This article has been syndicated from Bella King, an InfluenceHer Collective Member. Read the full post here.
It’s that time of year again where the city fills up with influencers wearing the coolest street style and everyone’s Instagram story consists of clips from the hottest runway shows. And you just can’t help but wonder like Carrie Bradshaw— how on earth do I get into NYFW?
Here’s a secret: you don’t have to have a million followers on Instagram or YouTube, or literally any other social media for that matter. You need some motivation, perseverance, and a reason to be invited. Don’t believe me? Here’s what I did to get invited to my very first fashion week.
Do your research
First thing’s first, you have to have the schedule. The month before the week actually begins, you will live and die by this schedule. The further away from the dates, the less the schedule is complete, which means you need to keep a close eye on it to see if any designers are added to the list during the email period.
You also need to keep a close eye on brands that have shown at NYFW in the past but aren’t listed on the official schedule. The main schedule shows the heavy hitter brands, but there are many brands still holding shows and presentations during the week.
Don’t be afraid to send emails
Cold emailing is the name of the game as a new blogger. Last fashion week, I sent over 100 emails to brands and PR companies alike in two days. If you send an email to someone who has left the company, you’ll most likely get an auto response that says they are no longer in that position. At that point, you need to find the right person to send your email to.
The most important thing I can tell you is to double check your spelling. I repeat, double check your spelling. In my opinion, you have sealed your rejection fate if you spell something wrong in the body of your email. Or even worse: spelling a PR persons name wrong.
But when you send an email, follow these rules
DO: Make sure to hyperlink everything
Someone has to go through thousands of emails to decide who is going to get an invitation to a show. Make their job easy. They should be able to click the text in the body of your email so they can view your website or social media more easily. Let’s be honest — no one wants to type or copy-paste links into a browser to check someone out when they have 1,000+ similar emails.
DON’T: List the wrong name of the show of PR agency in your email
It will be obvious that you just copy-pasted emails from brand to brand and you won’t get an invite.
DO: Leave a way for the brand to contact you
I recommend you at the very least leave your email and Instagram link.
DON’T: Make the email too long
Again, there are 1,000+ emails for them to go through, and too much text is a quick way to get an auto-rejection.
Check out the events that aren’t runway shows
Since it’s fashion week, there are going to be plenty of other things to do besides going to the big designer shows. Online event resources, like Eventbrite, is great for finding fun NYFW events around the city during the day and night. I will say to use these resources with a grain of salt sparingly — there are some great events and parties listed with free food and drinks, but there are some that definitely aren’t fun. My advice is to manage your expectations and do your research into the event you want to attend.
After all this, all you can do is wait. You have to keep in mind that the brands and agencies are extremely busy during this period. They might not have the time to get back to you as quickly as you expect. Or at all. Keep your head high! It’s a process to get into fashion week, but you can if you play your cards right.
Read the full post here.