Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week: Nautica

Friday September 6, 2013 will forever be tattooed on my brain as the day I went to my first New York Fashion Week show.

I think my obsession with Fashion Week started during season one of "Project Runway." I was so enthralled by the competition and who would get to go to the tents at Bryant Park, that I just continued to tune in to all the details of the shows season after season.

I never thought I would have the opportunity to see one of the shows in person. This weekend I was in New York City for work and my incredibly generous client provided our team with tickets to the Nautica men's show on Friday.

We arrived at Lincoln Center about 30 minutes before the show and it was a total scene. You can stand in the Lincoln Center Plaza without having a ticket, so fashion photographers and bloggers just camp out and stop people in crazy outfits when they want to take their pictures.

Inside the building the whole first floor is a swag extravaganza. Booth after booth of freebies as far as the eye can see.

I particularly loved the Papyrus booth (stationary, hello), where they offered you the choice of two snail mail cards. I choose this pink and red one from the Glamour Collection. I wrote a note, addressed it and Papyrus stamped and sent it! They were even allowing people to send them internationally.

After mailing the snazzy cards, we got in line for the show. We had to wait about 10 minutes before they opened the velvet ropes and people poured in.

At first we thought we were going to have to stand, but we wound up sitting in the top row. The show was packed!

Once the lights went down I started to get jittery. They came back up, the music started and one gorgeous man after another started strutting down the runway (which by the way, they keep covered with a plastic tarp until the very last second).

The Nautica collection started with a ton of outerwear, then moved to sweaters, electric yellows separates and then much to my surprise- bathing suits! I have never seen such chiseled bodies in my life. I thought I might pass out.

The best part was the finale when each of the models reappeared for one final walk, marching like the world's most handsome soldiers.

When all the models had disappeared behind the stage, the designer came out, put both his hands up in the air and bowed.

There weren't any A list celebs in our show, but on our way out we saw Olivia Palermo, fashionista and Whitney Port's nemesis from MTV's "The City." She is even thinner in person than she looks on TV.

Attending a New York Fashion Week show was a major bucket list item. Check!