New York Fashion Week 2019: Adidas

One week out of the year, New York becomes the center of fashion around the globe. Thousands of people flood the streets for a week; running from runway show to runway show and after parties that make college house parties look like a small kickback. This year Adidas joined the fun; creating and organizing a creator fashion show that hosted 24 young designers from around the country. Given full creative control over everything, artists took their ideas and transformed them into 24 unique looks that were displayed on the last day of fashion week.

It just so happened that I was chosen to be one of those lucky 24 artists. Out of over 20,000 applicants, a kid from the outskirts of Philadelphia with no connections to anyone in the industry, was chosen to come and put his ideas out into the world with no limitations. I was very inexperienced with runway shows, not only have I never worked in one; I have only seen them from afar. I took it as a sign that this is the path that I am supposed to be on.

24 Designers ending the show on the runway.

Three days a week for two months, I took a train into New York to work on the show. Commuting to SoHo every week, hours of train rides, long days and even longer nights. I missed classes and doctor appointments just to be on track for the show. So many hours spent in the studio making sure every inch of every design came out just as our minds have made them out to be. This show, for a lot of people was their first time seeing a runway, let alone working behind the scenes in one.

So much work went into such a short show.

Hundreds of people flooded into the show, in fact so many people came that the event was nearly shut down. Backstage, the chaos ensued; models running around getting their final fittings, makeup, and hair done; while designers and directors were scrambling to put together the last details of their looks and get a rundown of the show. This chaos is all while everyone is nervously pacing around; a lot of sweaty palms and nervous laughter permeated through the small four-hundred square foot lot we were given to work in. Count downs for every model, who were scheduled to walk six seconds in between each other.

Two months of work culminated into an hour show. The feeling you get when seeing something you made cross paths with someone is comparable to when your child is born, and you release them off into the world as their own being. Adidas gave a platform for so many people to express themselves and their art. Nothing is as beautiful as 24 people smiling cheek to cheek because their friends and family can see their wearable art on display for the world. The soul act of human expression is in turn, art. Adidas gave us no limits, unlimited supplies, and a place where all people from all walks of life can show the world their gifts.