New York Fashion Week
Courtney Button, Fashion Design (’11)
New York, New York
Courtney Button has always had a penchant for fashion. It started with her fifth grade obsession with The Style Network, and snowballed to receiving her first sewing machine shortly after.
More than 10 years later, the O’More alumna never lost sight of her dream to move to New York and pursue a career in fashion: she’s just wrapped up participation in the 2013 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week as lead coordinator for Mathieu Mirano’s runway show on Sept. 9.
“Being a lead coordinator at Fashion Week basically means I oversee the entire collection for the show,” Courtney says. “I make sure that everything runs smoothly. I organize the boards for they show, work one-on-one with the designer to help decide the placement and model selection, work with the tailors and make sure the collection is ready to be seen by the world.”
This is the third season the freelance stylist has participated in the celebrated fashion affair.
“I love the people I meet and get to work with during this week,” she says. “Most of the women have worked in the fashion industry for 20 to 30 years and have so much knowledge and experience. I try to learn from them as a much as I can.”
To make her point, she references her producer for Fashion Week, who doubles as the costume designer for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.
“It is so cool for me to able to work directly under her,” she says.
This was Courtney’s first Fashion Week as a show’s lead coordinator. The past two seasons she worked with Kenneth Cole as a stylist’s assistant, helping organize the models and the looks.
“Being a lead coordinator is definitely more responsibility,” she says.
The fashion design alumna graduated O’More in 2011, and moved to the Big Apple a year later to pursue styling. The Tennessee native is contracted on a project basis, and has worked with other big names such as Kenneth Cole, Badgely Mischka and Kate Spade.
“I assist for stylists for ad jobs and e-commerce companies such as Amazon.com and Bloomingdales.com. I also do a lot of projects for Verizon, “ she says. “In these jobs I assist the stylist in creating a look for a personality.
“I love what I do because everyday is different.”
Courtney says New York was always been her end goal, and she believes that her college education helped accelerate her success in the industry.
“O’More was the only school I looked at and the only one I applied to,” she says. “I loved the smaller setting as opposed to being competitive so early on. For me, it felt like a better learning environment than moving to New York right away, but New York was always the end goal.”
For more information, contact Courtney here.
