New York Fashion Week S/S 2014

NYFW SS2014
WORDS: Kelsy Osterman
PHOTOS: ALEX PINES

Looking at New York Fashion Week (NYFW) from the outside in, your mind can make certain assumptions. You wonder, how do people get involved? Who do they know? How much talent was involved in their participation? Growing up in a northern suburb of Minneapolis, MN, I was that girl looking in. I knew it was something I always wanted to do… slightly terrified to jump in, but inevitably jump is what I did. I landed at Cutler Salon and was welcomed into a stellar team. Rodney Cutler is a truly committed fashion week leader and I am fortunate to have him as my mentor. I really could not have asked for more. In my first month living in New York, I was put on 12 NYFW shows. Talk about hitting the ground running and pure adrenaline pumping through your system. Not only did I have to figure out how to navigate the city for the first time, I had to lug my gear up and down subway stairs and perform to my highest technical ability. Ouch! But I made it and have just completed my 9th NYFW.

This season was different. Fashion week is always exciting and fast-paced, but what I truly love is capturing that motion and turning it into stillness.

Captured by a creative with a true eye for finding that stillness, Alex Pines accompanied me to that first lead Cutler show. After that show, I realized that this ‘thing’ I’ve done for 9 seasons, now felt like a different kind of magic. I love working with Alex for so many reasons, but in this case, her ease and fluidity, matched with a quick, highly tuned eye, was perfect to translate the motion into stillness. She ended up accompanying me to a handful of shows, absorbing the flow of the surrounding energy. We quickly noticed a common thread: all hands on deck.

All hands on deck is a visual tale of all the talent and minds and hands it takes to work on just one head of hair to create a finished look. Usually in 10 minutes. We do our very best to make sure the models are ok, but when miracles need to happen, I’m sure it’s an out of body experience for them. Anyway, the point of the matter is, it takes an army, and a well balanced team to really pull together and make something seemingly impossible, possible.

PAOLA HERNANDEZ