Is Vogue Forces of Fashion Worth Attending?
Vogue Magazine hosted its annual Forces of Fashion conference series this fall with events in Mexico City, Mumbai, Rome, Shanghai, and New York. I initially had yet to make plans to return to NYC this year after my week-long Big Apple vacation this past spring. But since I was slowly working my way back into the fashion scene, I purchased a $2,000 VIP ticket (yes, $2,000 for one ticket; granted, I received a 20% discount for becoming a Vogue Club member so I only paid $1,800) and organized myself for another east coast trip.
For the record, I believe there were cheaper tickets, but they must have sold out before I purchased mine because the only two options were $2,000 VIP and $6,000 Ultra VIP, which included a dinner the night before the conference with special guests.
I landed in New Jersey on Wednesday evening and settled into my Weehawken hotel with a breathtaking view of the Manhattan skyline. On Thursday morning, I walked right across the street to the ferry station and hopped on for a quick ride to the Vogue offices at One World Trade Center in the Financial District.
The event began at 10 am, starting with a little mingling session over coffee and breakfast treats in the cafe on the 35th floor. Next, we were all corralled into the main area to take a seat for introductions, welcome remarks by THE Anna Wintour, and a conversation with Taylor Antrim and Anne Leibovitz, where she discussed shooting with Kate Winslet for the October 2023 issue.
The breakout sessions, which we all selected before the event, were diverse. I chose to watch the podcast recording of a conversation with Emily Ratajkowski, Chioma Nnadi, and Chole Malle for The Run-Through with Vogue; wander around The Fashion Closet; watch a taping of Vogue Club Live: The Tip-Off with Naomi Elizee, and listen to editors discuss the collections from the Spring Summer ‘24 runway shows.
Lunch was served halfway through the day and by this time, I was a bit tired and kind of dreading the second half. Of course, I was enjoying myself and glad that I was able to connect with new fashion professionals, but my “event marketing brain” kept wondering why this event couldn’t be shorter or why it couldn’t be broken down into multiple events over a few days, which would allow for more affordable tickets and not take up a full day of our time.
However, I powered through, got to see Marc Jacobs, Linda Evangelista, and Tommy Hilfiger in person, grabbed my enormous swag bag, and headed out to my dinner reservation at Gran Morsi.
Overall, the event was a great networking opportunity for me and I got to check visiting the Vogue offices off my bucket list. But I don’t believe I’d attend this event again simply because we were mostly just quiet observers throughout the day with limited opportunities to ask questions. If I’m being totally honest, I didn’t learn anything. The majority of the event could have been streamed live online because it wasn’t worth $2,000 just to be in the room.
On a more hopeful note, I’ll be back in NYC soon for NYFW so stay tuned!
