Scenes from inside Omaha Fashion Week

Omaha Fashion Week: a live fashion show which takes place twice per year in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the fourth largest fashion event in the United States. While known to many, only a few limited, coveted seats are available to the public. Additionally, those who are lucky enough to snatch a seat are still missing out on a whole other secret fashion experience: backstage. 

From an outsider’s perspective, the show runs smoothly. The beautiful visuals take hours of labor from hairstylists, makeup artists, designers, photographers and models. Little does anyone know the amount chaos and panic every night of that sweaty, flustered week. 

The Empire Room is where the magic begins. Models are urged to arrive promptly after school with foundation and coffee in hand. Stations one through eight line the walls, hair on one side and makeup on the other. This is where the inch-long lashes are applied, the two-foot-high up-do is teased, the canvas is completed. 

Nerves and anticipation grow as the models drive from the Empire Room to the Omaha Design Center, which is the event space for Omaha Fashion Week. 

Models walk down a narrow, cement walkway, dragging their suitcases behind them. The smell of trash is nauseating before a staff member eventually opens the locked back entrance. This backstage space is used for fittings as well as getting models prepared for the runway. Photographers, such as Kathy Plunkett (pictured), wander the maze of backstage, executing impromptu photo shoots with available models. 

Before strapping on the five-inch heels, models rest their feet and relax in their “model lounge.” Pictures are always taken of makeup, hair and sneak-peaks of designs, except occasionally, this is not permitted. In the middle of the room, a large, black curtain drapes from the high ceilings. This is the designated “changing area.” Inside this sect of the lounge, no phones are permitted. This is merely one example of many sets of rules the models are programmed to follow. 

Once a given designer’s name is called, the models scurry to get in line backstage. Just feet from the audience, they quietly prepare themselves for what is to come.  

Excitement takes over as the design is seconds away from being sent out to the world. A stationed OFW staff member taps the models’ backs to signal for them to begin their catwalk. After that, the rest of the evening relies on the crowd.