Modeling for College Fashion Week

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to model at College Fashion Week in Brooklyn this past weekend. Let me just say, it was one of the most incredible experiences of my entire life.

Going into this, I had no idea what to expect. I had never modeled before; I had never seen myself as someone who would ever be chosen to model. You can imagine my surprise when I got this email:

I’ll honestly never forget the moment I got it. I was hanging out with a friend between classes, walking with them to get their textbooks and randomly decided to check my email. My jaw DROPPED. I couldn’t actually believe what I was reading.

“Congrats, you’ve been selected to model in the eighth annual College Fashion Week on Saturday, October 5, at BKLYN Studios! We are so excited to be working with you, this year you can expect customized looks from our 2019 CFW sponsor, Primark! You’ll be one of the lucky few to get the ultimate College Fashion Week experience including a VIP pass to explore the CFW floor and the official CFW goody bag.

As a part of the model experience, Her Campus’s editorial team invites you to an exclusive brunch…”

Out of all of the applicants from all over the US, I was chosen. We had girls flying in from out of state for this, and I was chosen.

The day before the event, we had our fitting in Primark at Kings Plaza Mall. During this time, I got to meet some of the other models and got a sneak peek on what they would be wearing as well as having to try on my own outfits!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the brunch because I had a class that I wasn’t able to miss, but it was so cute from what I heard and pictures I saw.

Here are some pictures of the other models at the brunch and the cute little gifts given out.

I met up with the girls at BKLYN Studios and as cheesy as it sounds, we instantly all became SUPER close. Being models together made us built in best friends. Girls I hadn’t even known more than a few hours were hyping up my EVERY move and vice versa. 

Throughout the day, we got our hair and makeup done, had rehearsals and exclusive VIP Floor access— meaning first grabs on all of the cool free stuff.

The actual act of modeling was the most exhilarating experience of my entire life. There’s nothing like knowing you’re next up and in moments, all eyes will be on you. It’s almost as if something completely takes over your body. Some of the girls and I even had a running joke that the “ghost of College Fashion Week” took over and we didn’t even recognize ourselves. The level of confidence that immediately hits you upon walking out is absolutely INSANE, but it’s a beautiful feeling, it really is.

Images are on the lower quality side because they are screenshots from videos.

Stepping out of your comfort zone can be scary, I get it. But sometimes the results can be some of the most rewarding experiences of your entire life. Because I did, I met 16 new girls who I hadn’t known before and now I have SIXTEEN new hype women to meet up with and get lunch in the city, and sixteen new positive influences in my life. 

To end this article, I’m going to leave some pictures from when we had floor access and pictures of all of the cool free stuff I got as both an attendee of CFW as well as a model.

If you want to see all of the free stuff I got as both a model and an attendee of the event, head over to my instagram @/alliahirtan and check out my “HC” highlight to see an overview of everything.

As always, thanks for reading!

xoxo, alliah ❧

• CFW
• College Fashion Week
• model