A few weeks ago, my dear friend Bobbie, co-owner of Bahtoh connected me with the lovely Vanessa, who is the powerhouse who is and runs The Haute Pursuit and soon after my first experience with New York Fashion Week began.

I’ll start by saying that I don’t consider myself to be an exceptionally fashionable person. 

When I moved to New York in 2012, I was in this phase of wearing only black and white and have since shifted towards wearing all black, with the occasional shades of grey and blue for variety. My go-to outfit is a ripped pair of black Levis jeans with a white or black oversized t-shirt depending on the pair of Vans I want to wear that day.

Rolling with Vanessa to and from fittings was an illuminating experience; listening to her talk shop with the designers about the current state of fashion and also the impact that fashion has on the world was very intriguing. I mean, I follow my fair share of designers and brands on Instagram, but don’t claim to know much about the fashion world outside of my personal opinion on how something looks. I don’t know the history of all that is fashion, but know that most if not all fashion is referential, so hearing these conversations live and in real time was enlightening.

Closer to the weekend, Vanessa’s schedule was packed with fashion shows. I didn’t go inside any of the shows – my main role was to assist Vanessa with her schedule and to help generate visual content for her Instagram, but I did witness the onslaught of paparazzi in real life, which was just as stressful as it seems on TV. I also got to scope out the camera slinging street-style photographers who, like myself, were also dressed in all black. 

I still have three more days left of Fashion Week and will hopefully have more photos to share in the next few days. More to come!