My name is Danielle Meder. I'm a Canadian girl,
a fashion illustrator by trade (daniellemeder.com), and a fashion blogger (finalfashion.ca) by inclination. Recently I moved to London UK, just to
see if I could hack it, and part of that is making the effort to go to fashion
events both in London and Europe. Thus: Berlin Fashion Week.
It all started, as almost everything does these
days, on Twitter. I mentioned that I had been getting a couple emails about
events in Berlin in January, and fellow fashion blogger Barb Leung of Front Row
Magazine responded that we should both go, and so
it was decided. But I let it sort of slip up on me… I dawdled when it came to
applying for accreditation, I procrastinated when it came to figuring out
travel details. Then all of the sudden it was January…
Going to a new fashion week is not something
you should procrastinate on organizing. Nobody there knows or cares who you
are, especially if you're a foreign blogger. The way you should do it is this:
apply for official accreditation as early as possible, so the people in charge
add your email to a big old list that all of the designers have access to. If
you do this, you should get a few save the dates and invitations, especially
from up and coming designers who don't have established lists of contacts
already.
Next, you need to get your hands on a list of
all the public relations representatives for all the designers, and bang out
several dozen emails (feels like: several hundred) politely introducing
yourself and asking for your name to be added to their guestlist. Earlier is
better, because there are only so many seats. Then you wait for a trickle of
polite acceptances and declines, which are never even close to adding up to the
number of requests you sent.
As it happened, I did all of this in the first
week of January. Even though I didn't have my confirmation of official
accreditation (which only gets you into the tent, not the shows) I managed to
build up a modest itinerary. The other way to beef up the number of events you
have access to is to attend off-site shows and alternative venues, featuring
up-and-coming designers. A little research will uncover a lot of those—and
with a lot more emails, you're usually in. There are advantages to covering off
the beaten path—these events are a lot more open to giving access to unknown
quantities, i.e. bloggers like me, there is a lot more variety, and the fashion
week experience isn't prescribed by the official schedule. You do have a bit
more legwork to do to get around, but on the other hand, its a good way to get
to see some of the city you're in.
READ: Danielle's photo diary from Day 1 of Berlin Fashion Week
Photo diary from Day 2 of Berlin Fashion Week
Photo diary from Day 3 of Berlin Fashion Week