CLASSROOM TO THE RUNWAY: MY EXPERIENCE AT NYFW

New York Fashion Week was never something I pictured being part of — least of all backstage, helping with someone else's collection rather than showing my own. But fashion school opened that door, and NYFW 2024 ended up feeling less like a leap and more like the classroom, just somewhere louder.

It wasn't about the glamour. It was prep, problem-solving, and showing up for someone who'd worked hard to get on that runway.

WHY I WAS THERE

I was there to support Stephanie Miot, a Fashion Institute of Florida graduate who'd earned her spot at Runway 7 by winning the school's graduation show. It wasn't about me being seen — it was about making sure everything backstage ran smoothly enough that her collection could actually shine.

BACKSTAGE REALITY

Backstage is fast and loud and full of tiny decisions that matter more than they should — a hem checked here, a closure reinforced there, someone fixing something right up until the model steps out. What got me was how familiar it felt. All the stuff drummed into us at school — sequencing, pressing, watching the fit — was exactly what mattered here. The runway just crams it all into about five terrifying minutes. One of the dresses need a little attention - a couple of the buttons wasn't aligned correctly so had to be taken off and sewn back on, luckily I sew fast.

SUPPORTING THE DESIGNER

My job was hands-on: sewing buttons, fixing hems, pressing, checking accessories, making sure each look was on the right model in the right order before they went out.  I was there to make sure Stephanie's vision came through exactly as she wanted it. Which, honestly, is its own skill, and one school teaches well: knowing when to keep your hands off.

THE RUNWAY MOMENT

Watching the collection actually walk was a proper lump-in-the-throat moment — not just for Stephanie, but for everything nobody sees that got it there. Fashion only ever shows you the finished look. Being backstage shows you the hundred small panics behind it.

NYFW 2024 reminded me that fashion education doesn't stop when the class does — it just moves into fitting rooms and backstage corridors, where nobody cares about recognition, only whether you can actually do the thing. The year after, I went back for a second season.

CONTINUE THE SERIES

This is the fifth in a six-part series on returning to formal fashion education:

1. Why I Went Back to Fashion School
2. Inside the Fashion Institute of Florida
3. What Fashion School Taught Me About Construction
4. Learning Pattern Making Changed The Way I See Clothes
   
5. From the Classroom to the Runway: NYFW 2024 (you are here)
6. My 2nd Season at New York Fashion Week