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A hell of a lot of time goes into producing a six-minute fashion show. Beyond the months of preparatory work from the design team — and marketing, and public relations, and casting — there are hours backstage leading to the first walk. Clothes are altered to fit models just right, makeup is applied, hair is manipulated, nails are painted, and last-minute crises are sweat out. Amidst all that madness, however, there's a surprising amount of downtime, which is where things can start to get good.
Before models take to the catwalk, they're killing time backstage reading, texting, and goofing off with their friends (models: they're just like us — right?). Our photographer captured some of these candid moments backstage at shows including Public School and Sons of William. See these professionally beautiful organisms hamming it up at the glam Jason Wu show, goofing around in pink wigs before Fashion Guerrilla, and bumming around the sidelines before turning it on for the captivating Prabal Gurung runway.