It’s the last full day of Fashion Week, and I meet up with a photographer to shoot some backstage beauty and capture real women on the street, who are already wearing the new trends. We stand out in the cold drizzle all morning while a swarm of other photographers busy themselves by taking pictures of each other. It’s a waiting game, and everyone wants the best shot of the stylish women walking out of Lincoln Center. When a potential style setter walks out, fighting breaks out among the photographers as they try to get the perfect shot of the perfect outfit. (It’s a bit strange.) We snap some voluminous ponytails and cherry-red lips, then duck into a warm restaurant for lunch.

After lunch, we manage to sneak into J. Mendel (we aren’t on the list, but by this point security is starting to slack) to talk to Orlando Pita for T3 about the big waves he is creating. He describes the look, and then turns to me and says, “It’s kind of like your hair — wavy but undone. You’re the inspiration!”

A hair genius uttering those words — even if he is kidding — basically makes my Fashion Week. (That, and my $1.99 mani. Seven days later and it’s still shiny and completely chip-free.) At this moment, all the running around in 20-degree weather, tripping over nail artists doing pedicures, and waiting forever to get a one-minute interview seems worth it. If Orlando Pita likes my hair, clearly I’ve learned something during Fashion Week.