My experience at my first College Fashionista’s invite-only event and New York Fashion Week.
The day started off with a 5:25 A.M. train from Union Station in Washington, D.C. to New York City. It was my first time ever riding an Amtrak train, but I highly recommend it. It was easy, simple, and I had a lot of legroom! I arrived in the city at 8:55 A.M. and met up with my friend, Nicole Verga. We walked a few blocks to our hotel to drop off our bags and get ready for the day, having to do our hair and makeup in the single stall bathroom in the basement. Once our outfits slayed and our faces were beat, it was finally time for the main event: Creators Loft.
The Creators Loft is an event put on by College Fashionista (CF), which is a part of Her Campus Media. CF creates a community for college students to globally meet and share in their love for fashion and beauty. I encourage all students to apply no matter who you are and your background with fashion and beauty. I have always loved the industries, but never got an opportunity to be a part of them until College Fashionista gave me the opportunity!
The Loft was an all-day event designed for coming and going during the city’s main event, New York Fashion Week. Upon entering the loft, I was met with a gloriously open room filled with other girls who shared my passion. The event had panels and workshops throughout the day featuring influencers and CF Alumni to give us insight about social media. There were countless photo ops, a professional headshot station, and even a Creators Loft Cafe where we got goodies from the sponsoring brands. One of the main sponsors, Kate Spade, had a rent-a-bag wall where you could rent a bag of your choice for 24 hours. IMPRESS Beauty was another big sponsor of the event, having an IMPRESS Lash Bar available for all attendees. IMPRESS lash professionals had stations where attendees could pick from six of the available lash styles and get them applied.
Besides the goodies and incredible insight from working professionals, the Creators Loft’s best feature was the community aspect. It was so fun seeing all of the beautiful outfits that I know took days to plan and all of the group photos of girls who have been waiting to meet. Creators Loft was truly an event for the girlies to feel confident, loved, and supported.
Related: Gen Z Showed Up & Showed Out At College Fashionista’s Creators Loft
After the loft, Nicole and I spent the rest of the day exploring more of the city and other attractions. The Loft was located right next to the massive Barnes & Noble in Union Square, so we took some time to unwind and indulge in their four floors. After getting some goodies, we headed to SoHo where Gucci was having a pop-up outside of their newly remodeled store. The pop-up was to celebrate the opening of the store along with their recent rebrand with new designer Sabato de Sarno. The brand is embracing a new color they deem “Ancora”, a deep bordeaux color that they displayed on every aspect of the pop up. The color is gorgeous and feels fresh and exciting while also keeping Gucci’s identity. Nicole and I both got free hot chocolates and tulips wrapped in high quality Gucci wrapping paper.
There were a lot of other pop-ups around the city, but Nicole and I were pretty tired, so we ended up popping into the Glossier store before heading back to our hotel. After some chill time, we ventured back out into Times Square. We waited in line for 30 minutes at Joe’s Pizza, a famous NYC Pizza shop known and loved by millions. The wait was extremely worth it as the pizza was definitely in my top three pizzas of all time. We enjoyed our slices while enjoying the bright lights in Times Square. Before ending the night, we stopped into the Ace Hotel to get real film photostrips.
I got up early the next day to catch my train back to D.C.. I am incredibly grateful to College Fashionista for giving me the opportunity to attend the Creators Loft and giving me an excuse to visit my favorite city in the world.