NYFW Day Two Adventures

I'm still working on enlightening you to all the adventures I experienced while in NYC! Thank you for bearing with me. Y'all are dolls. And so... After a fun first night out on the town, I struggled out of bed in the morning on Tuesday for NYFW. I spruced up my hair, slapped my makeup on, and rushed out the door with Laura and Robby to catch a ride to the Vivienne Hu show. 

Laura & Robby, teach me your cool ways. I'm always too smiley.

We didn't double check the address before hopping in our car, and accidentally had ourselves delivered to the wrong location. We quickly figured that one out when the door at the first address was locked. After some minor panicking, we collected ourselves and hopped in another Uber and hurried to Pier 59 Studios at Chelsea Piers. We headed up a few flights of stairs, checked in, and received our seat assignments. I was pretty excited to be seated, but realized right away that the show was likely not at capacity. Scheduled to start at 9:30am, the show didn't kick off until just after 10:00am. A gaggle of model-esque women arrived around 9:45 wearing what must have been Vivienne Hu, current and past. The photographers descended upon them and hovered for some time. The lights finally dimmed, and I saw my first runway show! You can find my recap of it HERE. I was particularly smitten with the music, so I emailed the PR representative for Vivienne Hu, and he put me in contact with Jason, who created the music for the show. I know that "Ah OH" was one of the tracks involved in the production, which I like a lot. Jason's work can be found HERE.

A quick shot of the VH final walk.

By the time the show was finished, we were all starving. We knew it was time to seek out some brunch, so Laura used the trusty ol' Yelp to find us a nearby destination. We snapped some quick shots in front of Vivienne Hu's backdrop, and off we went. As we crossed the street, I spotted a dapper young gentleman that had been at the show. I asked for a quick shot of his outfit because it was a fabulous combination of blue on blue, with brown accents. Mr. Demetrius Brown, CEO & Developer over at Commarke Marketing in Akron, OH, was super friendly and joined us for brunch. This fellow had never tried a crepe before, but I think Le Grainne Cafe may have made a convert out of him! This little cafe is owned by a native of Ireland, so no wonder I enjoyed it... but also, their poached egg on my Ouef Maison (poached egg on a goat cheese pancake on spinach) was absolutely perfect. My cappucino hit the spot as well. 

My first outfit for the day was comfy-casual, and as about minimalist as you'll see me get. My white tee and heels are from maurices, my pants were on super sale ($3.75!!!) at JC Penney, and my bag is from Target. My bracelets and necklace are thrifted. 

After brunch, Robby and I had some time to kill. Robby didn't have any plans until the evening, so he crashed hard for a nap. I knew it was time for outfit number two! This outfit is a little something special as it was gifted to me by Blue Bird the Boutique. Their online store is HERE. Anna, I cannot thank you enough! This style totally suits me as I am a true denim girl, and I personally think flares are flattering on me to help balance out my curvier thighs. If you take a closer look, you'll see the knees have slits in them. The jeans are incredibly well made, and crafted here in the USA! The shirt helped me show off my love for "committing to the last button," as I call it. It's a great way to show off your statement necklaces - just tuck them under the collar. For a little added sexy, I tied the shirt at the waist. The button-down is actually split as well, but at the sides, so it can be styled a variety of ways. I'm in love with this outfit and it did get me what we call "street snapped!"

 

I met a young lady who works for Style Tomes, and she asked to snap my photo. Of course, I couldn't have been more excited to say yes! Getting street snapped is a compliment, of course. I'll be honest with you, I know that the more wild you dress, the more likely you are to be snapped. As silly as I can dress on a regular basis, I wanted to try to represent all of the styles I like best. I tried not to go overboard. Also, the "cooler" you look, you'll also be more likely to get snapped. LOOK AT ME. I am not cool. I'm a smiling goofball. 

After arriving at Lincoln Center, I was ready to see the Pamella Roland show. It was whimsical, but I'll talk a bit more about it in a separate post! Below is a quick Instagram post that I grabbed while there.

 

When Pamella Roland's show finished up, I hung around in the tents and grabbed a free coffee from one of the many coolers sitting around just waiting to be raided. I'll take free coffee any day! Kristen of Beauty & the Brain and Chandra had some free time at the same time, so we walked a little ways and ended up at The Shops at Columbus Circle. This shopping destination boasts five stories of every kind of store you might need, including a Whole Foods! We headed up to the 4th floor and snapped up some sushi at Masa. The server behind the bar was friendly and welcoming, and my sushi was quite tasty.

Trying to make sure I had enough time to make it across town, I grabbed an Uber and headed back to Pier 59 Studios. I had been invited to Karolyn Pho, and I needed to be early. The company's PR crew had called all of us to make sure we were still attending. They meant business, so I made sure to mean business in return. I was second in line just after Sofia of Drum & Lace. She was a total sweetheart and we chatted while we waited to get into the show. I meant so much business that when they allowed us into the venue to fill empty seats (I had been assigned standing), I snapped up a front row spot. I even snagged myself a goodie bag, which had a blow-dry spray from Scruples. They did the hair styling for Karolyn Pho's looks. I have to say, it didn't look like the hair styles required much skill - many girls sported half-slicked back styles with messy, tousled hair. However, the blow-dry spray that came in the goodie bag actually works very well! It smells good, and I actually did notice a difference in how fast I was able to finish blow-drying my hair. I will report my opinions on the runway show in a separate post, but here's a teaser from my iPhone shots: 

Robby and I met up after Karolyn Pho's show and hopped in yet another Uber to make it back to Lincoln Center. We both had received invitations to the Art Institute of New York City's show. The show showcased 12 student and graduates of the school, with 13 total collections. A wide variety of work was shown, and model Rain Dove walked three times total! You might have known that already from my interview post about her, of course... It was the only event that I attended that showed men's lines, so I was very glad I was able to go! You'll see more from this show in another post as well.

