New York

New York Fashion Week 2018

New York Fashion Week Street Style Outfits

New York Fashion Week Street Style Outfits

New York Fashion Week Street Style Outfits

New York Fashion Week Street Style Outfits

New York Fashion Week Street Style Outfits

New York Fashion Week Street Style Outfits

New York Fashion Week Street Style Outfits

New York Fashion Week Street Style Outfits

My third year of New York Fashion Week is officially in the books! This year was fast and furious to say the least since it was smack dab in between two other trips. I had two full days in the city and I tried to make the most of every minute! There were lot’s of meetings, new friends, and rooftops and very little sleep but I wouldn’t change it for the world because I feel so blessed to have these opportunities do be doing what I love! Life motto lately: “You can sleep when you’re dead”.

I only RSVP’d for one fashion show as my focus was more so on brand meetings and connections this year. Sadly, due to rain I didn’t even make the one show I was really looking forward to going to, Nicole Miller. Thankfully I still was able to make it to almost all of my other events and meetings. Some of my favorites this year included the Liketoknow.it party, Lulu’s party, Shopbop party, and OK Magazine party. No, I did not just party my little heart away during fashion week but due to privacy reasons I am not able to disclose several of the brand meetings that I had so that’s why you get a long list of parties instead 😉

DO YOU HAVE TO BE INVITED?

Heck no! My first year that I went, I booked a plane ticket and hotel room and told myself that even if I didn’t get invited, it would be the trip of a lifetime to go to NYC during fashion week. No matter how small you are, if you do the work to pitch brands for fashion events, you will have at least a few events to go to. Even if you just go to meet with other fashion influencers and brands, it is 100% worth it! Getting invited to shows, showrooms, brand meetings, parties, etc are all the same. Most are not going to reach out to you unless you’ve already gone in years past. YOU have to do the work. This means sending out hundreds of emails. Read more about how to get invited to events here. And for the record, my first year that I attended NYFW, I had less than 5k followers and guess what? I still got invited to fashion shows:)

HOW DO YOU GET TO MEET WITH BRANDS?

Fashion week (or honestly any trip to New York) is a great time to reach out to brands and PR companies that you have already worked with in the past. If you’ve never looked at the signature line of brands you’ve been emailing, you should start 🙂 Most are headquartered in NYC! There is nothing like putting a face to a name, especially when these brands work with hundreds if not thousands of other influencers. Anything you an do to make youreself stand out is going to put you ahead in this industry! Before fashion week each year, I will make a point to look through my collaborations over the past year and reach out to some of the brands that I have yet to meet with. I will just shoot them an email letting them know I am in town for fashion week and that I’d love to meet face to face. Some brands I’ve simply gone to their office, others I’ve met for coffee and then some already have scheduled events or showrooms during fashion week and will invite you to those!

HOW DO YOU DRESS THAT FAB ON A BUDGET?

Not going to lie, it’s hard. If you want to go to fashion week and not spend a ton of money on outfits the best ways to look baller on a budget are to rent, borrow or be gifted clothes. This definitely takes some time and effort but can be done several different ways. 1) Reach out to local shops before your trip and ask if they will let you pull some clothes to showcase during fashion week. Most places do this regularly for photoshoots or other events so they should be used to it. Mention you will tag them in all social posts giving them credit and they should be more than happy for the trade of services. 2) Reach out to PR companies or brands in NYC that have showrooms or might want to dress you for the week. Again, many brands do this so asking is not weird at all especially if you’ve worked with them in the past! They will appreciate the exposure opportunity. 3) Many PR brands have gifting suites during fashion week which means FREE CLOTHES. This is where it’s at ladies.

WANTING TO ATTEND NYFW?

Have you thought about going to fashion week but not sure where to start, how to get invited, who to reach out to, etc? The posts below from years past should be helpful when thinking and planning to attend next season! If you have any other questions, I’m more than happy to answer them in the comments below!

NEW YORK FASHION WEEK TIPS

BEST PHOTO SPOTS IN NYC

INSTAGRAM ROUND-UP: NYFW OUTFITS

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NYFW Blog Takeover + Best Photo Spots in NYC

The best places to take pictures in NYC and Brooklyn

The best places to take pictures in NYC and Brooklyn

Best photo spots in NYC

The best places to take pictures in NYC and Brooklyn

The best places to take pictures in NYC and Brooklyn

The best places to take pictures in NYC and Brooklyn

Best photo spots in NYC

Shelbi’s Outfit // Skirt: Similar | Top: Similar | Shoes: Dillard’s | Bag: Celine

Kylee’s Outfit // Top: Club Monaco | Skirt: Club Monaco | Shoes: Target | Bag: Saint Laurent

Kylee here, taking over one of my favorite blogger babes Shelbi’s blog today while she is busy traveling the world! Umm.. can we switch spots?! Kidding! I hope you are having the best time ever experiencing life!

