Inside Fashion Week
Fashion week. The term is thrown around in the media a few times a year and unless you’re in the industry, you have an idea what fashion week is but probably don’t understand the true magnitude of such an event.
Fashion week is a seven-day event where designers and fashion houses showcase their looks for the following season. It allows buyers from department stores and boutiques, editors, publicists, and celebrities to get a glimpse of what’s in and what’s hot before anything even hits the shelves of your favorite store. The most well-known fashion weeks are held in New York City, London, Milan, and Paris; however, smaller fashion weeks are held in cities like Dallas, Texas and Los Angeles, California as well as in countries like India and Thailand.
In the major cities, fashion week is a semi-annual event. January through March, designers show their Fall/Winter collections and September through November show the Spring/Summer looks. The long lead time allows buyers to get the clothing into the retail environment and incorporate the items into catalogs and marketing campaigns.
The season usually begins in New York City, continues with London, then Milan and ends in Paris. After Paris, new “emerging” fashion weeks are held globally.
If you are in New York during their fashion week, simply hop in a taxicab and ask them to take you to the fashion shows. Chances are the cabbie will know that you need to go to Bryant Park where tents are erected to show the designer duds. Turn on your television, coverage of the event abounds.
Your first glimpse of Bryant Park will leave you thinking that the tents are a permanent fixture. Huge, white tents take up the entire length of the park. It isn’t until you step inside that you realize they truly are tents. Lining the walls of the tents are promo booths from sponsors of the event and manning the front are modern-day newsboys/girls handing out the industry bible, Women’s Wear Daily (WWD).
Deeper inside the tent, you will find that there are several “stages” each representing a designer’s vision. Some are formal with shining chandeliers, while others are clean and white. Chances are though you will barely remember the décor; my bet is that you’ll be watching the front row. Front rows are usually reserved for the likes of Jay-Z and Beyonce, Anna Wintour (Editor in Chief of Vogue), and other A-listers alike.
Once the lights dim and the music pumps, the models begin to strut their stuff down the runway, adrenaline flows, and the focus is no longer on the front row but on the looks themselves. Editors and buyers take note of each outfit on every walking mannequin, discerning what looks will be right for their magazines and stores, even building layouts and marketing campaigns in their minds. All centered on what they perceive to be the next big thing.
While it is intoxicating to attend a fashion week, chances are that once it’s over, you will be relieved. It’s a frenetic pace 24 hours a day for the entire week. Whether you are working backstage for a particular designer or fashion house, a journalist covering the event, an editor, or a buyer, more than likely you will be going to several shows, after parties, and events. You will need to have your game face on for more hours than your mind can count and once the season is shown, it’s on to planning the next and the cycle begins again.