Directly after the Art Institute's runway, I needed to be getting in line for Michael Costello's show. There was a bit of a mishap and for some reason, my confirmation email was not pulling up a seat assignment. We'll get more into this debacle and how stressed out I was in the separate post I make about the show, but all I can say is that it worked out all for the best and I ended up in an amazing spot, albeit standing. The work was stunning and I can't wait to share my camera photos with you. I'm quite proud of some of the pictures I grabbed. Here are a couple iPhone snaps:

We all met up on the stairs outside of Lincoln Center and reorganized our group as most of us had attended the Michael Costello show. We decided to head back to the hotel to recollect ourselves and then head out on the town. This is where we bumped into and met Rain Dove in the lobby of our hotel. What a lovely little surprise! You've already ready about me chucking a business card at her and all that. We ran to our rooms, and I changed into my THIRD outfit of the day (I'm crazy, I know), and it was actually one of my favorites. I think it definitely was very "me." My top is from maurices, the vest is vintage (I think a hand-me-down from my mom or aunt?), the leggings are from Forever21, the shoes are from ASOS, the bag is from Just Fab, and my necklace is a hand-me-down from Sarah of The Wicked Wallflower.

Our Uber driver somehow totally missed his mark and dropped us off nearly 10 blocks away from our destination. As we walked to the bar, a couple handed me a balloon and told me they were sharing it because someone had given them an extra. It's NYC, so I suppose you shouldn't ask any questions. After grabbing a bite to eat at one of the oldest family-run bars in NYC, Peter McManus Cafe, I huddled outside with Laura, Robby, and Laura's pal Kari while trying to decide where to head next.

Kari, who has lived in NYC for a little while now, suggested grabbing drinks at a little Mexican place before heading to a more expensive club. When we arrived at said Mexican joint, we discovered that it was closed. I wasn't really worried about spending a little money on a drink as I had budgeted for my trip really well. Plus, I wasn't very interested in drinking that night, so I knew that whatever I ended up sipping on would probably be no more than $5. We walked over to The Jane Hotel, which has a colorful and long history. It was built and founded in 1908, and even housed Titanic survivors while the ship's sinking was investigated. It was dark and very antiquated in the lobby, but we immediately bee-lined for the bar section of the venue. This is where the night got quite interesting.

The bouncer at the door to the bar checked our IDs and let us in. He seemed mildly annoyed we pulled him away from his smartphone for the two minutes it took to do that. The bar was dimly lit, with small alcoves of sofas/booths facing towards it. If you walked past the bar, you entered a room that reminds me of a place Sean Connery might hang out in. A fire was flickering in one wall, and above it was a mounted trophy of some type of mountain goat, I believe. A long couch flanked the carpeted dance floor, where a group of people, largely clad in Hawaiian shirts, were busy getting down to a live DJ. Now that I've started DJing myself, I often spend a couple minutes assessing the DJ situation whenever I arrive somewhere. This DJ was spinning vinyl, and almost exclusively throwbacks.

I joined Laura, Robby, and Kari at the bar to order something to drink. I only wanted a club soda with a lemon and lime. That's my new faux-drink to sip while out. It tastes sort of like a mixed drink, and because it looks like one, you don't run as high of a risk of someone trying to buy you something you don't actually want. The bartender apparently said that our drinks totally $40, and Kari hadn't realized that I didn't order a mixed drink, so she tried to take my $10 bill from me to hand to the bartender. When I told her that mine only cost $4, she said, "Whoa, what the heck did you order?!" I can understand her surprise - the total effectively shook out their drinks to be $12 each. I was starting to feel pretty tired after my long day so I slipped away again and took refuge on the couch nearest the fire.

The rest of our group tried to join us after hitting up another party. However, the bouncer told them it was a private party and they weren't allowed in, so Lindsay texted us to tell us so. I went to the bar and asked our bartender, "Hey, so is this a private party right now?" She laughed and said, "Yeah, aren't you part of it?" I sort of gave her jazz hands, and nervously cried, "Surprise!" and hustled away. I went outside to find the group, and when we tried to re-enter, the bouncer tried to stop them again. Laura asked what the problem was, but it was pretty clear - he hadn't been doing his job by letting half our group in, and must have realized what he'd done. Somehow, some dude that appeared to actually belong in the party snuck them in. Even though I was super tired and feeling completely overstimulated from the day, I tried to suck it up and dance a little bit. I can't really dance to Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'." It's more like a sway and head bop type of song... At any rate, Lindsay somehow discovered that the private party we had crashed was Laura Mulleavy's birthday. Yep, that Laura Mulleavy, of Kate and Laura Mulleavy from RODARTE. What a pleasant pickle to have found ourselves in! Rubbing accidental elbows with some of fashion's biggest names. As the night wound down and we got kicked out of the venue, the party hung around on the front steps and I started to feel like we were intruding. I don't know if they would have been more than slightly annoyed if they had discovered that we had (without knowing) snuck into Laura's birthday party but I wasn't willing to find out. I started to shuffle down the street a little bit, hoping someone might follow. Lindsay and Brittany were on a mission to keep their party thriving, so they headed off towards The Standard. I was ready to go home, and luckily Laura, Robby, and Kari were feeling it too. We finally called an Uber and headed back to the hotel.

I crashed so fast I probably was asleep before I hit the pillow. Our last day in NYC would prove busy and just as exciting as the previous two. So much for beauty sleep, I just nabbed whatever sleep I could at all!

Stay tuned for more updates from my trip as well as posts dedicated to the shows I saw!