NYFW One Year Apart
- Casey Tsou
- Feb 10, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 15, 2019
A year ago today, I attended my first ever New York Fashion Week show. The designer of this particular show, Nandi Madida, happened to be one of my aunt's friends from when she lived in South Africa. This was an amazing experience for me being able to attend a more high class event and also get the chance to go backstage and meet the designer in person. I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity presented to me by my aunt to join her that day and I was glad to act as her personal assistant throughout all of it.
It was extremely cold that day, so I didn't plan to wear a dress. Unfortunately, I didn't quite have clothing "worthy" of fashion week, so I ended wearing a cute cropped sweater from Forever21, jeans from H&M, and taupe cute heels that I received as a birthday present the previous summer. My aunt and I took an Uber from the hotel to the studio and I was surprised at how low-key and modest the building was.
Here are the stunning looks from Nandi Madida's collection! Every look was so bold with colour and beautifully structured. I also thought that the makeup looks she chose and the bead wigs were a very unique and interesting touch. This was her debut show at New York fashion week and it went splendidly!
After the incredible fashion show, my aunt and I mingled with others and took a few pictures together. After about half an hour we decided it was time to depart and she took time to say goodbye to her dear friends and congratulate Nandi once again on her fabulous show. We took another Uber back home and relaxed for a bit, but it wasn't long until our next adventure...
Which was seeing a Broadway musical! My family is just a great bunch of music lovers, so we all love to see shows whenever we come to New York City. This time, we chose to see Beautiful! The Carole King Musical. I didn't know much about Carole King. I had only heard "I Feel The Earth Move" because it was my middle school music teacher's favourite song and he loved to play it for us. I had no knowledge of all the other incredible hits that she wrote for artists aside from herself!
I left this musical in awe because of how talented every performer was. This musical was almost impossible not to sing along to! I especially loved how into it my parents were and could hear them sing every nostalgic lyric throughout it. Carole King's success story was truly magnificent and I'm glad the world gets to see it.
I fell asleep that night with a heart full of joy and I smile on my face. It was truly one of the best days in my life and I never wanted it to end. I had never felt so content with how things were going on my life and I didn't realize how much I needed that trip until it was all over and I felt like everything reset for me. I gained new confidence and motivation to push through everything that was causing me stress and I felt like achieving happiness through my own success wasn't too far away. I was out as soon as my head hit the pillow, but I woke up knowing that dreams could indeed become reality.
Fast forward about a year later. It's Saturday, February 9, 2019 1:30 pm and I am rushing to do a full face of makeup in the upstairs lounge of my hotel. It only takes about 30 minutes for me to finish and my aunt came to pick me up just in time. But first, we grab a meal at Panda Express across the street because I hadn't eaten since 10 am before my bus departed. We walk over, I get my meal and we're off!
We took an Uber to the studio and arrived just in time before the doors closed. This show is for the same studio as last year, but at a much bigger venue. I was shocked at how crowded it was. Since New York City traffic got us there a bit late, there were no more seats even though we had tickets for them. It wasn't so bad because we found a spot right behind the short bleachers so we could see over the heads of those who were sitting.
The show itself was about an hour long and we saw four drastically different collections. It was amazing to see the end where every look came back on the runway and you could see how the designs all complimented one another (video above). Each one was eccentric and I was certainly surprised by a number of looks that came down the outstretched runway. However, not all the most extravagant looks came from the runway. There are so many people who dress up magnificently even if they are just sitting in the audience. Fashion is one of the most fun and easy ways to express oneself, which is why I adore it so much. The clothes that you wear allow you to display who you are unapologetically. You can tell so much about a person by the way not only by how the dress themselves, but also by how they flaunt it.
New York Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2019 certainly raised the bar from my experience last year. Watching models walk by you on a stark white runway with EDM music playing, bright lights, and cameras clicking in a sea of other fashion lovers will never get old. I hope that I may continue to be a part of these annual remarkable events and always get to be a part of something extraordinary.
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