If you don’t work in fashion, beauty, or entertainment, it’s hard to score a coveted invite to New York Fashion Week (NYFW). With the growing supply of attendees to choose from (stylists, fashion and beauty editors, celebrities, bloggers and influencers) it’s difficult for brand and public relation partners to narrow down their curated list. Which is why NYFW Backstage was created. Born out of consumer frustration to know the ins and outs of the most popular month of the fashion calendar, IMG, the official organizer and operator of NYFW, brought some behind the scenes to lucky ticketholders.  

Held from February 9^th to 12^th, VIP ticketholders ($25) could access the pop-up experience to get an inside look into the fashion show process from ideation to runway. Designed by creative director Ethan Tobman, the experience led consumers through the minds of 3.1 Phillip Lim, Eckhaus Latta, Jason Qu and Sergio Hudson who had beautiful displays of their collections, mood boards, and language on their inspiration and how it was created. 

WHBM had the pleasure of attending on February 12^th and whitnessed the intent behind Eckhaus Latta, Sergio Hudson, Christopher John Rodgers, Aknvas, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Bach Mai and Jason Wu collections. Since February 2020, IMG has provided over $20 million in funding to American designers through initiatives like WME Fashion Alliance, that allows brands to integrate into NYFW by helping offset the costs. It was amazing to see all the stories unfold, some that might not have become a reality without the assistance and backing of IMG.  

Upon entering, you were inundated with stations to view the process of hair, dressing, model scouting, fashion show process and first-looks photography. Attendees were allowed to book in to the TreSemmé styling sessions in advance from February 5 or day of event if there was availability. Hair stylists would create runway looks on each person that sat in the chair. There was also an embroidery station for customized NYFW-exclusive tote bags that could only be purchased at the event.  

But what was cool was touching the clothing, reading about the inspiration and understanding how the show was created. While you read all about the collections, you could sit down with a complementary Bluestone Lane Cafe coffee and enjoy watching the previous runway shows of the week. I found myself people watching all the interesting fashionistas that came in.  

In typical fashion, showgoers and hopeful fashionistas were dressed to the nines in hopes of being captured by Phil Oh’s famous lens and the like. There were your typical classy attendees, sporting all-black and tailored monochromatic looks. There were also the eye-catching looks that included pops of color, oversized attention-grabbing textured puffers and more. The attendees might not have been going to the top runway shows, but they would at least dress to manifest the opportunity. Because they know more than anyone, fashion month is the time to let your personal style shine.  

In case you missed it or want a peek at the history of the collections, you can relive the event and shows here.