Welcome to the Fashion Week Photo Diary, a new series where local photographers document the faces, places and parties surrounding their city’s catwalk shows.
“Sorry y’all, I’m not sharing the Luar addy for tonight,” Maxwell Vice wrote on Instagram, hours before Raul Lopez’s show. “But just know I’ll look reallllllllly cunt.” Having worked in and around NYC nightlife for the best part of a decade – sneaking into clubs to take pictures at 16 years old – fashion week parties have become Vice’s bread and butter. This AW25 season, the photographer, stylist, nightclub manager and self-proclaimed best DJ in Bushwick (“that’s a fact, no need for an opinion”) was on hand to capture all the clandestine moments of New York Fashion Week, whether they be candids of Amanda Lepore and Tiffany Pollard at said Luar afterparty, the city’s club kids in all their after-dark finery, or the best street style moments NYC had to offer (plus a few self-portraits thrown in for good measure).
“The best people you can talk to are normally at the smoking section, or by the speakers,” says the New York native of their photographic masterplan. “Normally most folk don’t talk or dance at fashion week after parties, so those two spots you can find the guests with the best personalities.” A big part of the Vice MO is building that rapport, because who wants people to look stiff and bored in their photos? “I find that my photos are different from any other photographer because I like to be friends with my models first,” they say. “Most times they won’t know I’m going to ask for a photo, because they assume we’re just having a ki. This lets them know I’m someone they can be themselves around, because those are the images I want!”
Scroll through the gallery above to see Vice’s entire New York Fashion Week photo diary.