It happens every year in the last week of August: The cobblestone streets of Soho begin to fill with a steady trickle of tall, impossibly thin young aliens carrying black portfolios and wearing fanny packs. Some look lost, some right at home, and all look great in their “off duty” uniforms of Wang tees, leather shorts, and sunglasses. Although Fashion Week doesn’t officially begin until Thursday, we sent photographer Bek Andersen and reporter Bethie Girmai to talk to models on their way to castings all over Manhattan last week. Click ahead to see the army of beautiful men and women ushering in the spring season, and hear what they’re eating and wearing, and who they’re crushing on.