My final experiences with Fashion Week S/S '11

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week for the Spring/Summer 2011 collections has come to a close, and what an experience it has been. I ended up working four shows- Silvio Liu, Indashio, Keep Me (and another one, both ran by People's Revolution), and B. Michael.

I blogged about Silvio Liu and Indashio in a previous post. The two shows ran by People's Revolution were obviously my most exciting shows that I worked. If anyone reading this doesn't know what People's Revolution is.. I don't even know where to begin. Not only is it the number one PR firm in the industry, but  ran by one of the most real women in fashion, Kelly Cutrone. I ran into Kelly again backstage at the Toni Francesc show at Lincoln Center:

myself and the Kelly Cutrone

I only got one picture from the 'two for one' show I worked for People's Rev.

not very good quality, but here is a picture I took from the "Keep Me" show

Guests at the show involved Diane Von Furstenberg, Andre Leon Talley, Russell Simmons, and more. "All American Rejects" lead singer Tyson Ritter was also a model for the show. Before the show started, I put together gift bags and ran whatever errands the management needed me to do. Once the show started, I didn't have any other tasks to do so I watched the show, and I watched Kelly work her magic as she directed from the back of the room.

From being in contact with her assistants, I got to attend the Toni Francesc show and also the Davidelfin show. Both were held at Lincoln Center, the new home of fashion week. (The subway station nearby is actually going to be named the Fashion Line.) Toni was actually in the audience for Davidelfin's show. Toni Francesc based his show on an "urban jungle." I got to sit third row! Here are some pictures:

For the Davidelfin show, I sat second row. Here are some pictures from the show:

The final show that I worked for the week was B. Michael America's show at the Plaza Hotel. I seated guests and ran around the city looking for ribbon. (the perks of being a volunteer.) "B's" collection was to raise awareness for the Haiti benefit, and even had Miss Haiti 2010 as a model for his show. Very inspiring!

second row at the B. Michael show after working it beforehand.

Miss Haiti 2010

So now that the Spring/Summer collections for 2011 are done, everyone in the fashion industry has to wait another six months for the craziest week of the year. What an experience it has been, but this is only the beginning.

my friend Corey and myself

Boy meets world? Think again. Jen meets Kelly!

It was just the other day- August 25th. I'm sitting in our 5th Ave building around 4:00 pm waiting for my 4:20 Retailing class to start. I wasn't being entertained at the moment, so I decided to check what the Twitter world has been up to. Scrolling through, I see a tweet from "@peoplesrev" (Kelly Cutrone) saying "Tonight Washing Square Park 6pm - open talk we meet at the Arch - see you soon - this is going to be fun".. my jaw pretty much dropped. I realized my class ended at 5:50 and I could actually go! The entire class I was fidgeting and ready to get out of there and head 30 blocks down. It was time- I arrived at the park and waited.
A camera guy was going around interviewing people for.. who knows what. Once Kelly arrived with her assistant and her intern, everyone obviously crowded around, and I was fortunate enough to end up right in front of her, next to her camera guy. She spoke to us, a crowd of maybe.. 150.. all about her book, suggestions for her new book, random stories, stuff like that. When she asked us if we had suggestions or what we liked about her previous book, of course I raised my hand to get my word out there. Her camera guy ended up filming me as well when I was speaking directly to the fashion woman herself.
"Going on from your previous idea, I wanted you to know it truly is nice to know that you can be successful coming from practically nothing. I came from Ohio to come to fashion school..."
and then there was a uproar from a few people in the crowd saying "meee toooo!" I never knew that many Ohioans moved to New York City until that moment. I continued with "and I was wondering if you were going to talk about your past again?" She said "Do you want me to?" and the crowd told her yes. We stood under the arch discussing things, and she chimes in with "OH, by the way, you're all going to fashion week." We stand there with confused looks as in "is she serious?" "We're going to e-mail the tickets to you. We'll make sure we right down your names and e-mails." The energy level in the air rose a few more notches after that.
She ordered pizzas for all of us, and we sat on the ground to eat it and continue the discussion. Then some random guy started mumbling after he rose his hand. Nobody could understand him, but once he started talking more, we realized it was racial comments. Kelly goes "Ohhh no. We can't have this here. I give you to the count of three to get out of here. 1...2...3." Once he didn't move, she got up and went over to talk to him. Everybody that was there took their cameras and started snapping pictures and recording since they were seeing her in action, just as her reputation is. He still wouldn't budge, but luckily there were two cops that happened to stroll in as this happened. They escorted him away. Once she came back, everyone cheered and she mentioned that he must have been a hospital patient. The talk continued until around 9:30 when everybody stood up and formed two mass crowds- one around Kelly to get pictures/autographs/speak with her, and one around her assistant and intern who took down names and e-mails for the fashion show ticket for fashion week. I picked Steven's (assistant) line and he got my information.
I started talking to some FIT girls, a Louisiana girl who moved here to work at CBS, and another amazing gay man who is a stylist. We all chatted it up as we waited for our turn to talk to Kelly. The line dwindled down to just a few of us, so we moved out of Washington Park to down the street near the NYU dorms. There's about 6 of us remaining and it's around 10:30-11 at night. I continue to talk to Steven and Kelly's assistant, then we move locations once again. We started walking through SoHo, and we passed a bar as a man screamed "HEY" out the window. Kelly backs up in her tracks, looks at him and goes "...Do you scream at everyone like that or what?" and walks away. So yes, everyone, she really is as real as she is on TV, and this proves it.
We get to Broadway in SoHo and she said her goodbyes to the three of us that were left and I got a quick picture with her. "Can I be a super-fan and ask you for a picture?" She said "sure!" and we snapped a picture and we hugged goodbye.
I hung out with Brenden, the amazing gay guy, and walked around SoHo a little bit before catching a cab together. This girl Chelsea walked with us too, and mentioned something about "10:45 tomorrow morning." I asked her what she was talking about, and she said "I have an interview tomorrow!" Not only did she score an interview at People's Revolution, two others did as well. JUST for showing up to the event and talking to Kelly about their aspirations. Too bad I'm only 18 or I would have asked for an interview too- but I did give my resume to her assistant and got his e-mail so I can volunteer for fashion week. I'm praying he e-mails me back.

So that was my night. 7 hours of non-stop Kelly and finding out that she truly is the reason I am in this industry. The most real "celebrity" on television that I have come across and gotten to know in a short amount of time. Thank you, New York, for giving me the time of my life.. and this is only the beginning.