I have to say I had the joy to travel a short trip with Shelbi to NYFW (while we waited for our other girls, co blogger Kelly and Brittany, with hello honey) to join us! While we rushed around the city, drank A LOT of champagne , and managed to get ready for a photoshoot at 6am –  you can read more about that here. I would not have had it any other way. We decided that it would be fun to give a fresh take on things and take over each others blog. One of our favorite memories while in New York was our photoshoot on The Brooklyn Bridge. New York does not lack Instagram worthy spots to take pictures for fashion bloggers. You can pretty much guarantee every corner you turn there is some building, park, street art on walls, and if you’re a roof top bar junkie like we are the views are to die for! Everyone takes pictures at central park, The Plaza, but where are the places that you don’t think of – don’t worry y’all Ive got you covered!

Brooklyn Bridge

This is just a shot that you just can’t miss. The Brooklyn Bridge is a practically a symbol of New York. For our photoshoot with Banavenue we met on the Brooklyn side. You can’t help but to turn around and just be in awe of the city.

Top of the Rock 

Still so bummed that I left on Sunday and missed the Houston blogger photoshoot here. The Top of the Rockefeller Tower offers the best view of NYC, guaranteed. Just check out these photos from Shelbi’s photoshoot.

The Manhattan Bridge from Dumbo

AKA “Dumbo” if you’re looking for an instagram spot that is unique. The brick buildings, which make the perfect frame for New York City’s Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. It’s just one of those you have to do – trust me!

Mr. Purple 

Remember when I was telling y’all that I was obsessed with roof top bars – this is a must! Not only is the food instagram worthy, the view is too! It’s completely eye catching. To be honest, ALL the rooftop bars a must! Grab a cocktail and hold that drink up to the sky!

Love Wall

Lower East Side is filled with great spots to take photos. Throughout the Lower East Side you can find the #LoveWall and it’s such a fun backdrop for outfits shots.

Soho

Hello shopping meca! Cobble stone streets are a must for a fabulous photo! We also highly suggest hopping in front of a cab for an obligatory yellow car photo!

These are just some of our favorites! Like we said New York is full of great spots for a photoshoot!  A huge thanks to Shelbi for letting me take over her blog. You can check out her tips on how to get ready for a photoshoot here!

XO,

k + k

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An End to New York Fashion Week 2017

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftopNew York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop

Bodysuit: Dillard’s | Pants: Shein ($20) | Shoes: DSW | Earrings: Bauble Bar | Lipstick: MAC

You can all rest easy knowing that this is officially the last fashion week post that I will be doing! Thank you so much for sticking along with me thus far. These recaps are just as much for me to remember everything that I did as they are for all of you. I swear if I don’t write things down, the memories completely erase from my brain! I have a bad case of short term memory loss… and long term.. basically all of the memory loss.

Anywho, starting Monday you will begin to see travel posts and recaps of my travel adventures thus far. Can you believe I’ve already been to Boston, Nantucket, Copenhagen, Prague and now Vienna since New York?! The time is FLYING by. If you have anything specific that you would like me to cover in these posts, please do not hesitate to let me know. I love hearing from you guys, especially when it comes to travel!

My last two days in New York were (thankfully) much more tame than the first four. Last year I was only in the city for four days and it seemed way too short. This year I was there for six and I was itching to get out of there. Maybe five is the magic number?! The fifth day of fashion week inlcuded LOTS of photoshoots because when you are in New York, you make use of all of those pretty backdrops. First up was a photoshoot with Yash, my talented Houston photographer that I have now been working with for over a year and was able to make it to fashion week this year. Yay! Britt and I knocked out about four outfits each including these rooftop pics on top of our hotel (you can see this post for where we stayed). I loved this outfit so much that I actually wore it the following day. Outfit repeater!! Gasp.

The second photoshoot of the day was with Saltflat, a online boutique that my bestie Kailey and her business partner, Ling are opening on October 1st. I’ve seen the collection and let me just tell you everything is insanely cute and super affordable. They also have a line for all of my brides out there- think bachelorette and bridal showers. Make sure to check them out if you haven’t already!

