Item idea: Tickets to NYC Fashion Week
A live auction display selling Fashion Week tickets at a school auction.
Why are these tickets “hot?” And how do you get them?
First things first. Why are these tickets are so desirable?
Fashion Week is held in Bryant Park, a centrally located park in Manhattan (although I recently read that organizers are considering moving Fashion Week to Lincoln Center in 2010). number of large tents sporting runways inside dot the park.
Designers can rent the tent space to showcase their collections, but because hosting a show is expensive, not all designers have the cash required to produce a show. For instance, a new designer might opt to only show in Paris’ Fashion Week, but a larger fashion house might have a show in each city.
From morning until night, a tent can be busy hosting shows. A less-known designer might be in the tent in the morning. Later that day, a well-known icon might be hosting a show in that same tent.
When I’ve sold tickets to Fashion Week, I am not selling tickets to every runway show during Fashion Week. Either I am selling tickets to a specific show (for instance, the Badgley Mischka show), or I’m selling tickets to a specific show which has yet to be decided by the donor of the tickets.
The tickets are popular because many ‘average’ people would never be able to attend this type of event … or wouldn’t think to investigate how they could attend.
In our minds, Fashion Week lives in the domain of the rich and famous, where the paparazzi cameras are constantly flashing, the models arrive breathlessly from their last job, and celebrities are whisked inside to sit in front row seats. The music is intense, the excitement is high, and the vibe that is New York is in the air. And that description is pretty accurate.
Even the average New Yorker can’t easily obtain tickets.
Some of you know that I work part-time as a plus-size model. I’m in New York every month or so for a shoot and socializing with my plus-size model and fit model friends. Even they — living in New York City — aren’t privy to seats. In fact, one of my fit model friends volunteers as a “dresser” in order to get a glimpse of the action. (A dresser is someone who stands backstage to help rapidly dress the models as they exit the runway. The bustling activity is similar to the frenzy of a pit crew changing tires and fueling a car at a NASCAR race.)
With that information as your backdrop, imagine that you — a stay-at-home Mom …. or a professional woman wanting to treat yourself … or an adventurous gal with some extra cash — have the opportunity to buy two tickets at your fundraising auction to attend this event.
Seriously, who wouldn’t want to go!? What a great trip for two BFs, or just a memorable Mother-Daughter experience.
You’re getting eager to go, aren’t you?
But how do you get tickets?
Work your connections.
The donations I’ve seen have come from department stores. Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales … whatever department store serves your city is a good target. Buyers from those stores attend Fashion Week seeking trends and ideas.
So ask the best dressed woman on your auction committee where she shops. If she’s spending money in a specific department store, that’s the best place to start.
For instance, one of my client’s volunteers consistently used free personal shopping services at a local department store. She shared with her personal shopper that she wanted to secure tickets to Fashion Week for her charitable auction, and eventually she was connected to the right person.
Work it, girl!
Furthermore, because of the fluidity of the schedule, the purchasers of the tickets may not know until a week or so prior as to which day a specific show will be held. It’s best to let guests know that Fashion Week is September XX through XX, and the show will occur on one of those days.
This makes perfect sense, because oftentimes the auction fundraiser is taking place months in advance of Fashion Week. If my auction is in March, but the tickets are not good until September, even the organizers of New York’s Fashion Week don’t yet know which designers will be appearing.
(c) 2009 Red Apple Auctions LLC
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Comments
thats the only way to get tickets for fashion week? That is actually great information… Thanx!!! How did you get into modeling… Plus size?
Thanks for the comment, Ismel!
My suggestion is not the only way to get tickets. The *best* way is to call your friend Tom Ford and ask him for tickets to his Gucci show. But if Tom’s number isn’t in your cell phone… and Jean-Paul Gaultier hasn’t ever sent you a birthday card … the suggestion above is a solid alternative.
I’ve sold this item at three auctions. In all cases, working through a department store was *the* way the tickets were secured.
Regarding plus-size modeling: I got into modeling by making a few trips to New York, NY and Miami, FL to visit with agencies during their publicized “open calls.” Eventually I found a couple of reputable agencies who added me to their modeling board. Although there are many types of models, plus-size print models start at size 8 and maybe go up to a size 18. Most of the plus-size print models working consistently enough to make a full-time career of it are size 12 or 14.
Your time reference needs updating. Are the show now held at Lincoln Center? You said you thought they would be in 2010. It is now 2012, please let me know
thanks for the great idea
Glad you liked the idea, Marsha. You are right, I haven’t updated this blog since it was published. You’ll find current fashion week info by googling NY Fashion Week.
Good luck with your event.
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