#NYFW 2018: The Front Row Finesser's

Christen
Feb 20, 2018
5 min read

Updated: Feb 22, 2018

And we conquered, yet another, New York Fashion week. Without really planning to attend anything other than the fashion show, we did quite a bit!

I RSVP'd Tonae and I to this particular fashion show back in December of 2017 and completely forgot about it until we both received free tickets in our inbox's at the beginning of February. This was fate. We weren't really finding any shows to attend and were two seconds away from not going, until we received these tickets. We quickly requested off of work (I called out haha) and purchased our bus tickets. We were initially planning to stay an entire weekend this year but that clearly didn't work out due to our jobs. So, we settled for another day trip.

Now, I'm not a fan of the Megabus but the only other option was Grey Hound and their latest bus left at 8:30pm. That was way too early for us. So, we didn't really have a choice. When we took the megabus last year to NYFW, it dropped us of on the side of the street. We also had to hike to another location to be picked up. Since then, I told myself I'd never take the Megabus again. But that was clearly a lie.

Check out our 2017 NYFW experience here

We arrived at around 9:45am and was eager to get our day started. The show didn't start until 2pm so we had a good amount of time to eat and sight see. We went straight to FIT (The Fashion Institute of Technology) which was on the corner of where we were dropped off. They were closed last year when we came so we made it a goal of ours to actually go inside this time. Their first exhibit didn't start until noon so we decided to leave and go have breakfast.

As we walked around the city, we noticed how nice the whether was. It was cloudy but the temperature was just right. We finally made it to breakfast and sat down at the bar. "2 mimosa's please"! I ordered the steak and eggs and Tonae' ordered the omelette. We were supposed to share but I was way too hungry haha.

We finished up around 12:45ish and made our way back to the museum. The exhibit that was on display was in remembrance of Norman David Levinson, known professionally as Norman Norelle. He was an American fashion designer famed for his elegant gowns, suits and tailored silhouettes.

I had never heard of him prior to this exhibit but I learned so much about him and how he helped shape fashion with his classic designs. His work was very tailored and clean. My kind of style. It looked like a lot of the clothing our grandmother's were wearing back in the day in their prime. There was so much sequins and fur. Very jazzy, if you ask me. The crazy thing is, is that all of the pieces looked so modern and up to date. Most of his designs can still be worn today and look just as new, which I Ioved.

We finished the exhibit and left to make our way to the fashion show. The museum wasn't too far from where we were headed. We arrived and of course there was a long line, but we didn't mind waiting. We handed them our free tickets (standing room only) and received our pink wrist bands in return. We were told to go wait in the back room until they called us but we decided to stand out in the front where all the hustle and bustle was happening. We were trying to finagle our way into getting a good seat and we weren't letting anything get in the way of that. While we were waiting, we ran into Miss New York America and Miss World. Tonae' loved Miss New York America's outfit and asked to take a picture with her which she posted on IG the next day.

We gathered their social media handles and went on about our business. We then ran into two other girls who we thought were super cute. They were two of just a few of the best looks we saw at the show, so of course we became their friends by the end of the night. They were Jacksonville, Florida and the same age as Tonae'. I as oldest, for once. They also had "standing room only" tickets and determined to get a good seat.

"Alright. So we have about 25 open seats available for anyone with a "standing room only" ticket". That was us. "We're allowing you guys to fill those seats but if there is a VIP guest that needs a seat, we will have to ask you to get up". All we really heard was that there were available seats and swiftly walked to the first set of chairs that we saw. All of a sudden, Tonae spotted two front row seats and suggested we sit there. I told her to make a move and I'd follow suit once the coast was clear. Within a couple of seconds, she gave me the okay and I relocated to the front row with her. We were IN!

After getting settled, we unfortunately sat for about 30-40 more minutes before the show actually started. It was well past 2pm at this point but we weren't going anywhere. Until one of the staff members walked over to us looking for a seat for a VIP guest. It was an open seat beside us for him but the women sitting on the opposite side of the empty chair mentioned that she was saving it for a friend. The staff member nicely asked us to get up, but we weren't moving. Why ask two women to get up for one man to sit down? I didn't get it. I wasn't about to argue so I began to gather my things. Tonae' didn't budge. The women holding the seat for her friend suddenly spoke up and said "He can just sit here". I was relieved. I didn't want to get up but I also didn't want to be embarrassed in front of a room full of people. Many of you would say I was being a little b-i-t-c-h, but I honestly didn't want any problems haha.

The show had finally ended and we were packing up our things to head out but not before we took pictures on the runway. As we were posing, people were coming over to us asking to take pictures with us. We even got interviewed. The one thing we didn't do was get the interviewee's information. Dumb move. But I recorded Tonae's interview on her camera so I'm sure we can figure it out.

We left the show and went straight to HH with our new Jacksonville friends, Shay and Kia. They were a good time and we all had a lot in common.

Our night quickly came to an end as we hiked back to the bus. We made it just in time.

#NYFW 2018 was a success to say the least. No we didn't get a chance to do everything that we wanted but we made some great connections and sat front row at the show. That was more than enough for me!