How To Get Invited for Fashion Week || Monday Confessions

Its again that time of the year. Twice a year fashionistas from all around the world attend industry's main event of the year, usually lasting for approximately 7 days also known as fashion week. New York, London, Milan and Paris are cities which host the biggest and most renown fashion weeks, and they always go in this order. As its my 5th season of NYFW in only a little bit more than a week I decided to dedicate a whole post to explaining how it works and answering to one of the most asked questions on the blog "How to get invited for fashion week?" To start of with the basics. You cannot buy a ticket for fashion week, its industry only event which equals to an exhibition or a fair of goods which desires two groups of people: Buyers and Press. So you are either going to see whats new for the next season in order to buy large amounts for a department store or to write about it in a magazine. You might be thinking wait what about us, bloggers? Well, we are a part of the press group, digital influencers who blog and stream some of these shows live which of course is getting more and more essential at every show. Most of the shows also host big celebrities and some of their biggest clients. In order to get an invite for a show you have to request it. Everyone from Vogue to other major buyer and press teams has to request a ticket, otherwise PRs who are responsible for allocating tickets won't know you are attending. After you have requested a ticket you can expect a yes or no. I will get back to how to request later. You can also apply for accreditation, I don't actually do this anymore, because I have good relationship with most of he PRs, but used to do in the beginning when I was figuring out how it works.Accreditaion dowsn grant you access to any of the shows. The only application I still fill out is the one for New York, as its the only fashion week that electronically sends invites, which helps when you have accreditation. How? Once you get approved, your details get sent out to all the PRs in the industry and they can just decide to send you a ticket even if you didn't apply for it. In London, Milan and Paris you need a physical address where you receive an invite. So what should you write in your request? Make it simple, introduce yourself, write why you want to attend the show, and explain to PR how would they benefit from that. Will you be covering it on your blog, YouTube or social media channels? Make sure to tell them how many readers and followers you have and write your physical address in case of Milan, London and Paris because that increases your odds for getting a ticket. If you deliver good quality coverage you are more likely to get invites next season too. So how do you get to New York, Milan or Paris, where do you stay and how do all these bloggers do it? If you are organised enough you can definitely get all of these trips for free. Negotiate a sponsorship with a brand that you would be wearing through out the week, or talk to a hotel, review it on the blog for few free nights. I have done the same in the past, and if you have been reading Glam&Glitter regularly, there were quite a few reviews on this blog, good and bad. The fact that you are working with a hotel doesn't mean you have to write only good things about it. Remember my review of a hotel in Milan? I was super unhappy with it, and made sure you guys know that, because for me honesty comes in front of anything else on this blog. My favourite shows to attend are: BCBGMAXAZRIA, Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel Black Gold, Tibi, Lacoste, Roberto Cavalli, DVF, Kenzo, Topshop and many others, but there are still some on my list which I am yet to experience. I think its important to see that you grow. Since my first season in New York I built many more contacts and I get 5 times more tickets now than I did my first season. You should not expect to get it all immediately that isn't how it works, as Victoria Beckham would say "Its work in progress". You need to start somewhere and then work towards making it bigger and better. My first season in New York I got around 15 show and presentation tickets, I went to all of them and I still had a lot of time to go shopping, sight seeing and spent time with a friend in New York. I used to look at big fashionistas like Mira Duma, or really big bloggers and think wow, they go everywhere. Don't brag if you do and don't feel upset if you don't get a ticket to the show, just work harder until you are there too. Two and a half years after my first season in New York I am able to pick and choose which shows I want to cover, I don't go to all that I am invited to, yet I still don't have time to go shopping and barely manage to squeeze shooting in a day. My day usually starts at 7am, that is when I get dressed, do my hair and make up and often little snack-usually room service since there isn't much time to go and eat (specially not in my Fashion Week outfit haha).First show of the day is often around 9-10 and they keep going till 7-8pm, so full day of shows, backstage attending, presentations, meetings, and few gaps in which I often shoot or schedule more meetings. I am back to my room around 7, where I try to get ready for an after party, blogger event or something similar(there is always something happening in the evening). I am back home around midnight, sometimes later and that is when I have to prepare a blog post for the morning, show reviews, long text and choosing photos. I usually set my alarm at 3am to make sure that the post went live, so that Europe can have it with their first morning coffee. It looks glamorous and it is, but its also a lot of work, specially when in high heels, in -20 or when you are 3rd week in a row living your life like this. Regular meals become a dream, but you live of adrenaline. Remember that you are representing blogging industry, and make sure to always give best coverage, to arrive on time, to be at shows you promised you will go to, as that creates a reputation for us. If your dream is to attend a fashion week, work towards it, there is no such thing as impossible, you just need to know what and how much you want it. I know that even though it takes a lot of work, a lot of time and effort it is worth every little atom of energy you invested into it. There is nothing more rewarding than making your dreams come true just by persistence and hard work. