NYFW WITH A SOUTHERN TWIST

New York Fashion Week is one of the largest events in fashion within the United States. Designers and models from all over the U.S. seek to showcase themselves and their work for the world to see. With months of preparation and practice, some of the largest brands and designers put their best foot forward for this bi-annual event. However, sometimes fashion in New York City doesn’t stray too far from home.

Maggie West began her New York Fashion Week debut as a model this past September when she began her freshman year of college.

“I immediately emailed all my professors. And I was like, ‘Hey, I'm going to be out these days.’ Because I was missing. I was supposed to miss two days of school, but due to travel issues coming back, I missed three days,’” West said.

West’s modeling career has been a brief yet successful one. Within two years she was signed to a modeling agency, met with several designers in the southeastern United States and was invited to close the show for a designer participating in New York Fashion Week. Surprisingly, the University of Tennessee freshman is an unlikely model, as she had not planned on pursuing modeling prior to those two years.

“I started doing pageantry my sophomore year of high school, and my goal was just to place top 15 in Miss Tennessee Teen USA,” West said. “I didn't do that the first year, but I did that my second year, my junior year. And then all the other girls were like, “Yeah, we do modeling, you should probably get into that. Like it'd be fun.’”

As opposed to those who first began modeling in local photoshoots, West’s modeling went into full swing when she applied to Coco Rocha’s model camp. Coco Rocha is a Canadian supermodel with a career spanning over a decade. After years of runway walks, photoshoots for Vogue, and maintaining a large social media following, she now runs a camp hoping to train the next generation of models.

“This other girl I knew from pageants, she went to Coco Rocha Model Camp, and it looked like she had a great experience,” West said. “And I was like, ‘If I want to learn more about the industry, I'll apply.’ So I applied during school…and then I got a DM from Coco. Like, her actually. And it was really weird. Later that night, she was like, ‘Hey, I loved your Instagram, and I loved your like application. Come on over.’ And I was like, ‘Awesome. Sounds like a plan.’ And so then I went in July of ‘22.”

At only 17 years old, West spent several days in New York City learning to pose and walk from Rocha herself. Following the experience, West was set to find modeling bookings.

“It raised my confidence in the industry, which is good,” she said. “And then after that, I went back and just started kind of reaching out to different people and asked if they wanted to work with me. And my first shoot was with Altar’d State’s Bridal Company Vow’d.”

By May 2023, Maggie West was signed to Premiere Model Management in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Her agent contacts her with potential jobs and connections so that she does have to seek those opportunities herself. However, it was one of West’s friends from her time in beauty pageants that helped her participate in New York Fashion Week. West’s friend worked with a company based in Charlotte that produced fashion shows and worked with models and designers. She followed the company’s Instagram and showed their casting call to West for New York Fashion Week.

West was skeptical at first. She first confirmed with her friend if they were legitimate and a good group to work with. Once she verified their legitimacy, West applied. She was later contacted by Adaline Griffin, a Charlotte-based designer looking to showcase her work in New York. After a FaceTime call, sending portfolio photos and showing a video of West walking, Griffin invited West to work with her.

West’s casting did not stop there. Once she was working with Griffin, another designer named Kathy Harris invited West to model her collection for köttkömm, Harris’s fashion label based in Greenville, SC. West accepted and now would be participating in New York Fashion Week with two different designers.

“They were both literally the sweetest people,” West said. “I love them so much. And their designs were very definitely avant-garde, is the best way to describe it. It was couture. So, you know, not clothing pieces that you would wear normally. It's art and it's meant to be art.”

With Griffin’s collection, West means art in the literal sense. The clothing Griffin premiered was inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s paintings throughout his lifetime. Appropriately, this collection was titled the “Van Gogh Collection.” West would be closing the show in a long gown with a skirt depicting the infamous “Starry Night” painting. Comically, West was floored by the news both before and after.

“I went to go to a fitting for them in the summer… and I was carrying this big dress during the fitting and someone put a pole on the ground,” West said. “I didn't see it and I fell in front of everyone there. Just completely ate the floor. It was terrible. It was so embarrassing. And then right after that Adeline was like, ‘I think you should wear the closing piece of the show.’ And I was like, ‘You want me to do what now? That impressed you right there?’”

