This post is by Tierra, The Fashion Techie
Note from Editor: This can also be applied to any other city’s fashion week as well!
New York Fashion Week (NYFW) is the one event that every fashion blogger wants to go to. Some fashion bloggers are lucky. Either they live in New York, work for fashion pr firms, get sponsorships to fly out to NYFW, get cool tech products to test out; and some receive invites to the hottest events. But, everyone isn’t that lucky. Some of us can’t make it for many reasons, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t cover the event.
Here are a few tips to help you cover NYFW on your blog without being there.
Partner With Other Fashion Bloggers
One way to cover NYFW without being in attendance is to partner with bloggers who will be there. Finding out who is going and who isn’t may require a little detective work, but once you figure it out you can offer a partnership. Even though they may be covering the event for their own blog, many fashion bloggers want to reach a larger audience while they are there.
Guest posting is a great way to keep your readers in the know. Find out who is going and offer them the opportunity to post a guest post to your blog. I suggest finding more than one blogger to partner with. That way, you have a guest post from someone at NYFW throughout the entire event.
Online Events & Updates
This year online events were everywhere. Everything from live Twittering to live video updates. Style Coalition has an amazing program called Inside The Tents. These group of fashion bloggers update Twitter during NYFW using the hashtag #nyfw. They also produce live videos and provide up to the minute interviews. This tool alone will keep you in the know so you can write about NYFW on your blog. Another great resource is fashionweeknyc, a tweeter with over 6,000 followers who updates constantly during NYFW. With a little research you can a number of live Twitter parties, FB events and live video.
Press Releases
Press releases can be a bloggers best friend, especially if you know where to look. RSS feeds are the best way to keep up to date with NYFW press releases. PRWeb, and other sources, provide you with RSS feeds for different categories, including fashion. During and before NYFW, there are tons of press releases about upcoming shows, celebrities, swag bags and more. RSS feeds can bring that information directly to you so you don’t have to look for it.
Live Interviews
Technology is amazing. Through the use of Twitter, Skype, Text messaging and podcasts, you can actually interview people during fashion week, after fashion week or before fashion week. The NYFW Schedule is posted online for you to find out exactly who is showing when. We all know getting an interview Carolina Herrera may be impossible, but what about those doing hair, dressing assistants, interns, makeup, etc? These people are usually forgotten, but they not only know the inside scoop, but would love to be interviewed and featured on your blog. Also, remember, everyone doesn’t show in the tents. When I had the opportunity to go to NYFW, the majority of shows where in boutiques and art galleries….that’s where many find amazing undiscovered talents.
Engage Readers
Citizen journalism is powerful, ask CNN. It’s an amazing tool to get readers involved. Reach out to your readers and find out which ones are going to NYFW or live in NY and offer citizen journalism assignments. They can cover the events for you while competing for a prize. The best journalist could win products from one of your sponsors, a gift bag or a gift certificate.
Online Radio
If you are really feeling committed to covering NYFW, you can start an online radio show. Blog Talk Radio is a great free tool and you’d be surprised the number of people that will be interested in being on a radio show. Get your schedule together now and line up guests; it could be an incredible opportunity.
Hire Someone
So, if you have a little money on the side, you may consider hiring someone to cover NYFW for you. You could pay them per article and require them to live in NY and they must already be going to NYFW. It’s a great way for fashion interns, college students and aspiring designers to make a little extra money on the side. If you start now, you can provide them with media credentials to certain events and line up interviews and assignments for them to cover.
These are only a few ideas and opportunities. Don’t let the fact that you can’t be at NYFW stop you from providing coverage that your readers expect. Get involved, research and get out there.
thxs wendy
I’ve been to a few fashion weeks but not for the past few season but I still feel I should give it a tiny bit of coverage on my blog. Also, I really don’t mind getting a post or two on some people’s take on the recent shows, etc – I have also been know to pick a few (but only a few) favorites pieces from shows that I like and do a collage, or similar (yes, sometimes even with images from style.com). 
And I’ll add “Don’t post 100,000 runway shots you ‘borrow’ from style.com without any meaningful commentary because WendyB doesn’t want to see the same boring shizz on every blog.”
.-= WendyB´s last blog ..Seeing Blue =-.