This is Not a Fashion Story by Danielle Bernstein

Author:Danielle Bernstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nextone Inc
Published: 2020-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

LESSON THIRTEEN

Define Your Own Value

I

will never forget the first time I attended New York Fashion Week. I was fourteen years old, and my dad had snagged two tickets to the Milly show. It took weeks to plan my outfit, scouring my teenage closet for anything that could possibly pass as one of the brand’s designs. (In a dream world, I would have worn something Milly to the show, but my high school allowance permitted little more than a trip to the movie theater.)

This life-changing experience took place during a time that people call the glory days of New York Fashion Week, a.k.a. the 1990s and early 2000s. All of the shows still took place at Bryant Park. Instagram didn’t exist. And all the future influencers were still at home reading CosmoGirl. Except for me, the lucky one who was going to experience the kind of old school show Anna Wintour still dreams about.

Of course, I didn’t care that my dad and I were seated in the last row (behind every socialite, editor, and buyer). I was just happy to be there, in the presence of all those glamorous models and the gorgeous clothes. I propped my eyes open and tried not to blink, afraid of missing anything. The music got louder, the spotlights brightened, and the catwalk that changed my life began.

After the show, my dad took me to dinner at the Bryant Park Grill, an eatery that’s long graced the back of the New York Public Library. I was too excited to stop talking. Bites of my Cobb salad flew everywhere as I pledged, “Someday, I am going to sit front row at a show just like that.” I would wear head-to-toe designer duds and charm fashion’s upper crust with the greatest of ease.

Fast-forward seven years, and I made that dream a reality.

You’ve already read about how I got my start snapping photos outside of the shows. As the event grew and more designers started to show, they moved Fashion Week to Lincoln Center. My first actual invitation, however, didn’t come until 2013 when Mercedes-Benz made me their first official ambassador of New York Fashion Week. (Mercedes had been a longtime Fashion Week sponsor.) This meant I would attend all the shows as a representative of the car brand, documenting my experiences along the way. This guaranteed me a front row at every show and backstage access to interview the designers. After each day, I would film video content with Mercedes’s team to discuss what trends I saw and which designers I loved. And what a moment this was.

In the seven years since my first real Fashion Week, the New York shows have gone through several iterations. The general concept has remained the same since 1943: to elevate American designers to the same status as those in London, Paris, and Milan—cities that already had their own Fashion Weeks. It wasn’t until 1993, however, that the shows were consolidated to a single location in Bryant Park, and then later to Lincoln Center.

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