With this whirlwind of show reviews, snow and endless cups of Starbucks, New York Fashion Week has proven to be quite the endurance race, lol! And, I’ve enjoyed every single minute.

My day three was a little light, as far as scheduling was concerned. I spent a majority of my morning catching up on Fashion Bomb posts while preserving my energy for the upcoming Jonathan Simkhai presentation.

Jame and I arrived to Milk Studios early Sunday evening as we made our way inside for check-in. We flashed our credentials, dropped our names and BOOM! — we were in dat thang (via standing room)! I was so excited! I had my camera ready, my Snapchat loaded and my Instagram was poppin’ but then the unexpected happened…

A tall, buff man simply walked to the middle of the room, raised his hands and proudly announced, “I’m sorry folks, but the Jonathan Simkhai show is at full capacity. But, we thank you for coming out – please exit to your right and watch your step.”

I was too heated!

My eyes started to dart back and forth across the room in hopes of processing the message I just received but even the slightest bit of understanding was shadowed by frustration. In my mind, I was like “SIR, I have walked through at least a mile of blistering winds, my fingers are STILL numb, I’m STILL cold and you mean to tell me I can’t get into the show?! This can’t be real.”

But (in reality), I remained calm. I turned to Jame and we calmly discussed our next move.

We decided to just hang out in the lobby, lol. I mean, this was our only show for the day. So, the “hanging out” began – we sifted through the crowds, snapped pictures of some impressive street style…

… And then we spotted blogger/beauty extraordinaires TK Wonder and Cipriana Quann (aka The Urban Bush Babes)! But, they were moving like the wind – literally in and out in a matter of seconds; however, Jame pursued them and got the shot of a lifetime.

After that, it was like the domino effect! Some of the best names in fashion started to emerge from the itsy bitsy elevator leading up to Simkhai’s set. We ran into supermodels Herieth Paul and Grace Bol, the lovely Justine Skye and even spotted street style faves June Ambrose and Taylor Tomasi Hill. There was also talk that Anna Wintour was in the building as well…

We hit the Fashion Week jackpot!

Our luck was just too good at this point. Eventually, we made our way up to the set to snap a few additional pics and, suddenly, I got my ENTIRE life. In an instant, Shiona Turini and Rajni Jacques emerged from behind a random corner (I’m guessing it was an exit from backstage, lol). I almost died.

After almost passing out from excitement and stumbling over my own words, this happened. I couldn’t believe that I was standing with one of the stylists behind Beyonce’s controversial “Formation” music video as well as Racked.com’s Editor-at-Large – it was BEYOND surreal!

I definitely learned a lesson that day. Although things may not flow as smoothly as you’d like, there’s always an upside. And, even though Jame and I failed to sit in on Simkhai’s flawless showcase, we hit it big in meeting some of the most influential faces in the fashion world. We’re living testaments that the greatest successes can stem from small failures.

I’m convinced that life can’t get any better! 🙂

Signing Out — Esmesha