Inside the NYC Fashion Week Industry
Front Row Facts: Beaming what will be bought
For designers, buyers and the fashion press — not to mention celebrities, influencers and other lucky invited guests — New York Fashion Week is an eight-day (and then some) marathon of morning-to-evening runway shows, launches and after-parties.
When?
The twice-yearly sprint catapults into our newsfeeds in February and September, but it's really all but a stupendous spark, set to smoulder leading styles alight.
Wake-up Monday to an unnoficial smattering of shows whet the palate and rile your thirst for Thursday; the calendar christening of 140 runway shows and presentations, all served soaked in events.
First off the block are hipster brands (Nicholas K), popular heroes (BCBGMAXAZRIA) and star-studded stalwarts (Macy's Red Dress Collection).
Red Dress Collection - presented by Macy's, a mix of celebrities work the runway in designer red dresses to raise awareness about women's heart disease.
The weekend then wowes with magnifique's of the moment, hotshots like Alexander Wang, Joseph Altuzarra and Victoria Beckham.
Grand finale finesse rounds out with the ever-respendent and renowned names - think Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs.
Find the full lineup from A/W 2016 here.
Where?
Destination: each designers dream. Booted from Lincoln Center last February, when neighbors got narky about stampeded streets and sidewalks, official venues are split between downtown at the warehouse-like Skylight studios at Clarkson Square and another massive Skylight space at Moynihan Station (in the old main post office, right across from Penn Station).
Many designers, however, march to their own drummers. You'll find shows have filled everywhere from:
The sunny, modern spaces at TriBeCa's Spring Studios (Michael Kors, Jason Wu, J. Crew, Lacoste have shown there in past seasons)
Chelsea Piers along the Hudson (Del Pozo, Huntington native Mathieu Mirano) to the Four Seasons restaurant (red-carpet rising star Elizabeth Kennedy)
A jet-set apartment on Central Park West (stylist-turned-designer Mary Alice Haney)
Even the Monkey Bar (where Lady Gaga fave Brandon Maxwell will show).
Spot a paparazzi panic, well-heeled throng crushed behind a velvet rope in front of a door; cell-phone photo-snapping crowds and a street clogged with town cars? Assume X-marks the spot.
Dresscode?
Irrespective of the latest proclaimed trends flowing from the runway, the fash-pack veeto the fantastical and blanket in black, basically. Peacock personalitites preferring to be noticed, know uniform isn't nouvelle though, ingenuing unique. Aristocracy too rises to traipse those testing the water, with their tried-and-true entitlement and traction (reigning Queen Anna Wintour's crowning bob and black boycotts).
For shoes, fashion editors from the big magazines steadfastedly strut stilettos of Louboutin and Manolo. Though they also travel by town car and inky-black Escalades. The rest remedy this with a requisite oversised tote, for stashing sneakers between shows and snaps.
Invites?
Only. Tickets are twee. Essentially one beautiful business convention; the audience is a mix of media types, buyers from stores across the country and socialites. Photo ops and brand marketing forsake front-row seats for coveted celebrities and social media mavens... anyone the paparazzi drools over.
As for, um, regular folk? Well, consumers are part of the after-plan. Though, this season, Kanye West is throwing a joint album debut/fashion show for his Yeezy line that's open to the public (starting at a sweet $8,500). Recently American Express has also minted a skybox, allowing card members to view runway shows while sipping Champagne and hobnobbing with designers and fashion glitterati.
If aspiring to schmooze your way in, you might suffocate first in the security. Invitations have computerized bar codes and at some of more important shows, public relations staffers armed with headsets and iPads compare your face to images they have on digital seating charts.
Fashion fangirls will forever flock to flail in the circus on the street. Revive your reverie by donning your DIY designer and vie for a view of the the guests, models and celebrities who don't secret away in a hidden entrance. Or skip the schlepping and just check out your fave designer's website (many live-stream their shows) or tune in to NYFW's live broadcast at nyfw.com/live.
