Where do I even begin? I walked in Philly Fashion Week for the amazing designer Khang Le, and it was unlike any experience I’ve ever had before. From the clothes, to the designers, the stage, to the energy, everything about this fashion show was invigorating.

I started the morning in DC rushing to pack everything into my bags, like the classic procrastinator that I am. Then I hopped into the car with my parents, and we drove up to Philadelphia! After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we made our way to the event venue, and as soon as I entered, I was hit with the sight of models and designers running around. Apparently I had arrived just as another show was about to start.

I spent the next couple hours trying my best to stay out of everyone’s way, getting my hair done (which was a painful process that gave great results), and hiding in a bathroom to do my makeup. There were makeup artists there, but past experiences with makeup artists have traumatized me too much. I figured that since I knew my face the best, I would be able to give myself the best results. If it turned out horrible, at least I have no one else to blame but myself. And I did end up looking horrible for a little bit, because halfway through doing a black smokey eye, I got called out to start rehearsals. I probably looked like a literal panda! Imagine a washed-out, pale, round face, with two circles of black eyeshadow and you’ll probably get pretty close to what I looked like. And I looked like that for a while because we went into fittings right after rehearsals. So I spent around 2 hours looking like a panda…a fashionable panda, but a panda nonetheless. Then it was back to doing my makeup, and then right into our designer’s outfits, as the show was about to begin.

The walk down the runway itself was exhilarating, if not a little bit terrifying, because I was both  paranoid about tripping on the dress, and worried about walking in such a restricting mermaid dress. But I made it back safe and sound, made it through a second run when we flooded the stage, and handed the dress back in one piece to the designer.

With my show twin Jackie!!

When you experience it you really do get an adrenaline rush, and feed off of the people surrounding you, but it is definitely exhausting. I have so much respect for the models that do this for a living. To the audience it was only a 30 second walk, but for the models, designers, makeup artists, hair stylists, and assistants, that was just the culmination of weeks or even months of preparation, and a whole day of fast-paced work. So would I do it again? Yes! It was stressful and tiring, but I met a lot of great people, and learned a lot. If that’s not what life is about, then I don’t know what is.