Its Fashion Week in NYC, How are YOU getting in?

Radar magazine has this pretty cool piece showing you how to get into the tents for the fall NYC Fashion Week. Whether you like to con your way in to events or play it honestly, they’ll teach you how and let you know how to stay in...

After the jump:

New York City’s Fashion Week is practically here! Hold on to your Eugenia Kim’s (those are fancy hats, didn’t you know? If not, you must be wearing Eddie Bauer’s—vom!), because the shows this year are white-hot —with attendees who are even whiter and hotter.

Didn’t get an invite? Not a member of the press? Didn’t blow the Shipley and Halmos boys at the Annex last week when you had the chance? Fret not! There are hundreds of fashionably in-the-know girls and guys just like you who are dying to sneak into the tents at Bryant Park in Manhattan. And to manage, all you need is an YSL Muse-full of chutzpah to attend the best-dressed party in town. In this the first of our three part series How to Sneak Into Fashion Week, we’ve culled together some tips from gate-crash pros to help you secure a place beside the well-heeled, as well as warnings from the beefy guys at Fashion Week’s Citadel Security to keep you from getting too foolhardy. Godspeed, everybody!

How to get in: tips for the ticketless
The experts split into two camps on this one: some say that a little conniving and research will get you past the bouncers, but others say that honesty and groveling are the best policies (and trickery will most likely get your well-dressed derriere kicked off the premises).

…If you fancy yourself a bit of a prick:
• Lie, lie, lie: According to fashion forum the Fashion Spot, the first step is to tell security that you forgot your ticket at the hotel. If that doesn’t work, give your real name and look out for a name of a low-level editor you can use as the PR rep flips through his or her binder. After you get rejected, hop over to another PR rep and offer up your stolen identity! (Apparently this works, but there may be no faster way to become a certifiable dick than copping the spot of someone who’s there to actually work.) But choose carefully. Chances are, nobody will believe you are Andre Leon Talley.

• Upward with the arts and craftiness: Carry around a stack of index cards and red, blue, and black pens, as well as an assortment of highlighters. Many designers hand out standing room passes with “ST” written on plain white index cards.

• Age matters: If you regularly get carded at bars, the age thing will totally work to your advantage. Tell them your mother’s waiting inside, and security might let you pass. Flash your bejeweled Sidekick for extra measure.

• Model behavior: If you’re tall, pretty, and wearing skinny jeans and a big T-shirt … well, screw you, ya genetic freak! But also, you might be able to sneak backstage if you pretend you’re there to model fashions.

• Coffee break: This tactic might set you back $20 or so, but arriving with trays of Starbucks might help you bribe your way into the tents.

A word of warning: It’s much easier than you think to get caught. Warns the hawk-eyed Ty Yorio, head of Fashion Week security: “Crashers become very obvious, and we always escort them off premises.” Yikes.

…If you want to play it nice:
• Be patient: Chat up lone PR reps and ask if there’s standing room available. Wait patiently (standing room is usually filled right before the show starts), and if you’re lucky, you might get the opportunity to fill a seat.

• Dress more than appropriately: It’s kind of a tradition for editors and tent-goers to give away extra invites to the best dressed fashion groupies. So pucker up your lips for some fancy ass kissing—only pretend like you’re not trying so very hard.

—Do your homework, brats: E-mail labels and offer to assist backstage or work beforehand. You might end up sewing sequins and hemming pants until dawn, but you’ll forget all about your blistered fingers when you’re hobnobbing with Erin Wasson at Alexander Wang’s afterparty.

Still, consensus says that if you look like you belong, chances are, people will think you do, too. So march up those steps in your four-inch Loubie knockoffs like you were born in them.

How to stay in: don’t blow it
• Nix the freebies: “We call them lobby fleas,” says Yorio. Typically, editors don’t touch the free samples.

• Stay put: Once you’re in, stay in. If you leave the tents, you’re going to have to go through the hassle of getting in all over again.

—Do not celebrate!: This almost seems silly to state, but once you’re in, keep the “OMG I JUST SNUCK IN” merrymakings to yourself. Celebrate instead by texting everyone you know and then snapping a picture of yourself giving Anna Wintour’s back a shocker.