In Colorado, other than Peyton Manning and Ben Higgins, the glitz of the celebrity life only existed on my Instagram feed. When I picked up and moved to Atlanta to go to school at Emory I never expected that the ~freedom~ and ~excitement~ of college were anything other than great words to put on a pamphlet in an admissions office. That changed a few weeks into school when I encountered Lil’ Wayne and his ‘boys’ standing behind me in an ungodly long Starbucks line. Later that year, a girl in my sorority disproved a long held scientific belief about trypophobia. I was a test subject in the study. Delta Airlines is headquarters here, so new people from all over the world fly in daily. Atlanta has a lot of big players and even bigger action.
One of the clearest differences I noticed were the girls walking around campus dressed straight out of magazines. As a college girl who is baffled by the concept of fashion I was immediately intimidated as my trustworthy jeans-tee-and-sneakers combo lacked all the flare and individuality of my classmates. So, when my boyfriend came to me with a surprise idea to take me to New York City for New York Fashion Week the very next day, I have to admit I was shaking in my scuffed, non-designer boots. Determined to finally take advantage of the freedom and adventure Atlanta has to offer, I had 24 hours and a lab till I was on a plane. Thanks to the countless flights out of Hartsfield-Jackson we procured tickets online (that weren’t horribly pricy) about 10 minutes after discussing the idea.
Now I just had to figure out what “fashion” was. Like any desperate girl, I Googled. I was inundated with photos of celebrities. Lucky for me I noticed a trend of oversized sweaters and thigh-high boots, and oversized sweaters were way more in my comfort zone than the skin tight suede dresses Kylie Jenner had been rocking. My boyfriend owns a few designer sweaters and is very sweet about letting me borrow things, so I grabbed one and threw it in my backpack. Unfortunately, he didn’t have any thigh-high boots for me to borrow. Just about a quarter mile of campus there are a lot of cute shops at Emory Point, where I began my search to complete my outfit. After finally finding a pair of boots that could work, the price tag didn’t sit well with me, so I snapped a picture of them and swiftly sent it off to my trusty group chat with a sad face emoji. As I began to walk back to campus defeated, one of the girls in my group chat said she had similar boots and the same shoe-size. I had “find an outfit” crossed off my list (they really mean it when they say you get 100 extra closets to work with when you join a sorority).
The last part of putting together the trip was thanks to a sparked memory from, as much as I hate to say it, my freshman PACE seminar. I recall the presenter noting the importance of making connections with people and that “you’d be surprised what people will do for you if you just reach out.” My boyfriend and I made it our last conquest to ask around about free shows we could go to and good restaurants, and shockingly instead of advice, someone my boyfriend texted offered to get us tickets to the main NYFW area and two shows.
On Friday I left my QTM lab with my backpack of boots, a sweater, calculator, pajamas, makeup, and a toothbrush. We hopped in an Uber and after just an hour and a half flight we landed in the sunset blasting orange beams between the cracks of the skyscrapers of New York City. The next day we woke up and got dressed for the first show Kyboe!. We hailed a cab and I wobbled up to its yellow door and plopped myself right in front of the air conditioning. Turns out oversized sweaters are less comfortable in 90-degree heat. Then, in a truly magical moment we reached the corner of the block of the main center for fashion week, and I stepped out of the cab, gazed up at the Empire State Building and sleek NYFW signs, and then I plunged to the concrete instantaneously. My boyfriend helped me up and I proceeded to use him as a crutch for the heels the rest of the day. I tottered past lines to meet the woman to give us our tickets and she promptly whisked us inside to a VIP waiting area. Wide eyed I looked around me to see reality TV stars, famous graffiti artists, and even an Olympic medalist who wore all three of her Rio medals around her neck the whole day. Fashion Police was shooting live only 20 feet from us; meanwhile men in black suits served us tiny snacks on platters. People would walk up to the barrier and take photos of my boyfriend and me or ask to take photos with us. Even professional photographers and videographers would come by and snap photos of everyone in the little lounge.
The shows themselves were loud and fun, almost like a concert, and the day disappeared as quickly as it came. Before I knew it, I was sitting on a plane headed back to Atlanta. The weekend was an experience I’ll never forget, but looking back, none of it would’ve been possible without my great friends from Emory. From the emergency loaner boots that completed my NYFW worthy outfit, to the group partners that were so accommodating of my unforeseen schedule change, the people at Emory are what made my fashion weekend end stylishly. You can find anything you need in Atlanta to make an adventure unforgettable, it’s the perfect runway for some of the most unique and wild opportunities you’ll ever have.