It was another early morning. After waking to my 6 a.m. alarm, I threw myself out of bed and quickly began getting ready. While still in Long Island City, I knew I had to be in Midtown Manhattan by 10 a.m., and I wanted to get to the city as quickly as possible.
After about an hour and a half of getting ready and a few phone calls with my parents, I stepped in an Uber from my hotel and headed towards the city.
I must say I was far less than surprised when I ended up in a Starbucks. I knew my day would hold over ten hours of preparing for the Syracuse University Senior Collection Fashion Show and knowing this, I would never blame myself for finding myself midway through an iced chai tea latte.
But truly, would I ever blame myself for that?
After checking the time, I understood that I had over two hours before I had to be at the Lubin House to prepare for the show. I quickly noticed that it had begun to downpour, and noticed even quicker than I had forgotten my umbrella at the hotel—and that the hotel happened to be in Long Island City.
With zero insight of where to purchase an umbrella, I found myself with another excuse to go shopping, and I began wandering stores on 5th Ave and Madison Ave until I needed to enter the doors of the Lubin House.
Before I knew it I was at the Lubin House, preparing for the show that fashion design students anticipate for their four years at Syracuse University. Nine seniors this year were selected to present their collections in the city, where they are then reviewed by representatives and likely presented with career offers.
As the show is an entire production, I was here to dress the models, similar to what I did at New York Fashion Week in February—yet this time it was for students from my school's design program.
Models arrived at 3 p.m. to begin hair and makeup, and throughout this time, I was able to walk through each individual garment that would be in the show to check for any stray threads and to make sure the garments were all in-tact. Each model in the show would have two looks, and with the two models I was assigned, I handled four looks.
After catching up with a few dressers who I had met at New York Fashion Week, the show was about to start, where we then met with our assigned models and began dressing them in the garments.
Being able to see the senior collections from those who have worked beside me during my last year as a freshman, I remained extremely inspired by what my senior collection will encase, understanding that senior year will come sooner than I’ll expect.
With the fashion show coming to a close, I said goodbye to the seniors. It was great to see them so excited about what they have accomplished after their four years of hard work.
Before I knew it, it was 8 p.m. and I could not wait to find food. Being a “Mainer” and living in Maine until I went off to college in New York last fall, I stumbled across a Chic-fil-A and
had to try it for the first time. There is no Chic-fil-A anywhere near where I’m from, so it was a must. Let me just say, the set-up of ordering had me quite confused, but after making it through the extremely busy place, it was worth it.
After leaving, I finally found a taxi as nearly all of them were occupied and headed back to the hotel to pack for my last day in the city.
I stayed up very late finalizing my portfolio, as I was extremely inspired by the events of the past few days. As my week had started with viewing the Marc Jacobs design studio and the Moschino showroom, my inspiration was very strong.
I spent the next morning in another Starbucks (crazy, right?) and spent two final hours on my portfolio before heading to my bus. There’s something so great about city coffee shops, and I always get so much accomplished in them.
After boarding the bus home, I spent a few hours on internship search before I shut my eyes, and was back in Portland, Maine. After spending some time self-reflecting, I understood how important entering the city always is, even if it is for work/school events.
I always come home feeling so refreshed and inspired, even if the time spent is extremely busy with these events—as I understand that any time spent in the city always leaves me extremely inspired.