What’s in a Fashion Editor’s Handbag? Brit Olivia’s Must-Haves for Surviving the Big Four
Eight weeks. Five cities. Three continents. Hundreds of collections, countless deadlines and more hours spent writing on a laptop than any Fashion Week itinerary will admit. Paris Runway Official Editor and fashion journalist Brit Olivia shares what actually earns a place in her handbag when covering New York, London, Milan and Paris.
Fashion Week is a slightly misleading name. Can we say month?
For those working behind the scenes or, in my case, moving between the runway, backstage, press rooms and a laptop it is closer to Fashion Month. And then some.
The Paris Runway Official Team
My season begins in New York before moving through London, Milan and Paris: the four cities that make up fashion's celebrated Big Four. After Paris, it's back to New York for Bridal Fashion Week before the eight-week journey concludes in Porto, Portugal, where IMC Models will host a large-scale runway event with more than 1,000 guests, a red carpet and live television coverage.
And I won't be doing it alone.
The firm's PR Assistant, Gena Aspinall Martin, will report live from Porto while also helping cover London, Milan and Paris, including Paul Costelloe's opening-day London Fashion Week presentation on September 17. Sangeetha Menon will cover London and Paris working with over 100 models and 20 designers between the 2 cities.
By the end of it, our team will have watched, reviewed and reported on hundreds of collections across three continents. From Paris Runway Official at Christian Siriano, Sergio Hudson, Frederick Anderson, Burberry, Paul Costelloe, Richard Quinn, Prada, Gucci, Giorgio Armani, Chanel, Dior, Ottolinger and more.
It sounds glamorous. Parts of it absolutely are.
But Fashion Week is also 12-hour days, airport security, last-minute schedule changes, dead phone batteries, writing from cars, touching up makeup between shows and realizing at 4 p.m. that the handful of snacks in your handbag have somehow become lunch.
After enough seasons, you learn something important: what you carry matters.
The products that make my Fashion Week bag aren't necessarily the biggest or most elaborate. They're the things that can survive travel, fit inside a small handbag and solve a problem quickly.
Here's what is coming with me this season.
The Skin Prep: YISE Beauty Xtremely Quenched Peptide Instant Glow Moisturizer
Fashion Week isn't particularly kind to skin. Airplanes, changing climates, late nights and repeatedly applying and removing makeup can quickly take their toll.
That's why hydration earns prime handbag real estate.
YISE Beauty founder Molly Sims created Xtremely Quenched Peptide Instant Glow Moisturizer after spending decades in makeup chairs and watching artists use multiple products to achieve hydrated skin with enough grip to create a beautiful base for makeup. Molly created the moisturizer she couldn’t find.
The result combines peptides and hydrating ingredients with the kind of finish that prepares skin for what comes next.
During Fashion Month, when my skin needs to transition from an overnight flight to a morning appointment and then an evening show, that's exactly the sort of multitasker I want nearby.
The Scent: D.S. & Durga
A perfume made in New York? It almost feels mandatory for the first stop of Fashion Month.
Brooklyn-based D.S. & Durga approaches fragrance through storytelling, building unconventional scents around references ranging from music and literature to landscapes and imagined worlds.
And Fashion Week is, ultimately, about identity.
When you're packing light and repeating pieces between cities, fragrance becomes one of the easiest ways to make something feel distinctly yours.
A few sprays before leaving the hotel, another before an evening show, and suddenly you've created your own little ritual amid the chaos.
The Emergency Snack: MISFITS
There is Fashion Week lunch, and then there is actual lunch.
The former can sometimes consist of whatever you managed to throw into your handbag before leaving the hotel.
Enter MISFITS.
Their plant-based protein bars combine high protein and low sugar with chocolate-coated, dessert-inspired flavors. More importantly during Fashion Week: they're portable.
One can sit inside my handbag through a morning show, backstage interviews and an afternoon presentation until I inevitably realize I haven't eaten.
That alone earns it a place.
The Discovery: GOOD Beauty
Some Fashion Week essentials are longtime favorites. Others become essentials accidentally.
GOOD Beauty was one of those discoveries.
I was initially attracted to the brand's clean, natural aesthetic and its approach to concentrated skincare using raw, organic ingredients alongside dermal actives, without unnecessary fillers or water dilution.
Then I actually tried it.
There is something particularly satisfying about discovering a product because you're curious about it and realizing several uses later that it has quietly become something you don't want to travel without.
For skin that has endured airplanes, makeup, weather changes and very little sleep, a product that can make it feel and look revived becomes less of an indulgence and more of a Fashion Month necessity.
The Five-Minute Face: Charlotte Tilbury
When there is time for a full face, wonderful.
When there isn't? Hollywood Flawless Filter.
Charlotte Tilbury's complexion favorite is one of those products that makes sense during Fashion Week precisely because it doesn't demand much from you. It can help blur and smooth the appearance of skin while adding the glow that eight weeks of travel may have removed.
On travel days, I can use it when I don't want a complete makeup routine but would still prefer to look awake when I arrive.
On full-glam days, it becomes the first step.
Fashion Month beauty needs to be adaptable. This is.
The Hair Rescue: Redken
Hair has its own Fashion Week survival story.
London rain. Milan humidity. Paris after a long train ride. New York after running between shows.
This is why travel-sized haircare is invaluable.
Redken's travel-friendly options make it possible to carry a miniature emergency hair department without surrendering half of your luggage. Dry shampoo is particularly useful for refreshing hair and restoring volume between wash days, while a lightweight hair oil can help control frizz and restore shine.
My approach is simple: grab several small options and let them travel from city to city, show to show.
Because there will inevitably be a morning when there is no time to wash, blow-dry and style—and Fashion Week waits for no one.
The Supporting Cast
The beauty products may get the prime handbag positions, but snacks and drinks are what keep the team moving.
This season, LOVE CORN, Simply Gum, SmartSweets and GORGIE have become part of our rotation.... the things we reach for between appointments, in cars or whenever the schedule leaves considerably less room for a proper break than anticipated.
And that, perhaps, is the real secret to packing for Fashion Week.
Don't pack for the photograph.
Pack for the day you're actually going to have.
Pack something for your skin after a flight. Something that makes you feel put together in five minutes. Something for the inevitable bad-hair moment. A fragrance that makes a hotel room in another country feel a little more like you. And, please, put something in there to eat.
Because somewhere between New York and Paris, the beautiful chaos of Fashion Month inevitably takes over.
We'll have our notebooks open, phones charged, beauty essentials packed and snacks tucked somewhere between press credentials and lipstick.
Eight weeks. Five cities. Three continents. One very carefully packed handbag.
While the Paris Runway Official team prepares for the season ahead, be sure to watch our team of photographers, videographers, models, stylists, creatives, journalists, and producers live in every major city at @parisrunwayofficial where we will be reporting LIVE.
See you on the runway.
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CREDITS:
Writer: @onceuponatimebrit Brit Olivia
PR Firm: @parisrunwayofficial Paris Runway Official
Runway Photos: @sashurako @
Product Photos courtesy of: @Redken @charlottetilbury @yisebeauty @dsanddurga @
Coordination: Stella Arbel, Assistant at Paris Runway Official