At 4:40 in the morning I jumped in an Uber, and anticipated taking the 5:12 train from White Plains into Grand Central. After successfully making my trip, I reviewed the lookbook I had been emailed the night before, trying to memorize the names of my models, and what looks they would be modeling over twelve hours later. I was externing for College Fashion Week NY.
Up until this summer I had never heard of the words extern, according to google it meant someone who would be working in, but not living in an institution. Still confused, I realized extern was a term for a short term intern, in this case very short term. I worked as an extern for approximately 15 hours, 19 hours if you included travel time. Being an extern for College Fashion Week was whirlwind experience, but maybe I should back it up a bit.
I accepted the position at the start of September, right after school had started. I was told I was one of 6 students chosen to help make College Fashion Week NY run effectively and efficiently, and was ecstatic to get some real first hand experience in event planning; a field I’ve always been interested in. The day I accepted my externship I was told to arrive at 9:00 AM ready for a day full of fun.
I didn’t hear anything after that until the night before, when I was asked to come in at 7:00 AM: They had just found out from the venue they could come in earlier, and felt like we would definitely need the extra time after the Boston College Fashion Week. While I was shocked, and slightly upset (like I said earlier, 5:12 AM train) I don’t regret the position at all.
Once we were let into Met West, the venue for the day, we were greeted by white walls and pillars that would soon transform into a runway, backstage, and numerous vendor stations for hair, makeup, food, and fun.
Starting at 7:00 AM sharp, boxes of clothing from Primark, and the other sponsors, started to show up. Being the first extern there, I started helping Corrinne, the wonderful woman in charge of what happened back stage, unpack the clothes and make the looks from the book she had sent me the night before. Soon, two other externs, Travis and Holly came, and started to get their models looks together as well. Unfortunately, the other externs never showed up, and between us, Corrine, Annie (one of the founders), and a lovely HC Employee Nicole, we had to make up for the lost hands.
We put up the racks and started hanging the clothes, as the models started to trickle in one by one. Each extern, and our new helping hands, was given a rack and a group of five girls to fit, accessorize, and deal with any other issues that may come off. All of my models were wonderful, happy, and cooperative people, who also were writer’s, board members, and Campus Correspondents for other Her Campus Chapters. Most models were happy with their looks, but there were one or two models who were uncomfortable in the looks created for them who made fusses. Besides those isolated incidents, all the models were great sports, and many were modeling in their second fashion week.
Time started to go by quickly, and before we knew it we had missed breakfast and Corrinne was bringing us pizza for lunch. When we looked at the time, it was almost 2:00 PM and we had steamed over half the clothes, and fitted all our our models. By 4:00 PM we we’re ready for the show to start, and we were more than proud of ourselves. We left the backstage area, which had been built around us while we were doing fittings to find that the venue was completely transformed. There was an Ulta Makeup Bar, a hair station by Bed Head, a Spindrift drink section, Primark Closet, and sweet treats from Shake Shack.
At 5:00 PM the doors were opened for a VIP hour, and we were able to explore, get our goody bags, and check out the scene. I made sure to grab some Shake Shack ice cream and a makeup bag before taking some photos with the Extern team. At 6:00 PM the doors opened for everyone, and I was able to quickly say hello to my team who came before our 6:45 PM call for backstage. The show started at 7:00 PM, and went by so quickly I couldn’t believe that it was over when it ended around 8:30 PM.
Once all of the clothes were accounted for, the models were able to take their favorite, non-Primark, look home with them to keep, in remembrance of the event and as a thank you. Once the models left, we started packing the clothing back up. Before it was put away, though, we were able to take a few of the leftover non-primark pieces for ourselves. While none of the clothing was in my size, I was able to grab some nice things for my roommates, who were super excited to get free clothes.
As we packed up the boxes, the curtain-wall that separated the backstage area we were in from the venue was taken down, and we saw an almost completely taken down venue. I had seen the Fashion show be put up, work its magic, and get taken down, all in one day.
At 10:30 we were told we could leave, and I called an Uber to take me to Grand Central. My feet hurt, I had two bags filled with goodies, and I was tired beyond belief. When I finally made it home it was 12:45, and I passed out, happy to have had such a great experience under my belt, and to have met so many wonderful people.