In February of 2025, the average university student is slowly returning to a routine of sleeping through 8 a.m. classes, procrastinating on assignments, and already counting down the days until spring break. For Loren Snead, however, the beginning of the month looked a bit different. While her peers were going through the motions back on Loyola Marymount University’s campus, Snead was running around New York City with the job most people can only dream of: an intern at New York Fashion Week.
This wasn’t Snead’s first experience in the world of fashion. She previously interned at Miami Swim Week in 2022, as well as New York Fashion Week in both 2022 and 2024. Before she even began her intern experiences, however, the love of fashion was ingrained deep inside her. At age 17, Snead started her own clothing line: Maad Tiger.
For both the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Snead interned for the brand Christian Cowan, a New York-based brand led by its namesake creative director. “I emailed every single brand presenting in New York Fashion Week saying, ‘I would love to help out,’” Snead explained when discussing how she originally got the opportunity last year. “It was all cold call emails, so I was very lucky to have that opportunity and to have a response.”
The responses were not quick, however. “No one responded the first time, so I followed up,” Snead said. That’s when her future boss emailed her back, asking her availability from January to March. “I’ll be there,” she told him. Fast forward a few months, and Snead was in Manhattan. Last year, she was only there for a week, but for this season, she stayed for two months.
“Typically, I would be in the office by 11 a.m., and I would just go check in with my boss and ask what he needs. Then, depending on what he needed, I would do the task,” said Snead. Those tasks included running and picking up swatches of fabric, sending samples to seamstresses, and then picking up those pieces to be embroidered. “I would end up staying every night until about 1 or 2 a.m., working on miscellaneous details, like spray painting shoes or putting together outfits.”
One of the projects Snead worked on this year was a collaboration with Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW), where many of the pieces had shoes attached. “[It] is kind of weird,” Snead said, “but it was more of a concept show.” She also worked on a gum dress, where they made little faux gum pieces and painstakingly attached them to the dress.
After days and days of exhausting work, Fashion Week arrived. Snead got the chance to learn how to put a show together, both by working on the physical elements of design and also getting firsthand lessons on how to lead a team backstage. In the chaos, the intern found the purpose of her dedication: “It’s always going to be just a frenzy, but that’s what makes it so beautiful because all your hard work and the anxiety that you get wears off.”
Alongside skills garnered, Snead also had the opportunity to meet the special guests of the show, including big names like musical artists Sam Smith and Kesha, model Coco Rocha, and the infamous con artist turned pop culture figure Anna Delvey. The connections made, along with the experience she gained, have given Snead the tools she needs to thrive in the fashion world beyond graduation. “The most valuable thing is the power of networking,” she said. “Fashion Week gives you the opportunity to meet people who are like-minded, who value working, and are going all over the world to be a part of something bigger than words can say, and that’s fashion and art.”