Speaking of celebrities ...
You never know who's going to turn up. One year at Vera Wang it was Beyoncé, Serena Williams and Kim Kardashian, on one side of the runway, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on the other (turns out Mad and Vera are buds).
We've seen Ashanti at BCBG, Ciara at Public School, Kelly Osbourne at Anna Sui, Kanye West at Ralph Lauren (he says Ralph is his idol - who knew?). A season after, the redheads ruled Lauren's front row when Julianne Moore and Jessica Chastain drew plenty of fiery flashes from the paparazzi. Sports stars are increasingly in the mix - Henrik Lundqvist, Dwayne Wade, Russell Westbrook and Victor Cruz are not afraid to flaunt their stylish side.
Of course, sometimes the celebs are the designers. Carrie Underwood launched an athletic wear line for Dick's Sporting Goods at NYFW; other high-profile names we've seen include Kanye West, The Row by "Full House" twins-turned-fashion-critic darlings Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Gwen Stefani and her LAMB collection, Jennifer Lopez' Sweetface, Kendall and Kylie Jenner.
How?
The namesake Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week references the powerhouse of corporate-sponsorship, sailing the expensive sea of spectacles. Entertainment Conglomerate IMG is the management maven, who also preside over many smaller fashion weeks globally. Players have recently risen to rival, with labels including Vena Cava and Erin Fetherston are showing this season at an event called MAC at Milk (so named because it's sponsored by MAC cosmetics and takes place at a photo studio called Milk Studios), which directly competes with IMG's fashion week.
Any designer can organize an independant show without seeking the imprimatur of either MAC or IMG. The caveat of showing off-site and off-schedule is the price you pay for (or seek corporate sponsorship to cover) your own venue, hair, makeup, lighting, casting, sound design, set, crowd control, and all other aspects of production. IMG has the capacity to economise certain expenses by pooling resources into its centralised venue spaces that canvas a magnitude of events.
Why?
In the age of globalisation, street style and the internet - arguments on the runway's influence over what we actually wear are becoming tenuous. Not everyone's into fashion — not everyone has to be — though fashion, if indeed it ever was, is no longer the strict top-down system under which designers irrigate the garden of imitators with their precious original ideas.
These days, many trends filter up (jeggings) as well as filter down (clogs). The fact remains, however, that we all elect to style ourselves in some way. Stories of the runway's loss of primacy in the age of open-source everything, can be a little to need to encompace the truth that every decision is influenced by something.
The runway is still where editors at influential magazines start noting which looks and garments they will give space to in their forthcoming issues. They, along with stylists, are exposed to new models and begin to consider those models for editorials and even brand campaigns. It's where bloggers look to identify key trends and colors for the coming season and it is where new textiles are first seen. Buyers, who make selections for department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue or smaller boutiques, identify those same trends and assess how their funds might be best spent. Others with influence—Hollywood stylists in search of Oscar night dresses, socialites and celebrities whose wardrobe choices are widely copied—make what essentially are shopping lists of the looks they'll buy and wear. The runway is the crucible in which the beauty standard is first forged.
But there is also a broader, more complex answer to this question. Fashion week, while often seeming like a business convention, is not solely about business. It means something different depending on your place in the fashion world. Designers rely on the fixed date of a fashion show to end a creative cycle that might otherwise last indefinitely: Proportions might be finalised after months of tinkering; color combinations might be refined.
Revenue?
Intangibly and tangibly, it's inevitable profiles will be inflated and converted into income. Though considering the endless expenses and that admission isn't bought, is there a direct profit? An average show—generally thought of as a promotional expense—costs about $150,000, though many are produced for less and certainly many for much more. Major expenses are the venue (the largest of the three tents offered in New York costs $42,000, the smallest $18,000); the models (fees start at $2,500, and most shows include about 25 models); invitations (design and printing costs can run to $5,000); hair and makeup artists with a team of assistants (top stylists can get more than $25,000, and each assistant might get $250); and shoes (even at a wholesale price of $275 per pair, shoes can total tens of thousands of dollars for multiple pairs).