Britt and I spent the rest of the evening exploring Central Park and walking around the city. Once the sun sets, New York is a sight to see! If you are going to fashion week, I cannot stress enough that you MUST make time to actually see the city and enjoy it. It is good for the soul! After Central Park, Britt and I headed to the oh-so-famous Serendipity 3 for dinner with girlfriends. If you haven’t heard of Serendipity 3, they are famous for their frozen hot chocolate. Forewarning: it is HUGE so definitely get it to share.

I wish I could say we went out with a bang for our last night in the city but by this point we were so exhausted and battling colds, that we caught an Uber back to the hotel and crashed! Tuesday the only notable fashion thing that I did was the Alice + Olivia presentation and it was by far my favorite presentation/show of the entire week! I definitely saved the best for last 🙂 Even though it was my only event of the day, it caused a ruckus if you will. I thought I gave myself plenty of time to get to the show, back to the hotel, and to the train station but I most certainly did not. I made it to the presentation late only to find there was an insanely long line to get in. If it wasn’t for my girl Erica that snuck me in, I wouldn’t have even gotten to see the presentation. I was about to be real mad if I got all sexy for nothin 😉

I was in the presentation long enough to snap five pictures and then I literally sprinted back to my hotel and across town to the train station with two large bags in tow. I made it with only minutes to spare. So you could say fashion week did not end without a proper send off. I sat down on my train sweaty and stinky and still fully dressed from the Alice + Olivia show but it was a total success of a week and I could not be more thankful for the opportunity to attend my second NYFW.

This concludes the fashion week recaps but if you have any questions at all about my schedule, experience or anything else that I did not include in any of my NYFW posts (all located here), please do not hesitate to ask! Don’t forget I have a post up (my most requested post) about how YOU can attend fashion week. Let me know what you think and thank you for following along!

 

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New York Fashion Week 2017: Day 4

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop barNew York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

New York Fashion Week street style, NYC rooftop bar

Jumpsuit: Dillards | Top: Similar | Booties: Nordstrom | Purse: Goodnight Macaroon | Lipstick: MAC

By day four in the big apple, I was exhausted to say the least. You will see throughout my final two recaps that my schedule starts to trail off. I’m glad that I kind of planned it that way but it is also attributed to having to miss some things the last couple of days. Britt and I both woke up with sore throats but were determined to push through as much as possible. Pro tip for anyone planning to go to fashion week: bring all the drugs – Advil, cold medicine, cough drops, Emergen-C, etc.

The morning started out with a quick photoshoot in the Tribeca area with Ban Avenue Photography before heading to the Dan Liu show. This was my second year to see Dan Liu and it did not disappoint. All of his collection is bright, feminine, and a little flirty! There are so many shows during fashion week that are fun to go to if you just want to dream and check out of reality, but what I love about Dan Liu’s collection is that it is something I could see myself wearing on many occasions.

I had yet to spend quality time with my girls Kailey and Tayler so when they told me they were headed to Bergdorf Goodman’s for brunch, I totally invited myself along. I ordered the lobster mac ‘n cheese and indulged in girl talk and a break from the fashion week crazies.

After brunch I met Britt back at our hotel as we had to check out of one and into another. We split our time between the Courtyard New York Manhattan/Herald Square and the SpringHill Suites New York Midtown Manhattan/Fifth AvenueThese pictures were actually snapped on the rooftop bar (The Monarch) of the Courtyard location. In fact, both of our hotels that we stayed at had amazing rooftop views. I might be a big city girl but theres something about each new NYC rooftop view that makes me fall totally in love with the city all over again.

While both hotels were absolutely amazing, I am bias towards our first hotel stay only because the staff went well out of their way to accommodate us. The bellman walked us down to the subway, showed us how to buy a ticket, and then pointed us in the right direction. This type of scenario happened many times and we were so grateful for their sense of humor and patience with us and the fact that they knew our names each time we returned! If you are needing a place to stay in New York both are great options and right in the meca of everything. The subway stop was literally right outside of the hotel and provided easy access to Grand Central, Central Park, Soho, Rockefeller Center, Empire State building, Chelsea, and so many others.

We were supposed to go to the Leanne Marshall show but sadly both Britt and I admitted defeat. Once we were checked into our new hotel we both started to get ready and then looked at each other and said “there’s just no way”. We decided to just “chill” for the little amount of time we had before we needed to be at our next scheduled event. While I am sad we missed the show (it was my favorite last year), I think our bodies thanked us for the much needed break in our schedule.

