Instant impressions from our gang at New York Fashion Week

(Washington Post Staff)

Five Washington Post staffers were asked to capture what they were seeing using a tried-and-true form of analog photography.

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Cameras at New York Fashion Week? Groundbreaking.

When we five Washington Post staffers were loosed on the six-day event earlier this month, we were hardly the only attendees snapping photos. But we were often the only ones whose shutter-clicks were followed by the long, mechanical wheeze of analog film emerging from an Instax.

We set out to illustrate what the non-runway parts of Fashion Week looked like through our eyes: who we met, where we went, what sights amused us or struck us as poignant. After a hectic, plantar fascia-challenging week traversing through Manhattan, Brooklyn and the occasional farther-flung locale, here’s what we saw.

Ashley Fetters Maloy

Reporter

My favorite parts of Fashion Week are those little sights that catch your eye and make everything else suddenly go quiet. All these images — florals against pure white, the glint of cocktail glasses in the dark, a lip pencil jarringly repurposed — delighted me.

Photographs by Ashley Fetters Maloy/The Washington Post

Lindsey Underwood

Editor, breaking news and fashion

The murder-mystery vibes at Christian Cowan made for quite the fun show, as models looked over their shoulders, or hurried past, apparently on the lookout or on the run. Some shined flashlights or pointed into the star-studded crowd, which included Law Roach, Coco Rocha and many — many — reality TV stars.

Photographs by Lindsey Underwood/The Washington Post

Maura Judkis

Reporter

I love that spring and summer collections are shown in the first week of September. Just as the air gets a bit crisp and I start to mourn the end of summer, we get a preview of the next one: bared shoulders and thighs, a burst of vibrant colors, a glimpse of the brightness to come.

Photographs by Maura Judkis/The Washington Post

Rachel Tashjian

Fashion writer

There is always a lot of industry hand-wringing in the weeks leading up to New York Fashion Week — that we don’t have enough big names, that our shows are too quiet, that designers’ businesses are too unstable — and that was extra true this time. But, in an act I can only describe as American chutzpah, this NYFW really proved that wrong. No other industry can bring out the first lady and Wu-Tang Clan. (Not in the same place, but still.)

Photograph by Rachel Tashjian/The Washington Post

Shane O’Neill

Style Memo newsletter writer

If you’re a photographer who feels sheepish about taking photos of strangers or approaching celebrities, New York Fashion Week is a great place to face your fear. It’s an event at which nearly everyone is thrilled to be photographed! After asking dozens of strangers and celebrities whether I could take a picture, I was turned down exactly once.

Photographs by Shane O’Neill/The Washington Post