Fledgling designers are lucky if they can get sponsorship—perhaps from a liquor company or trade organization—to help deflect costs. Some break the bank trying to produce shows beyond their means. Paradoxically, the more prestigious a show, the less money the designer may have to shell out: Marc Jacobs is rumored to never pay models, who consider it a badge of honor to walk his runway, whereas more commercial houses, say Kenneth Cole, have to pay up when they don't have much status to trade on.
The chances of absolutely no one showing up are slimmer than a model's legs. Somebody always wants to go to a fashion show: Throw up a velvet rope, and a line will surely form. Getting the heavy-hitters—Vogue's Anna Wintour, Women's Wear Daily's Bridget Foley, the International Herald Tribune's Suzy Menkes, and the New York Times' Cathy Horyn, plus retailers from Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Barneys—is no easy feat. Even for established names. While it's common knowledge that top editors pay their respects to top advertisers by showing up to sit in the front row, you can bet your Vogue subscription that Anna Wintour is not keen to be at, say, the Ellen Tracy show at 9 in the morning (at such shows, commercial offerings geared toward department store chains are on view). But business is business.
Choreography?
Most designers are quite actively involved in selecting the elements that alchemise the theme and scene. They'll enlist specialists; whether that be a DJ, stylist, interior designer or florist to name a few. It's idealised that every detail of a show makes an impact on its success. Designers often bring to life their inspirations while conceiving their collections re often inspired by a particular song or band while conceiving their collections, and that plays into the music selection.
Shows are staged, more than choreographed, with the outfits carefully placed in a particular order to be shown on particular models and timed to hit the runway at certain points in the music. Shows are, after all, shows, and everything is carefully planned for effect.
This why the clothes can seem (sometimes) ridiculous and from another planet, to what is actually worn in real life. It's either for effect, or otherwise nothing more than lack of talent. Fashion is not simply about utility, especially on a runway, where ideas are on parade. Remember that fashion and clothes are not the same thing: Clothes keep you from being naked or cold, and pockets provide a place for your house keys. Fashion, when it's good, sends the imagination racing and speaks for the wearer's dreams in a way words can't.
Over-the-top?
There are two very basic answers to this question; one gets to the heart of everything that is right about fashion, and one to everything that is wrong. Fashion is both democratic and exclusive. Some fashion is meant for broad audiences—New York showman-extraordinaire Isaac Mizrahi, for example, has revived his defunct high-priced label by designing clothes for Target—and some—like the extreme styles of Nicolas Ghesquiere's work for Balenciaga—is frankly not intended for uneducated eyes.
The opinion of the man on the street is irrelevant when it comes to clothes designed for connoisseurs. When great designers such as Rei Kawakubo at Commes des Garcons or her protégé Junya Watanabe propose extreme—what some might call ridiculous—style, it is because they are working with the formal properties of fashion (cut, fabrics, complex finishing techniques) in an innovative way. Their client base is intentionally small because a larger business would require responding to mass market demands, and the influence of their innovation is felt primarily within the industry. Fashion is a community as well as a business, and communities have their own language. A unique use of lace or a well-cut dress are nuances that might be lost on your average shopper but provide secret thrills to fashion insiders.
On the other hand, it happens all too often that runway shows are filled with high jinks for high jinks' sake. Fashion has become entertainment, and so the thinking of many designers goes like this: Zany looks will get the attention of TV producers or stylists with celebrity access (and getting the name out there equals business success). Shenanigans like silly hairdos, exaggerated makeup, or overzealous styling can also hide a lack of skill or true ideas.
The larger issue, however, is that fashion is a big business, and it has suffered from overexposure. What was once the province of an elite and limited audience is now scrutinized on the red carpet and in tabloids at a rate that forces cheap attempts at keeping up with news cycles that move faster than fashion's own natural seasonal reinvention. The industry, of course, has invited the attention. Hype, the theory goes, means profit.
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