My New York Couture Fashion Week Experience

New York Couture Fashion Week started in 2003 and has now expanded to multiple cities in the US like Palm City. There are multiple shows over a three day spand: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday showcases works from designers all over the world. These designers are skilled in luxury brands and couture.

I had the great opportunity to volunteer at these shows on Saturday and Sunday. Many peoples wouldn't get the appeal or would think I'm crazy to work on my days off but opportunities like this only come around so often. Also, these are the best ways to get to meet people and to really work in business when you don't work for the business. Lets just say the my feet and back are happy to be sitting on my big fluffy couch today.

Saturday I worked as an usher and sitting people. One of the best parts about this gig was being able to watch the shows and seeing some interesting dress wear from the crowd. The only time I got to sit was when there was a lag in between shows. There were shows at 4, 6, and 8 so at least we had some down time in between. Jamil Khansa started the series of shows with his beautiful dresses that literally sparkled. Sequins and beading were everywhere. One of the girls I had volunteered with said these dresses got her in the mind set to start looking for Prom Dress (yes she was that young and yes I felt that old). His dresses we nothing short but beautiful.

There were two designers that were showed back to back on Saturday at 4 oclock Suzie Turner and Nina Gleyzer. I really wish I had brought my camera that day but stupid me left it at home by accident. Suzie had this one gown that was made of feathers, I can't even begin to tell you or describe it to you so thankfully pictures from the show have been posted and you can see it on shawnpunch.com. Everyone that was there Saturday was still talking about this dress on Sunday. Every girl had the same thing in mind "that is my wedding dress."

The closer for Saturday night was Andres Aquino Couture who also is the founder and producer of Couture Fashion Week. So of course the Grand Ballroom in the Waldorf Astoria was packed for his show. His show was filled with Indian inspiration. Beautiful silk dresses with sequin embellishments. Most these dress fit perfectly in to a Indian wedding. He also had his model walk down the runway in 8 inch heels! Jeffrey Campbell's wach out for John Ashford's collection of 8 inch heels! These shoes were amazing! The had a thick platform and stick thin stellito heels. Thankfully I happened to have my camera with me on Sunday and John Ashford was still around for me to snap some pictures of his outrageous shoes.

Overall Saturday was not disappointing but I couldn't wait till Sunday since I planned on working backstage and I couldn't wait to see what other designers had in-store.

Working backstage at a show has taught me a lot between the different peronsalities that you will come across the mode swings of the designers and models. My day started at 1:30 and did not end till 9:30 which was the same as the day before but this was totally different. I had about 15 minutes of sit down time everything else was rushing around trying to get models dressed and clothes steamed. Of course right off the bat things were going wrong with the designers stuff we were working with. What dresses zipper broke which models we were hunting down for to get dressed. As stressful as it was I would still do it in a heart beat. Working in something fast pace and stressful as crazy as it sounds is fun and I feed of it. A screaming model screaming to get her dress on because she has to go back out I can deal with that. Fighting with a zipper bring it on. The only sad part is that I want to play dress up in all the beautiful clothes. And yesterday the backstage area was full of them. So many different designers (there were 8 designers total) with totally different taste. Some focused on culture, some focused on evening luxury wear, and some focus on the deconstruction of clothing. Each designer stood out in their own way. Some of my favorites were Alaric Designes which is a flower company who did three beautiful flower concept dresses and Edward Arsouni who closed the event with 32 pieces, all beautiful dresses including a beautiful wedding dress. All the designers on Sunday were truly amazing: House of Jola, Berrys Couture, Reedas, House of Farrah, Janerations, and Autumalin Atelier. Another highlight was working with Aminat Ayinde who was on America's Next Top Model. She was SUPER sweet and yesterday was her 24th bday!

Here are some backstage photos: