeing in New York.
Customs
My customs research proved to be a challenging task. Whereas researching the Canadian aspect was relatively easy. I found the phone number online for the Canadian Border Information Services Agency and they explained that I need to fill in the form and visit their Toronto office before travelling where they would stamp the form and the photos of the merchandise I was taking over the border. I made a trip to their office in Mississauga one day before leaving for New York and had all the documents stamped.
On the other hand I was challenged with researching the US customs rules. I couldn’t find the necessary information on the US Border Protection Services website and when I called their number I’d always get a voice mail and no call backs. Finally, I managed to to talk to one of their reps on the phone but the information I was given was incomplete as I later learned in US customs just before boarding the airplane.
Music Selection
Designers can select the music for the show of their choice or the fashion show organizer would supply their own music. But why would designer forgo the opportunity of choosing the music that would work best with their collection’s looks and style. So I spent hours on iTunes listening to fashion show music and deciding which tunes would work best with my jewellery collection showcase.
I needed to compile 16 minutes worth of music in mp3 format as one file on a USB. I had to learn how to convert files into an mp3 format and how to merge them into one file. Something I haven’t done before. I found some really useful websites in the process to help me do that. I’m proud to say that even though this was a challenging task for me, I ended up completing it successfully. I picked upbeat and sophisticated music that would go well with my jewellery designs and ended up choosing four tunes from the "Fashion Songs New House Music" album (Smooth Jazz, Sex on the Beach, French Kiss and St. Tropez Affair).
Models’ Clothing
I was only supplying jewellery for the fashion show but what will the models wear? I needed to choose the clothes that would both work well with the jewellery but won’t take away or distract from my jewellery designs. After giving it some thought, I’ve decided to have the models wear the little black dress with a crewneck. It had to be a simple neckline not to take away from the jewellery. And little black dress is both elegant and simple and would work perfectly with most jewellery pieces. All the models were instructed to wear a little black dress with a simple neckline and black pumps. I was busy communicating with 35 models via SMS, providing directions and answering questions.
Models’ Makeup and Hair
Designers also get to choose the makeup and hairstyles that models would wear for their designer showcase. Plitzs supplied me with 5 different choices of makeup and hairstyles for the show. I went with the classic looks and chose an updo and neutral eye makeup with red lipstick for the models. As I later discovered, this look worked amazing on some models while made the other models look overdone. The same look doesn’t work well on all the models unless they have similar skin colour, hair and features. However, it’s traditional to have all the models in the showcase sporting the same look so there is a consistent and professional overall style for the showcase.
Promotional Items
Plitzs Fashion Marketing team was going to provide all the VIP guests with gift bags and designers were given an opportunity to have their promotional items inserted in the bags. I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to promote my brand so I decided to print desktop calendars featuring my latest Lookbook photos for each month of the year. Since the fashion show was taking place in February, my calendars started in February 2014 and ended in January 2015. It came out beautiful featuring my jewellery and website URL on each page.
Retailer Outreach
I wanted to invite some of New York’s boutique owners, buyers and retailers to the fashion show. However, I didn’t have much time to devote to researching the appropriate boutiques in the area and sending out invitations. So I started looking for fashion marketing student volunteers to help me out with this time-consuming task. I posted an ad on Craig’s List and was lucky enough to find two marketing students from New York to help me accomplish this. The students researched the potential buyers in SOHO and Fashion Disitrict in Manhattan. Once the list was approved, they sent out personal invitations to retailers inviting them to the show.
PR Outreach
I also wanted to create some of my own PR buzz for the show without completely relying on the show organizers. I promoted my participation in New York Fashion week through social media channels and wrote up a press release and distributed it through PR.com before the show.
Jewellery Collection
The most important part of the fashion show preparation was of course the jewellery collection. I needed to decide on the looks I was going to showcase. I was offered an opportunity to showcase more looks than was originally planned. So I added more jewellery pieces in the last few weeks before the fashion show. I also had to add more earrings as some of them were sold but the overall look I wanted to feature wouldn’t be complete without the earrings.
After I finished creating all the necessary pieces, I needed to decide on the order in which they would be shown. I decided to start with more casual pieces in light colours and finish off with glamorous evening looks in more vibrant colours. All the jewellery sets were packed in plastic bags and numbered.
Final Touches
Finally, I had to think about my presence at the fashion show. I’m the designer so I would be on the runway at the end of the show and would be present at the press junket after my designer showcase with the other designers. I wanted to look my best. I had to decide on my clothing, my hair and makeup and finally my speech. I ended up with choosing a little black dress just like the models in my showcase paired up with one of my jewellery designs of course. I had my hair and makeup done at Marc Jacob salon not far from my hotel. And I wrote up my speech and rehearsed it over and over in front of the mirror to make sure I remembered everything I wanted to say about my jewellery collection.
I think I’ve covered all the major points about my preparation for the New York Fashion Week and it did take a lot more preparation than I expected initially. It was a lot of hard work, sleepless nights and difficult decisions but in the end it was a very rewarding and exciting experience. And let’s face it, every designer dreams of seeing their designs on the runway. And as it turns out sometimes dreams do come true.
Watch Irina Designs jewellery collection on the runway at New York Fashion Week!
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