Next up, we headed to Rockefeller Center to take pictures at the top of the rock. It costs $37 to go up there but the pictures and view were well worth it in my opinion! I’ll be sharing the pictures on the blog very soon 🙂 Back to the hotel we went to get changed for the Free People x Vogue rooftop party. I wore this stunning jumpsuit that felt more like pajamas and received SO many compliments. I highly suggest it for a fall wedding or girls night out so that you an bust a move in it! The actual event was hands down my favorite one of the entire trip. They had Free People coats to try on, on open bar, and hor dourves, not to mention the view at sunset was breath taking! Right after the sun went down, in remembrance of 9/11, two light beams shot up into the sky right where Ground Zero was. All of us stopped in our tracks and fell silent for just a moment. In the midst of a crazy week, it was a much needed reminder to be thankful for the life we have and to not take a single moment for granted.

Bless the Lord there were lots of Shake Shack fans attending the party because we all made the executive decision to have a late night burger in our cocktail attire and it was hands down the best decision of the day. What a sight it must have been for everyone else to watch 10 ladies decked out in their best attire shamelessly chowing down on greasy burgers and all of the fries. Did we care? Not one single bit!

PS: Does this jumpsuit look familiar to you? Well probably because I have the same one in maroon! You can see how I styled it here. Again, these are the absolute perfect outfits to wear to any Fall wedding that you might be attending. I will never wear another dress again if I have the option to wear a jumpsuit! You might ask why? One reason: the dance floor, that’s why.

*I’ve linked mine and Britt’s outfits below*

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New York Fashion Week 2017: Day 3

Top: Nordstrom | Pants: Similar | Shoes: DSW | Neckerchief: Similar | Purse: Goodnight Macaroon | Lips: MAC

Continuing on with the daily fashion week recaps… if this isn’t your thing, this post makes us more than half way through! Our third day in the big apple started a little later than the previous two which I was so grateful for. Sleep is hard to come by during fashion week after all!

First up, all of the roomies and I started the morning with a photoshoot by Vicki Bartel who so graciously reached out to me prior to fashion week and wanted to shoot together. I love meeting new creatives and supporting each other in this entrepreneur life! After all, it’s what this is all about! I am obsessed with our girl gang photos which remind me of Sex and the City! After our photoshoot, I met with my RewardStyle rep. This was our first time to meet face to face even though we have emailed and talked on the phone for over a year now. In a way it’s like she is my business coach, providing analytics on how my blog is doing and what you all like to shop most. It’s fascinating stuff and extremely helpful to know what works well and what stuff y’all could care less about!

Next up, I headed to the Banana Republic presentation which was madness to say the least. It was a public event which means that thousands of people showed up to see what the event was all about. Thankfully we finally made it in to see the store, catch a glimpse of Olivia Palerma, take a few pictures and dash out to avoid the insane crowd.

After that, Brittany and I decided to walk over to Rent the Runway. My original dress that I had ordered for this night never came in the mail so I was in search of a cocktail dress. I ended up renting this one for the big night but am still in love with this one that never came in the mail 🙁

I met up with Kelly and Kylee next to see what Chinatown was all about. I pulled a rookie mistake and went in uncomfortable shoes so let’s just say that I did not last long! We also stopped by 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar to check out the view (I highly recommend for Sunday Funday) and then ended up back at the food trucks for a fast meal (see my second day recap for details on this).

After this, things got busy as we geared up for a night full of parties. First up for the night was the Lulu’s Style Studio party. It was my second year attending and it did not disappoint. There were cotton candy cocktails, clothing gifting stations, a dance floor and a great view of the city. Unfortunately we did not get to stay long this year as the Liketoknow.it party was scheduled during the same time.

The Liketoknow.it party was so much fun! Getting to actually meet all of the bloggers that you follow via Instagram is crazy and a little eye opening too in the sense that not everyone is who they appear to be on social media. I was in the same room as many of my absolutely favorite fashion inspirations which is pretty darn cool, not to mention the insane party that RewardStyle puts on. There was a 360 photo booth, open bar and a dance floor that I had to refrain myself from busting a move on.

To end the night a group of us were invited to the Philipp Plein fashion show and what a show it was! When we first arrived there were thousands upon thousands of people trying to get in. One look at the crowd and you would have thought there was no way we were going to make it in. Well just as we were about to leave, someone pointed to a gate that was open and we hopped up to the front of the line- woohoo! We climbed our way up to the nosebleed seats in the NYC Hammerstein Ballroom and ended up sitting next to EJ Johnson (who I learned was Magic Johnson’s son-news to me!). The show was beyond amazing with performances by Dita von Teese, Future, and Nicki Minaj.

We ended the night with dollar slices of pizza in our cocktail attire. Something that none of us are above when we are tired, hangry and just watched a bunch of skinny models walk down the runway 🙂

*I’ve linked everyones outfit details below*

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