Nevertheless, West rose to the occasion. She was initially terrified to walk in Griffin’s hand-painted dress, but Griffin was very reassuring. Both designers were confident that West could execute their vision for their collections.

Starting her first college semester and modeling debut was no easy feat. West had also been invited to participate in Charlotte Fashion Week, but she declined so she would not miss more classes in addition to those she would miss due to her time in New York. By September, West had joined a sorority, prepared for multiple exams, taken part in promotional photoshoots and booked a flight and hotel to New York City. Even after all of the preparation, she had to alert her professors to make sure the trip did not affect her academics.

“I was like, ‘Hey, I'm walking in Fashion Week,’” she said. “‘Can't miss it. Already signed a contract. Sorry, y'all. But I'm going to get all my work done, don't even worry about it.’ And I had to miss a couple of exams I had to make up. But it wasn't really that bad.”

On September 7, West’s hectic schedule began. She first arrived in New York City that Thursday. The shows West would be participating in were that Saturday. Friday was the “shoot day.” She woke up, did her hair and make-up, and then went to the Museum of Modern Art where the photoshoot would take place.

“It was so weird because like we would just be getting shots and like, a crowd would form around us and get videos of us… I shot there for about two hours, got to go back, take a quick break, eat some lunch, and then had to go to the Met afterward for another shoot.” West said.

The day did not end there. After the photoshoots at the museums, West had to rehearse in her outfits for Saturday and practice her “pacing.”

“Weird thing is people when they think of modeling they don't consider how difficult pacing is,” she said, “Like for köttkömm’s show, I had to walk relatively quickly, which wasn't difficult in the piece I was wearing. But in Adaline’s show I had to walk at like a glacial pace to A) not ruin the dress and B) that was just the energy of the show.”

On Saturday, West woke up at 6 am, showered, and then went to hair and makeup in a tiny apartment. From there, she underwent a hectic schedule with very few breaks.

“I had to sprint to the venue, get there, sit in the greenroom for a little bit, hear some notes, change, do the show, immediately after the show had to sprint to press, did press, then right after had to go back to hair and makeup which was two blocks away,” West said. “They redid my hair and makeup very quickly. Sprint from hair and makeup back to the show, back to the theater. And then after that, they took away our greenroom.”

West recalled she and the other models having to change in the hallway with other assistants passing their next garments after the greenroom was no longer available. After changing for köttkömm’s show, she waited in line for her turn to walk for nearly an hour. When köttkömm’s show ended, West went to do press and then prepared for one final photoshoot. Two hours later, she returned to her hotel completing her time in New York.

“The best part was honestly just working with other models, like we honestly became such good friends,” she said. “They're such a sweet, genuine group of people. And the designers were so sweet. And just like being able to be a part of creating someone's vision, like, it meant so much.”

Despite such a unique experience in New York, West acknowledged the schedule was not easy. Saturday proved to be the busiest for her.

“The worst part was definitely on show day,” West said. “I wasn't able to eat a single thing. Just because the way the schedule was built, like there was literally no time to eat anything. So, it was it was definitely exhausting. But there's models that have shows all throughout Fashion Week. I was only walking in one day of Fashion Week. But there's people who do back-to-back shows all week, and I can't imagine how they do it.”

Following her New York Fashion Week debut, Maggie West is now focused on studying for her classes at the University of Tennessee. However, her modeling plans are not over yet. So what opportunities are next for West?

“Honestly, the weird thing is, they just kind of come,” West said. “Christine Harris is my current agent. She's absolutely amazing. And so every once in a while, she'll find something for me, but it's just kind of seeing how it coincides with my school schedule. And my agent, she's really understanding that school comes first and this is just kind of like a hobby of sorts.”

It is not uncommon for other high school and college students to take part in modeling careers, as several of West’s colleagues were around her age. Following her experience, West carries advice to other students hoping to pursue a modeling career.

“If you think that you can do it then honestly go for it,” West said. “It is kind of draining, but at the end, it’s a great experience and a great story to tell. Also make sure that you are putting school first because you're investing so much of your time, money and effort into school. You don’t want to put that to waste.”