How a Broke Blogger Goes to Fashion Week

How does a broke blogger go to New York Fashion Week?

You could find a company looking to work with bloggers during fashion week that can offer you access to shows. Or you could get dolled up, walk in like you own the place, and just crash. 


But since I live in Birmingham and can't afford a flight to New York, neither of those would work for me. 

So instead this weekend I headed to the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival for a special screening of The Tents, a documentary chronicling the history and evolution of New York Fashion Week. 

The 72-minute film begins exploring Fashion Week's humble beginnings of overcrowded shows in downtown clubs and SoHo lofts that broke all sorts of fire codes. Then the documentary details The Council of Fashion Designers of America's organization of the event in Bryant Park in 1993. They decided to pitch a tent, literally, setting up makeshift marquees in the park. Eventually the event would be taken over by  IMG and later become the blowout Mercedes Benz Fashion Week we know it as today. 


Despite a few annoying technical difficulties, I enjoyed the film and loved learning about the history of this event through interviews with top designers such as Isaac Mizrahi, Tommy Hilfiger, and Donna Karan. 


And while sitting in the auditorium I even came up with an idea for a blog post.

In my next lifetime I want to be a fashion blogger.  

Like most people I wake up asking myself What am I going to wear today? Unlike most people I tend to obsess over this question. As soon as I know I’m attending an event I can’t stop thinking about what outfit I'll don for the occasion. 

This may sound shallow, but give me a break. I am a Southerner and down here dressing appropriately for an event is less about vanity and more about good manners. Show up under-dressed for something and it's considered just plain rude. 

I used to give myself a hard time about being so concerned with fashion. I’m a writer, I told myself. I have a master's degree from UC Berkeley, hippie capital of the world; I shouldn’t care about such superficial things. But I do care and now I realize that’s OK.

As I think about all the wonderful ladies I’ve met and all the uplifting events I’ve attended through Birmingham’s natural hair community, it reminds me that the world of fashion and beauty can truly unite people.

Fashion can be used to raise money for great causes and fashion can inspire. You can’t see Betsey Johnson’s bright, vibrant designs or watch her do cartwheels down the runway at the end of her shows and not be motivated to have more zest for life.


And I’ve found more ideas for blog posts and more tips on how to improve my blogs from the website Independent Fashion Bloggers than I have anywhere else on the web.

So yes, I am a writer, but, as the description for this blog reads, “I have some stories. I want to look good while I share them.”