What It Costs
The fashion week shows are geared to professionals who work in the industry, such as buyers for major high-end stores and boutiques. Editors of top fashion magazines and other style writers and journalists are also often included on the guest list. In addition, the most well-known celebrities are usually very welcome guests. There is no charge to attend, except for whatever you spend on travel, accommodations and clothing to wear to the event.
And if you don’t have an invitation, you won’t be able to buy one, as no tickets are sold for this event. So this is one time in life where money just won’t buy your way in.
By Invitation Only
If you work in the fashion industry and hold a significant role in decision making or buying end, you may receive a personal invitation to attend some (or all) of the designer’s shows. If you are not automatically included on the guest lists, though, and there is a specific show or shows that interest you, can contact the public relations director handling the event and submit your request. Just keep in mind that seating is very limited, so it is very difficult to get in. If you work for the press, you can also get in touch with the press contact for the shows you want to attend. Again, though, you are not guaranteed entrance. Admittance to each show is up to the designer. Even some writers and editors who work for large, highly-respected publications are sometimes excluded from the major shows if the designer doesn’t have a strong relationship with them.
Volunteer Your Way In
If you aren’t a celebrity, don’t have any press credentials and don’t work in the fashion industry, but you still want to attend Paris Fashion Week in some capacity, there is one other option you can pursue: volunteering to help with the event. Extra hands can sometimes be needed to do some of the setup, backstage organization and seating arrangements, but you have to offer your services well in advance, as many people will have the same idea. Contact the organizers of the event to see how to submit your name for consideration.
Dress To Impress
Finally, if all else fails and you don’t have a way in to see the collections, you may want to out on very best, most fashion forward clothes and stand outside the shows, especially if you are a student or a journalist. In Paris, if a designer’s show isn’t completely packed, students, press and other very well-dressed bystanders are invited in to fill up the room Of course your odds of getting in this way are much better at the less-known shows, and much less likely for the big name designers who draw a larger audience, but you just never know when you will get lucky. Occasionally VIPS also give out extra tickets to even the most popular shows to people standing outside who catch their attention. Just keep in mind that this practice is specific to the Paris shows, not all Fashion Week events. It happens on a smaller scale in NYC, while the shows in London and Milan are much more closed to uninvited guests.
