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Today I wanted to talk a little about London Fashion Week and other major fashion weeks in general. The fashion month has started slowly but surely and is shaping up to be a very busy month for some of the big fashion bloggers out there.
But what if you’re a small blogger and your inbox is as empty as can be? Well, I’ve got some tips for you. These tips apply for all the fashion weeks no matter if you’re looking to get invited to fashion week in Milan, Paris or New York (well,it’s a little too late for NYC this year).
So, How To Get Invited To Fashion Week As A Blogger?
Marinka and I during the LFW in February
1. Make Your Instagram Searchable
If you’re a fashion blogger, it’s a given that you should be active on Instagram. However, it’s important to make your Instagram bio searchable – include relevant keywords which you think brands could be searching for.
I recently found out that brands and PR use Instagram specific web scrapers and web crawlers, usually provided by a third party. These crawlers search Instagram for specific keywords such as ‘fashion blogger’, ‘beauty blogger’, ‘London fashion blogger’ etc and then compile a list of every account that matches their search criteria, usually with an associated email.
This list is then sold to brands. If you’re a blogger/influencer wondering how on earth you ended up on some brand’s mailing list which you never applied for and have no interest in, this is probably how.
So, if you are looking to get invited to fashion week in London, it’s a good idea to have the keywords ‘London’ and ‘fashion blogger’ somewhere in your bio, even if you are actually not in London at the moment.
I’m looking to attend some blogger events in Milan during Fashion Week this year, so I’ve mentioned that I’m travelling to Milan in my bio. If you are active on YouTube, Pinterest or Twitter, you should do this there too.
2. Contact Designers Directly
Every fashion week has an official calendar as well as an official list of all the designers that will be present. You can find the list of designers attending London Fashion Week here, Milan Fashion Week here, Paris Fashion Week here and New York Fashion Week here.
You can email the contacts under the term “press” along with your media kit and a short introduction to yourself, as well as some of the articles on your blog that you are most proud of. Also include Google Analytics, Instagram Statistics or any other relevant information such as your posting frequency.
You can also mention how the designer will benefit from your attendance – maybe you are looking to showcase their collection on your blog, do an interview or document the whole show on Snapchat. Let them see that it’s beneficial for themto invite you to their show!
Also, bear in mind that if you are just starting out, it’s probably a waste of time to try to get invited to some of the more exclusive shows like Gucci or Fendi (doesn’t mean that you can’t still try!).
3. Contact PR & Blogger Agencies
PR and blogger agencies host their own events during fashion weeks very often, so it’s a good idea to pop an email to some of them. If you don’t know of any PR agencies there is a very simple way to find it out. You can either use Google with the right keywords, or search on Instagram.
It’s a given that if you are looking to get invited to fashion week in London, choose bloggers that are based in London/UK, and if you are looking to get invited to fashion week in Milan, target bloggers who are based in Milan/Italy. (To find these bloggers, perform an initial Google search).
Blogger agencies also offer a great way to get invited to fashion week. For example, The Blogger Programme has an annual hangout lounge which you can apply for here (create an account first).
Blogger events are actually my favourite part of fashion week – the shows themselves can be quite hectic and the constant queuing gets a little tiring!
Fohr and Zine also organise (or convey) influencer and blogger events during LFW.
4. Apply for Accreditation
You can apply for an accreditation, which gives you a press pass for the fashion week. Although accreditation doesn’t necessarily give you access to the shows (this is espcially true in Milan), it does come with nice benefits such as access to press lounges, networking and of course, prossecco.
Big fashion capitals such as Milan have made it slightly difficult to become accredited as a blogger and it’s certainly not necessary to do if you are looking to attend (not to mention it costs €60!). However, LFW is more blogger-friendly.
You can apply for accreditation to LFW (free of charge).
I hope these tips were helpful to those fellow bloggers who want to know how get invited to fashion week!
I know you might think it’s a little last minute to start applying to fashion week events but trust me, most of the invites haven’t been sent out yet – everything is left to last minute in the fashion world, at least from my previous experiences!
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