Significance of September

September is every fashionista’s favorite month because it’s considered FASHION MONTH! Fashion month is when designers from around the world, choose a major fashion city to showcase their clothing lines. The major fashion cities in the world are New York City, London, Milan and Paris. Typically, Fashion Month starts with New York Fashion Week (NYFW), hopping the pond to London Fashion Week, making your way down to Milan Fashion Week and ending with Paris Fashion week. In September, you’ll notice that many fashion magazines, especially VOGUE creating their largest issue of the year in the month of September. This is why so many celebrities aim for the September issues because it’s the biggest issue and can be a career boost for any celebrity. Getting the September issue is like winning an Oscar or Emmy in the Fashion World.

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For me, Fashion Week, especially NYFW, is a Fashion reunion of friends from all over the world, who gather for a week of scouting new designers, seeing what legacy brands have designed, spotting trends for the following season, and meeting with brands and PR companies for events and networking for future collaborations. Here is some vocabulary you will want to know if you ever attend a Fashion Week.

• RTW- Ready To Wear
• S/S YEAR – Spring/Summer 2020. This past season of NYFW, we saw fashion shows that were showcasing the Spring Summer lines for 2020. In September, you’re always looking at the following seasons in the following year. So next year in September 2020, you will be watching SS 2021.
• F/W YEAR – FALL/WINTER YEAR. In February (Fashion Month #2), you will be watching shows that pertain to the FALL/WINTER clothing of that year. In February 2020, you will be watching the shows of
• RESORT YEAR- This is pretty self explanatory. This is basically what rich people will wear on vacation of that year.
• Model- Essentially a hanger for clothing. That is why their expressions always look lifeless and like they are bored out of their minds as they walk down the runway. They are thin because some fashion designers claim it is easier to make a clothing line on one generic size. It is a sad reality but thank goodness, that is changing with designers like Crystal Lee who are changing that model standard.
• PR-Public Relations

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Back in the day, NYFW used to be more exclusive and held in a giant tent taking over Bryant Park. It was typically sponsored by by Mercedes Benz and mainly A and B list celebrities were able to attend. There were not as many designers who could show their collections.

Now, at NYFW alone, there are easily over 100 designers that can showcase their collections at NYFW as long as they pay a hefty fee (I’ve heard it is at least $8000). This fee includes media coverage as you can have up to 500 people (don’t quote me on this) watching your show at one time. When 500 people are using social media, and tagging your brand, that helps with visibility. Not to mention, the press at the end of the runway who are writing about your brand for magazines, online articles and other media publications.

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Due to the rise in social media, influencer marketing is a newer thing to the fashion industry. This has opened the doors to more and more people getting invited to fashion week. If you have 100k + followers, you can get into some “larger” fashion shows and even be sponsored by a fashion designer to wear their brand as a walking advertisement of their new line.

Even if you do not have 100k + followers on Instagram, (I’ve seen as “little” as 1k) you can still get into fashion week for fashion shows with smaller and emerging designers. This is really neat to see because over the past several years, I saw many “emerging” designers, and as I have returned to fashion week, those once”emerging” designers have grown into larger fashion houses. With so many designers presenting their lines, and fashion influencers taking over marketing for the fashion industry, one location for all of fashion week is simply not enough to keep fashion week at well…one week. Now fashion week shows can take place at venues all over their respective city. Over the past several years, they have held New York Fashion Week at Spring Studios, Pier 59 Studios, Skylight Clarkson Square, and many more.

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Typically larger fashion houses and brands, (Chanel, Coach, Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Vuitton, Alice + Olivia and larger brands etc.) will host their fashion shows in very exquisite venues, and the only way you can get in is if you’ve gotten an invite. That is where those PR companies come in. PR companies can connect celebrities, influencers, bloggers, and personalities with brands and fashion designers showcasing at fashion weeks. If you are on a PR list, you can get invites to the more exclusive events.

Events may be one of my favorite things about NYFW. You can have a brunch with one brand, while heading to a rooftop party with another brand, to a pop up shop for one of your favorite brands. These events, however fun they may be are actually “work” for those of us introverts because the point is to network and try to set up meetings with future brands, companies, and other influencers you want to collaborate and work with. This is when your elevator pitch comes in really handy. NYFW is a perfect opportunity to enhance your networking skills. 90% of the time, I am attending events by myself so I force myself to turn on the extrovert.

All throughout fashion week, as you meet with brands and attend shows, you are spotting trends for the following season. If you’re a fashion blogger, you are paying attention to this to inform your audience of what to shop for in the next season. From the galleries I’ve posted, have you noticed any trends for SS 2020?

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I have noticed, puffy sleeves again, pastel brights, geometric shapes, fringe and frays; to name a few. If you have ever wondered why in the stores you saw so many wrap dresses and crop tops (can we stop with the crop tops? PLEASE) with ditsy patterns in stores this past SS 2019 season and the previous year, it’s because it was on the runway. Many stores have buyers at these fashion shows to see the trends for the future seasons and they will start planning their stores accordingly.

So, there you have the Significance of September! Be sure to stay tuned for October as that is fashion month for Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo!

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