For this special Fashion Week edition of “How I Get It Carried out,” we’re asking successful women of all ages about handling their occupations and life in the course of this busy time of 12 months.

Christina Fragkou has been documenting style 7 days for about eight many years. As a freelance avenue-fashion and vogue photographer, it is very easily her busiest year as she travels from city to town to capture material for the most important trend manufacturers and journals about the globe (like the Lower!).

A seasoned photographer, she has labored for brands like Dior, Rick Owens, JW Anderson, Balenciaga, Acne Studios, Chanel, Schiaparelli, Loewe, Gabriela Hearst, and Prada. When she’s not functioning exhibits, she’s capturing road type for publications which includes The Reduce, Vogue, DAZED, Hypebeast, and more. She has captured legendary moments like Karl Lagerfeld’s closing demonstrate for Chanel, the late Queen of England arriving for London Vogue Week in February 2018, and Virgil Abloh, Bella Hadid, and Hailey Bieber backstage at Off-White in 2017. 

Born in Greece and raised in South Africa, Fragkou (who uses she/they pronouns) graduated from university in 2012. While she wasn’t in the beginning guaranteed what form of images she preferred to concentrate on, she made the decision to apply to the Condé Nast University of Fashion & Design in London. It was not until finally functioning an internship at TANK Journal, in which she shot a combination of documentary and vogue together, that it clicked: That was what she loved to shoot. She shot her initial vogue 7 days in London in 2015, and this time marked her initial New York Trend 7 days back considering the fact that the pandemic. This is how she receives it completed. 

On an typical day in the course of fashion week: 
I go to mattress all around 2:30 a.m. and wake up all around 7:30. As I get additional weary, I locate that I have to make myself wake up a little little bit before, since it just will take me that a lot longer in the early morning. I can not just get up and get out. I’m a early morning shower-er and generally have a decaf coffee on the way: oat-milk flat white, even if I’m late. During the working day, I’m carrying a shitload on me. I’ve bought my digicam, my cellular phone, and my laptop computer. I’ve obtained two lenses simply because I’m shooting backstage and road type. I’ll be on the avenue right up until sunset shooting street model. On typical, I’ll shoot possibly two or 3 demonstrates a working day backstage and then I’ll also shoot avenue style between 4 and 5 different shows. I check out to say no to any late-night shows unless of course it’s for a shopper that I have worked with for a long phrase and it is a show that I’m going to appreciate, or if it’s for massive bucks. Even though I ordinarily walk from show to show or get community transportation, when it is late at evening, I acquire an Uber home. I’m not finding on a tube or the metro no matter what, not mainly because of protection, just mainly because I’m worn out. And then I want to sit on my mobile phone for 20 minutes and feel like a human prior to I’m editing for the night time.

On how she finds do the job: 
When I very first started out, I sent out so many e-mails. I nonetheless mail out quite a several emails, but it’s the classic tale that you listen to of a snowball outcome. I received a single compact occupation from a girl that saw me submitting that I went to uni with, that was doing the job at a little magazine. I experimented with to get into Refinery29, but they didn’t produce back and then the future season they reached out to me. A whole lot of it has to do with photo editors too. It is their occupation to resource photographers and I’m fortunate ample to have been doing this for long enough now and worked with this kind of a selection of publications, that when persons are hunting for photographers, in particular close to Manner 7 days, I’m on their radar.

On what retains her likely: 
I dance my heart out. If my headphones are not in and the new music is not pumping, I’m asleep, I’m crying, or I’m shouting at folks. I normally get started with a tiny little bit of Florence + the Machine. There is always “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield. Then, there is a ton of ’90s R&B and a ton of ’70s dad gems and ’80s pop. Oh, and a minimal bit of Justin Bieber. I want to keep the vibe up and it truly does have me by since my body’s going. I discover that if I continue to be transferring, I can keep up.

On the community of photographers that she functions with:
We have a tiny loved ones that travels together. It’s a wild issue to see your close friend on the road and be like, “Hey, see you tomorrow” and you know it is gonna be in a distinct state. I’ve calculated this: I shell out more times with them a year than I do with my relatives. We know every single other’s personalities. You can see when someone’s getting an off day. We have distinctive locations in which we stand and shoot and there is a bond there, which is pleasant. We just shift all-around altogether. We often share apartments, or at the very least remain in the very same areas.

On how considerably she spends: 
My charges shoot the fuck off in the course of Style 7 days, but I do this on function. I navigate this place in a way that I know is most beneficial to me. Throughout Style Week, I give myself a good total of revenue so that I know that I can be grabbing what I want when I want it and I’m not pressured about investing. In current years, it’s come to be far more of a priority to make positive that I’m sleeping somewhere that is comfy for me. That will come as you operate for a longer time and you begin to get much more dependable do the job and you get far better at what you do and you get superior at being familiar with costs. I can regulate it, but it is pricey as hell. I was stunned seeking at charges in New York this time. I commonly continue to keep a price range of my costs for each vogue 7 days and I just refer again to determine how significantly I ought to be expending, and it was double the revenue this calendar year. I nearly had to send out an email and be like, “I really don’t imagine I can make it” and then I found a buddy from South Africa who is likely there, and I’m renting a 2nd place from him.

On having out: 
On the initially working day in a new location, I go to the store and get chocolate and heaps of chips. I fool myself into purchasing some healthful snacks that I will also probably snack on but will not finish. But I’m primarily taking in out. I generally get my laptop computer out to dinner with me, which I quite delight in. We also go for team dinners most nights, and we have reliable places where by we consume out.

On packing:
I’m mostly choosing outfits out of a suitcase, so I pack for a couple of months and I go all-around with those similar two baggage. It’s not minimal at all, but there is a checklist. I want a pair of fancy trousers, quite free-fitting athletic pants, a pair of white trousers mainly because I appreciate to wear white, and a pair of cargo trousers. I constantly pack shorts. For sneakers, it’s a person pair of sandals, boots, managing shoes, and going for walks footwear. There are a lot of very little tops and vests. I religiously use the L.A.-based brand On the internet Ceramics, and they do a ton of printed tops. On the day, it is based mostly on how comfy I can be to get the job done in these garments. I variety of alternate involving, Do I want to appear wonderful and sort of smooth currently? Do I want to glance edgy and great currently? Or do I want to search like a boy these days?

On looking at the significantly less glamorous side of things: 
It is so quick to see the experience a person way. When it is so enjoyable when you get access to a model like YSL, it can also be like, “the display was intended to get started at 9 and it’s only setting up now at 10 and I’ve been sitting down on this podium for two hrs and it is zero degrees and I just can’t breathe. I never know that I’m that thrilled any longer.” But it’s a stability and everything’s a paradox. And it is very best when you are leaning into that yin and yang and becoming capable to maintain the exhilaration and knowing that enjoyment does not acquire away from the frustration that can appear with function. You’ve got to try to remember that the exhilaration doesn’t compensate for the exhaustion.