Behind the Front Row: TVG's First Fashion Week
AUTHOR: Justine Diesta
Me in Bali, wondering how our first fashion week would go….
It's September 22, and I'm writing this an hour before my shift ends. I sent a closing message to the whole TVG team after a busy few weeks of New York and London Fashion Week, thanking them for all the effort and time they've put in. And of course, reminding them to remind the creators of their reel deliverables (haha!)
As I scroll through the Google Drive of photos from our talents, one thing keeps coming back to me: how long this had been building before any of these photos existed.
Clockwise from top left: Faith Bui at Sherri Hill; Jake Park at FANG NYC; Cece Liu at Fashion Week and the City; and Hailey Ra at The Stoop by Calzedonia.
Three weeks of quiet, then one loud Monday…
The first NYFW invite reached our inbox on August 7, a gifting suite. Then came our team offsite in Bali on August 13, and while we were there, our phones started buzzing: emails landed in under three hours, with gifting from Petal & Pup, Polène, and Beginning Boutique, an invite to Sherri Hill's runway show, and a photographer pitch for the week. Nothing makes fashion week feel real like five invites arriving while you're in a villa in Bali. Confirmed spots don't wait, so the moment we were back on August 17, the replies went out fast. From there it was a steady flow of selects, shipping addresses, RSVPs, and plus-one requests.
The invites were the easy part. The real puzzle was the creators' calendars. Several of them have full-time jobs and appointments of their own, so availability ran thin, but they also wanted to make the most of the week and get photos in their fits.
It's not always as glamorous as it looks on Instagram
This season we sent several creators: Calista Nguyen, Lanie Rim, Natalie Lim, Faith Bui, Jake Park, and Hailey Ra to New York, and Cece Liu to London. Working with our PR partners, we handled show and event invites, seating and QR codes, plus-one requests, gifting, and designer loans. Before anyone landed, we prepared a NYFW/LFW "bible" for each creator with their schedule and tips, plus a live tracker and group chats to keep everything moving when plans changed.
I've wanted to experience Fashion Week since I was a kid. I never imagined I'd see it from a completely different side: not from the front row, but from behind the scenes. Behind every glam actor or creator at a show is usually a team of people making sure they can actually get there.
Here's to the ones who made it work!
The ones who make it happen behind the scenes. TVG 4Eva!
What we’re taking into the next season
Our first fashion week taught us that the invite is only the start. What decides whether a creator has a good week is everything around it: who's free when, who's covering the inbox, and what's waiting for them when they land.
At The Viralist Group, we don't measure a season by how many invites landed in the inbox. We measure it by whether a creator walked in prepared, felt looked after, and left with relationships worth keeping. That takes systems and heart in equal measure, and we're already building both for the next one.
Campaign Credits
Talent: Faith Bui, Jake Park, Hailey Ra, Cece Liu, Lanie Rim, Calista Nguyen, Natalie Lim
Team: Yana de Villa, Lyka Mea, Hannah Matta, Mariah Lopez, Nana Pradnya, Claudia Villondo, Lainey Nuestro, and yours truly!
