For the past few seasons I’ve been lucky enough to find myself at Somerset House to experience the spectacle of London Fashion Week. As a fashion blogger times have changed over the years and getting a pass for LFW can seem daunting. It needn’t. When I applied for my first season there was no application process specifically for bloggers, so we applied for press passes. This was fine for a few seasons but as the numbers of bloggers applying increased, so the BFC got wise to it and decided to open applications specifically for bloggers. This has sparked some debate about whether or not bloggers should be seen as something different to the press, and whether or not this might actually be a good thing. But that’s not the point of this post. Instead, I have been contacted by a few readers asking how I got my bloggers’ pass and whether it was easy. So I thought, in true blogger style, that I would write a post about my experience!
- First off, the application process itself is easy as pie. Go to the London Fashion Week pages and hit the “Register Now” button at the top of the page. Registration opens just a few weeks after Fashion Week closes and you can find out exactly when by following @LondonFashionWk on Twitter.
- You’ll need to attach your stats. This might seem a little daunting as it seems to be some kind of trade secret within blogging as to what warrants a good or bad visitor rate. Well, I’ve read different accounts of what you need for an application but when I picked up my pass at the weekend I was told that they’re looking for 5,000 unique visitors a month.
- Despite applying early and attaching my stats, I have yet to receive a fast track approved application for Fashion Week since switching from the press pass to the blogger pass. Again, I decided to ask about this at the weekend and was told that there were simply so many applications for blogger passes that they usually give up and just validate on the day. So don’t be discouraged from attending if you haven’t had confirmation.
- The pass is really for the exhibition and press rooms, so if you want to attend the shows, the pass is actually not so important. (Although I have managed to get into a few shows in the past – to stand at the back – by flashing a smile and my pass at the security guards!).
- The London Fashion Week website has a whole page dedicated to the schedule and here you’ll find links to individual designer pages. There’s also a PDF sheet for all of the contacts for all of the designers showing on this page too. To get a ticket to any show, you’ll need to email these contacts and basically ask for a ticket. Don’t beg. Do not demand. My best advice is to send a short, polite email, explaining who you are and what your blog is about and that you are attending Fashion Week and would like to attend the show. Be sure to include a postal address too.
- The thing with Fashion Week is that the invitations will not start to come in – if they are going to – until a few days before. A week in advance, if you’re lucky. So you’ll need to make a decision on attending regardless of these really. I usually try to combine my trip to Fashion Week with other fun London plans so that the pressure doesn’t fall completely on getting invitations.
- For the most chance of securing a few invitations, look to off-schedule shows and Vauxhall Fashion Scout to request tickets. The best thing for your first season is to attend any and every show that you can and get some coverage on your blog for next season, which you can then point PRs to when applying for invitations. This is essentially how I ended up with a seated invitation at Jasper Conran this season. Two seasons ago I sneaked in, took a load of photos and posted the coverage. Last season I sent this over and was sent a standing invitation to the show. This season, I did the same again and was sent a seated invitation.
Anything else I missed that you want to know? Any more advice that seasoned Fashion Week attendees would care to share?