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opet je to vreme u godini. Dva puta godisnje ljudi koji se bave modom prisustvuju najvecem dogadjaju industrije koji traje oko 7 dana i poznat je kao Nedelja Mode. Njujork, London, Milano i Pariz su gradovi u kojima mozete videti najneverovatnije i cuvenije modne revije, bas uvek ovim redom. Posto se za malo vise od nedelju dana blizi moja peta sezona kako pokrivam NYFW odlucila sam da posvetim ceo post tako sto cu odgovoriti jedno od najcescih pitanja ovde "Kako dobiti pozivnicu za fashion week?" Da pocnem sa osnovnim stvarima. Ne mozete kupiti kartu za revije na nedeljama mode. Ovo je industrijski dogadjaj koji je nesto poput ekspozicije ili sajma koji posecuju Kupci i Press. Kada kazem kupci podrazumevaju se ljudi kojima je ovo zanimanje, ljudi koji rade za velike robne kuce i kupuju stvari za koje znaju da ce se tamo prodavati. Dakle kartu za reviju dobijate ili ako cete kolekciju kupiti na veliko ili ako cete o njoj pisati u svom casopisu. Ali sta je sa blogerima? Mi spadamo u novinare, digitalne medije, ljude koji imaju veliki uticaj i samim tim mozemo pospesiti kupovinu kolekcije kada izadje u prodaju. Mnoge revije takodje pozivaju i poznate licnosti kao i redovne i lojalne klijente. Da biste dobili pozivnicu za reviju morate je traziti. Svi od Vogue casopisa do najvecih kupaca moraju da traze pozivnicu, u suprotnom PR agencije ne znaju da ce oni posecivati dogadjaj. Nakon sto ste zatrazili mesto na reviji mozete ocekivati da ili ne. O ovome cu pisati kasnije. Takodje mozete ispuniti formu za akreditaciju, ja ovo ne radim vise, ali sam radila u pocetku dok nisam otkrila kako sve funkcionise i stekla svoje kontakte. Akreditacija vam NE omogucava ulazak ni na jednu reviju, ali je korisna samo u slucaju Njujorka gde se pozivnice salju elektronskim putem. Zasto? Zato sto kada vasa aplikacija bude odobrena (sto je slucaj u samo oko 10% situacija) vasi detalji budu cirkulisani izmedju svih najvecih PR agencija u svetu i tada vam pozivnica moze stici cak iako je niste zatrazili. London, Milano i Pariz nemaju ovo pravilo, jer je za njih potrebna prava adresa gde vam oni salju pozivnice. Sta napisati u toj aplikaciji za pozivnicu? Neka bude jednostavno, predstavite se, napisite zasto zelite da prisustvujete reviji, objasnite kakve ce beneficije brend imati od toga. Da li cete pisati o reviji na blogu, YouTube kanalu ili drustvenim mrezama te koliko pratioca i citatelja tamo imate. Obavezno napisite i stambenu adresu u svim ovim gradovima, jer to povecava sanse da dobijete pozivnicu direktno. Ukoliko napravite dobar izvestaj visokog kvaliteta, sanse su da cete biti pozvani na reviju i sledece sezone. Ali kako otici u Njujork, Milan ili Pariz, gde odsesti, kako to blogeri rade dva puta godisnje? Ako ste dobro organizovani, mozete sva ova putovanja dobiti besplatno. Pregovarajte sa brendom koji bi vas mogao sponzorisati za putovanje a za uzvrat ga nosite na nedelji mode. Neka to budu iskljucivo brendovi koje zaista volite. Razgovarajte sa hotelom, recite im da cete u razmenu za nekoliko besplatnih noci u hotelu napisati recenziju na vasem sajtu. Budite iskreni. Na Glam&Glitter-u cesto mozete procitati o hotelima koje posecujem, i ono dobro i ono lose. Setite se hotela u Milanu o kom sam pisala da je zaista bio nezadovoljavajuci i bez obzira na to da li ste dobili besplatne noci ili ne napisite kako jeste. Meni je jako bitno da citatelji na blogu znaju da sve sto napisem je bas ono sto mislim, bez obzira na saradnju. Omiljene revije su mi: BCBGMAXAZRIA, Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel Black Gold, Tibi, Lacoste, Roberto Cavalli, DVF, Kenzo, Topshop i mnoge druge, ali ima ih jos na mojoj listi kojima nikada nisam prisustvovala. Mislim da je bitno da vidite kako rastete. Od moje prve sezone u Njujorku razvila sam mnogo kontakata, sada dobijam 5 puta vise pozivnica nego sto sam onda. Ne treba da ocekujete sve odmah, jer to nije kako ovo funkcionise, kao sto bi Viktorija Bekam rekla "To je projekat u razvicu". Morate poceti negde i raditi ka vecoj i boljoj slici. Moj dan obicno pocinje u 7, tada se obucem, nasminkam i sredim kosu, cesto narucim room service, jer nemam vremena da idem na dorucak (pogotovo ne obucena i spremna za revije). Prva revija je u 9 ili 10 i tako se nastavlja revija za revijom, sastanak za sastankom, backstage izvestaji, i par pauza u kojima se uglavnom slikam. Ovaj program traje do 7-8 uvece, nakon cega stizem u sobu i spremam se za afterparty ili neki dogadjaj u vecernjim satima (uvek ih ima, otvaranja butika, blogger eventi..). U sobu se vratim oko ponoci i tada pisem blog za sledeci dan, recenzije revija, slike, outfit, mnogo teksta. Sat navijem u 3 ujutru da proverim da je post live tako da biste vi u Evropi mogli da ga citate uz prvu jutarnju kafu. Izgleda veoma glamurozno, ali je isto tako mnogo rada, pogotovo ako ste u visokim stiklama na -20 i vec trecu nedelju za redom sanjate o redovnim obrocima. Ipak zivite od adrenalina. Setite se da ako ste vec tamo predstavljate celu industriju kao bloger, dodjite na vreme, prisustvujte dogadjajima za koje ste obecali da cete to uciniti, jer sve to stvara reputaciju za nas. Ako je vas san da odete na fashion week, radite ka tome, nista nije nemoguce, samo morate znati sta i koliko to zelite. Ja znam da iako zahteva mnogo vremena, rada i energije mesec mode zaista pruza ogromnu satisfakciju i donosi uspeh, te vredi svakog ulozenog atoma energije. Nista nije bolje nego kada postignete nesto i ostvarite svoj veliki san zato sto ste bili uporni i radili ka tome.

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