Backstage Secrets from New York Fashion Week

After my incredible experience at New York Fashion Week this fall (I have a full-year internship in New York City), I became hooked. Luckily, my job in the beauty industry supported my newfound love for this high-energy event and scheduled me to work backstage at some of the biggest shows of the season. I’d only experienced Fashion Week from the front row (yeah, I’m a baller), but never behind-the-scenes, wrangling models and stylists alike.

By Melanie

It was truly an incredible experience. I had the opportunity to both work backstage and watch the shows. I got a truly unique perspective and learned some very interesting things about the goings on of fashion shows. Here are the five biggest things you don’t know about your favorite designers’ biggest events.

1. The models are people too (kinda).
The models actually are, for the most part, friendly. I know, it’s shocking. Some are rude, but generally they’re nice. They also eat. A lot. Before one show, I watched a group of these pin-thin girls eat mountains of Double-Stuf Oreos, gummy worms and cheese. Gross, right? I can’t decide if that makes me hate them more or a little less. At one show I was told there wasn’t enough food backstage. The models threw such a fit about it that the designer ended up ordering boxes of pizza for them. So yes, they eat. And they can read. And yes, they are very, very scary skinny. And a lot of them are super young, even as young as 15 or 16.

2. The hair and makeup is absolutely stunning.
Okay, so I’m a little biased due to my obsession with hair, but the amount of effort poured into each look is incredible. The lead hairstylist shows a whole team what they want to create for the look and their favorite two products to use. Some of the most popular backstage? Redken’s Fabricate 03 Heat Texturizer; Thickening Lotion 06 Body Builder; and their brand-new style connection line, Wool Shake, Matte Sponge and Velvet Gelatine. You’d never think hair is important (it’s the clothes that matter, right?) but it truly complements the clothes and brings the entire show to life.

3. The prep-work vs. actual show time.
PR people and the designers pour everything into Fashion Week (which you might know if you’ve been following Kell on Earth). In the industry, it’s the most important time of the year. I cannot stress enough how crazy people get over this event. Full blown, Britney 2008 cray-cray. You know how accountants have a busy season? Well, this is our busy season. Only it’s with sequins and press releases instead of Excel spreadsheets and audits. Months go into designing and creating the clothes for these shows, setting up the venue, picking the perfect stylists, finding models, inviting celebs and so on and so on. And the end result? About a 10-15 minute show.

4. Nothing is ever on time. Ever.
People are shocked if a show is running on time. If it’s not the set, it’s the music. If the hair’s done, the make up isn’t. If everything is running smoothly, then rehearsal inevitably cuts into the actual show time. Marc Jacobs used to be notorious for always running behind, but these past few years he’s been the timeliest of all. He also took an nontraditional route with…

5. The celebrities.
Marc Jacobs didn’t let them into his show because he claimed they were “boring” and distracted from the clothes. And he’s right. Well, about the second part. I could hardly call my experience sitting mere feet away from my hero, Christina Hendricks, at Badegly Mischka “boring.” But it was distracting! I mean, come on, how can you focus on the clothes when Anna Wintour’s daughter is sitting RIGHT THERE and you’re just wondering what kind of badass life she lives and then, boom, before you know it, you’ve missed the entire evening wear line.