Lakeside sixth-grader shines at New York Fashion Week

Anna-Claire McCarter, of Hot Springs, recently walked in New York Fashion Week. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record
Anna-Claire McCarter, of Hot Springs, recently walked in New York Fashion Week. - Photo by Tanner Newton of The Sentinel-Record

All eyes were on Lakeside sixth-grader Anna-Claire McCarter when she stepped into the bright lights on the runway at New York Fashion Week in February.

Anna-Claire applied to walk for teen fashion brand House of Barretti at the marquee fashion spectacle, and out of hundreds of girls, was part of a handful that got selected to walk in the Big Apple.

"If I could describe it in one word, it would probably be amazing," she said. "When you stepped out onto the runway, you could see all of the people just looking at you and you only. You felt very special in that moment."

A plethora of press and photographers stood at the end of the runway snapping pitchers of the models showing off the newest, latest and greatest designs the fashion world has to offer.

"I didn't realize how special it was until I actually got there," Anna-Claire said. "I was like, 'Wow this is really happening. I'm really going to model for New York Fashion Week. This is really a thing."

"Toddlers & Tiaras" star Isabella Barrett started House of Barretti, and the brand focuses on selling stylish suits for teenage girls.

Anna-Claire's mother, Cori, attended fashion week with her.

"The specific house that she walked for does an open call for models," Cori said. "Every time they do it about 300 to 400 girls apply. They choose 40 or so. So we submitted to it and she got chosen. It's more of a teen show, but they do children too. They picked her and she did great."

As a mom, the number of photographers and the sheer magnitude of the event shocked her.

"When we got to the runway show and everybody's sitting alongside the runway and there's this huge crowd and then there's like press down at the very end," Cori said. "It's like 30 to 40 photography people all in this really concentrated area. It was really kind of eye-opening for me as a mom."

House of Barretti's theme at this year's Fashion Week was prom, and that theme came to life on the runway.

"So they have like a little skit at the beginning where the boy asks the girl to prom," Anna-Claire said. "After that, we all showed off our dresses that we were going to prom in."

She wore a tweed dress as she walked down the runway at Fashion Week.

"I was kind of scared I was going to trip because my shoes were kind of messed up for a little bit," she said. "But then I got them situated while I was actually on the runway. It didn't look weird or anything. It's just I had to sort it out a little bit. I was scared I was going to trip."

When a model steps onto the stage at Fashion Week, the model is quite literally blinded by the lights.

"When you walk on stage it's like bright lights right in your face and you can't really see anything until you get up close to it," she said. "When I saw all of the cameras I was like, 'Hi, wow, there's a lot of you!'"

Just getting ready to walk down the runway represented a giant undertaking in itself.

"Backstage it was really hectic," the young model said. "There were a lot of girls back there. We lined up in this long line of all the girls that were modeling for House of Barretti. One by one we each did makeup or hair. I did hair first. It fell like right when I went on stage. It was all messed up after. Then I did makeup."

The sixth-grader motioned her hands across her face to show how intense the makeup was at Fashion Week.

"The makeup did feel like a lot because I had like this dark purple with black on," she said. "The hair was perfect. I loved my hair that day. It was really nice."

The wow factor continued to creep in for Cori.

"The other thing was, we're used to doing things with our kids and going and seeing our kids," she said. "It was crazy to me because when we were lined up outside to get into the runway show, there were some ladies behind us, like trendy New York ladies. I was like, 'Oh hey, do you have a kid here?' They were like, 'No?' They were here for the fashion. It was neat to see that other people came to the fashion shows. I realize they come to the fashion shows for the fashion, but I was there because of my kid. It was just kind of a neat thing to see she was part of something that was big."

Modeling on the runway marked just one part of the many festivities Fashion Week had to offer. Models also got to participate in photoshoots, videos and after-parties.

"We got to do this photo shoot where I got to wear the most fabulous pink dress," Anna-Claire said. "I love it so much. We got to keep the dresses we modeled in."

The New York glitz and glamour of the week spilled into the after-party, and models got to take pictures with the designers who were sponsoring the shows.

"The after-party, we got VIP tickets," Anna-Claire said. "We got to sit in the VIP area. We felt very high class. We had to wear white so I wore this white dress with one sleeve off of the shoulder. I liked it a lot. I still have it. I love it."

Designers who sponsored shows at Fashion Week gifted models with their products, and Anna-Claire found a brand she called her favorite, Glossy Pops.

"One of them was a new company in New York called Glossy Pops that she loved," her mother said. "It was really fun. Beauty Geek Studio out of London was there with nails and stuff. Just like a lot of different products and stuff that the girls kind of were gifted. They got to walk the red carpet."

After Anna-Claire participated in a variety of activities at Fashion Week, she ranked spending time with her best friend as one of the best parts of the week.

"We were both doing the same show and the same after-party," she said. "It was very fun."

Outside of Fashion Week itself, the mother and daughter duo also got to experience some of the attractions of New York City.

Anna-Claire just recently developed a love for theater, so of course, she had to watch "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway.

Her main goal is to now focus on acting, and she eventually wants to reach Broadway.

"It was the best Broadway show ever," she said. "I love 'Phantom.' My favorite Broadway show of all time. My main goal is to one day become Christine. She's one of the main characters in 'Phantom.'"

The sixth-grader just recently became interested in acting and theater. In the short span of just around two months, Anna-Claire fell in love with acting.

Despite never auditioning for a play, the sixth grader's friends encouraged her to audition for "Cinderella."

"I am actually playing the role of Cinderella at the Pocket Theatre," she said. "I'm really excited about it. I've already made a ton of friends there. We're all like a big family. It's so much fun."

Anna-Claire started doing pageants when she was 8 years old, and once she started participating in pageants, that led to modeling and acting. Her favorite part of it all is making friends.

"Sometimes you can find the right person that is always by your side," she said. "Always lifting you up and supporting you."

Cori remembers the moment when she realized her daughter might just be made for the stage.

"I knew -- she won't say this part -- when she was 2, maybe 3, at her first dance recital ever, she refused to get off the stage," she said. "I think that's when I knew she likes being on the stage. She likes people watching her and looking at her performing."

Anna-Claire still holds infinite possibilities in the future of her young modeling and theater career, and she already started making an impact on those both younger and older than her. In a pageant a few years ago, she created a platform called small equals big.

"Which means a small act of kindness can make a big difference in someone's life," she said. "I went to go see preschoolers and would read to them. They would always give me hugs and would always be like, 'Oh you're so pretty. I love you. Can I try on your crown?' That kind of stuff. I even know some older kids who also think of me as a role model."

When she was 9 years old, she went and spoke to a group of seventh-graders about bullying.

"She's been doing things like that since she was about 9," Cori said. "She enjoys it. It's good for her."

Back on the fashion side of things, Cori emphasized just how many connections her daughter made at New York Fashion Week.

"She meets these people that are in the industry from all over the world," she said. "House of Barretti has their own tan that she used for the middle of winter. She had an amazing tanning artist who has tanned J.Lo and other famous celebrities. She travels around the world and does this."

The 12-year-old gained fantastic experience at a marquee event that will help her down the line in her career.

"Extremely valuable," Anna-Claire said. "I feel like that way I have experience in modeling. So other people will figure out that I know how to model."

After Anna-Claire's successful debut at New York Fashion Week, the sixth-grader actually got selected by two designers to walk at the event again in September.

"She's getting to really go after her dreams right now," Cori said. "It's really a pleasure to see her do that and to grow up and learn and have these amazing experiences as a child that are really kind of helping her develop her dreams and goals as she gets older."

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