Everything you need to know about New York Fashion Week starting on Friday

The City That Never Sleeps will have no trouble staying awake with the promise of next year’s spring and summer styles.

That’s right, it’s time for the very stylish and hip New York Fashion Week.

For those looking to stay up to date with everything and everyone heading to the runways, here’s a quick guide.

When does Fashion Week start?

The fashionable festivities start Friday, with designers, models and attendees strutting their stuff until Wednesday.

The wearable creations of Christian Siriano and Victor de Souza — which will feature labels with “SS” once the collection concludes, to signify spring/summer — debuted Wednesday night. Others, including 7 For All Mankind and Parke & Ronen, showcased Thursday morning and afternoon respectively.

Collections to look out for

Among the star-studded collections heading to Gotham over the next several days are those by Rebecca Minkoff on Friday evening, alice + olivia and Prabal Gurung on Saturday, Coach Monday, followed by Brandon Maxwell and Tory Burch on Tuesday.

Origin of New York Fashion Week

Once upon a forgotten time, before the runways found their homes in downtown Manhattan at Spring Studios and designers’ collections couldn’t be broadcast all over social media, Fashion Week was geared toward store buyers and fashion journalists, offering an exclusive glimpse at what trends were forthcoming.

Now though, in part thanks to COVID changing the in-person game across industries, the event includes plenty of experiences for those who can’t score an invite to the upper echelon of shows or might have to remain remote.

How to enjoy NYFW, even without an invite

Sure, everyone would love to wear their Sunday best to the coveted front rows of the Fashion Week shows, seated within eyeshot of A-listers.

But the majority of us have to find other avenues to get access, such as special events open for the public. It’s all part of official Fashion Week sponsor Afterpay’s reported effort, along with designers, to “democratize Fashion Week.”

Among the “buy now, pay later” company’s offerings are New York-based designer Kim Shui’s show Monday at 8 p.m., which will feature behind-the-scenes views of what bringing the show to life entailed, as well as popup projections of Area’s collection, which will feature around the city from Monday through Wednesday.

Throughout the next several days, Bergdorf Goodman Restaurant and Bar will serve up themed cocktails that take a page from designers’ favorite drinks.

There will also be a popup, “La Bodega Baque,” thanks to a collaboration between Angelo Baque, of AwakeNY, and UPS promoting small businesses and Latino creatives.

Multiple shows — such as Khiry on Saturday, Ulla Johnson on Sunday, as well as Jonathan Simkhai and Tory Burch on Tuesday — will also be live streamed on NYFW.com.