I’ve gotten a few curious questions about why I am having Abby attend New York Fashion Week for me. As you may know the past few years I have been lucky enough to attend, even as the micro blogger I am. The allure and mystery of the infamous NYFW can be daunting to some and I get many questions about how I am able to go. I can go into a whole in depth post about that, but that will be for another day. Let me know if you’d be interested in that. The bottom line is, all you have to do is be resourceful and not afraid to ask!
This year however I have decided to take a break and do something much more meaningful to me, plus logistically this season it would have been a madhouse for me. I move back to Seattle next week, which means packing up my entire life to drive home basically the day I would get back from NYC – no thank you. Instead, I am going on a weekend girls trip to Bodega Bay with my mom, aunts, and Grammy. The way I see it, there will be many more opportunities to go to NYFW, like in February, but there many not be many more opportunities to go on a girls trip with my family. Family > NYFW. Do we agree?
So, why have someone go for me?
The thing about fashion week is that SO many bloggers see it as a competitive space and giving away passes, tickets, and event spots may seem counter intuitive. Like why would you give your spot to a “competitor”? How would it benefit me? For me, it’s not about that. My first year of fashion week, I had ZERO idea how to get into things, as most people do. A blogger friend of mine at the time totally helped me learn just how to do it. If I didn’t have her help and knowledge it would not have been easy for me to believe that I could go, let alone actually go. When you have no idea how to get in, it seems SO exclusive and you have no idea where to begin. I am forever grateful for her help because without her I wouldn’t have been able to attend the past seasons. So, I am paying it forward. I remember when I just started my blog feeling like NYFW would be the biggest and best thing I could ever do, and at the time it was, and if I can help someone else do it as they are starting out, I am going to! All it can take is one conversation, one invite to an event, one person you talk to, to get your foot in the door, and giving someone that opportunity, if I can, seems totally worth it to me. So, it really isn’t about me at all. I easily could havejust given my tickets away to someone (or let them go to waste) and I would have been 100% okay with that, but I thought it would also be fun to stay in the loop and share NYFW with you guys even if I am not there. I also wanted to switch things up. I have never seen anyone do this before, so I thought, why not? By the number of clicks on Abby’s profile on my stories, I know you guys are into her, so I hope you enjoy this little change up for the next few days. It also is a good way for her to get exposure on another channel. We both have different audiences, just based on our location alone, and for her to be starting out blogging, it’s great to get her face to some new people and find some new followers. This is not me saying oh look at me, I’m giving her exposure, because I hate when people say that, but I hope you get my point. My intentions are good 🙂
A benefit for me is that I will have coverage of the week and also, brands and shows will know I have attended (or at least someone attend for me) and that can be helpful for future seasons as they decide to invite me back or not. If you consistently attend certain shows and events you don’t just have a reallygood change of getting invited back, but also other opportunities may arise to work with them in the future. An example of this is I got to work with Son Jung Wan later in the year after their season to wear some of their newest collection – super cool!
How I chose Abby, and the logistics of how it all worked.
So a couple weeks back I shared on Instagram stories that I was looking for someone who would be interested in an opportunity for NYFW. I got so many DM’s with people interested which was kind of shocking to me because I wasn’t sure anyone would be interested. I had a few things I wanted:
-Someone who was just starting out blogging/micro blogging (aka instagram blogging)
-Someone who had a feed that was put together, had an eye for fashion, generally just pleasing overall (speaking of eye, I’ve teamed up with a pair of researchers and have been working with them to bring a new pair of pure optical lens)
-Never had been to NYFW before
-Someone who was excited about the opportunity and truly interested in going
-Willing to do a little work for me (content creation), not just take my contacts or invites
-Someone who was persistent, good attitude, easy to work with
Abby DM’d me and also sent me an email, you know I love an email over a DM. It showed she was willing to take the extra time to contact me and also would make her stand out far more than the DMs. She was positive, excited, and was totally on board with what I had in mind. She loves fashion, and was just in the works of starting a blog which was exactly what I was hoping for. We totally clicked via messaging and the only thing I wish is that I could meet her in person, but she is form Chicago, so eventually someday!
For the way I structured it, it is kind of like an internship, but not really. That makes it seem like something formal and also kinda makes me look like an asshole…maybe that’s just me. Like, oh wow morgan has an intern and she only has 25k followers…seems like she thinks she’s better than she is…do you feel me? LOL maybe I’m just too worried about judgment, who knows. But I also made it clear that at the end of the day, if Abby can’t get content some days or she misses a show, or whatever, it’s totally chill. I actually suggested for her to go out at night as much as she can, so if you want to call that an internship, we can roll with it. Anyone else want to intern for me?? 😉
I am not paying her, but in exchange for coverage of shows/events/etc., she gets all of my show and event invites, and she was totally on board. I did not give her all of my contacts, that is something I personally think you have to work to get yourself, but told her I would be happy to share exactly how to do it for future seasons.
I created a schedule for her with all of the events and shows and I also created a checklist of things I am hoping she can do. We are using Trello, which is a great app for something like this. Taking your feedback about what you want to see, I will have her creating Instagram story videos and pictures that I will be posting on my account and also a blog post at the end of her time reaping and sharing her personal experience.
I hope you are looking forward to what she is going to be sharing these next few days, I think it will be fun to have a different face around for a short period of time. Make sure to give Abby a follow, and I look forward to hearing what y’all think! xx