NY Fashion Week

SARAH MINK '08

Despite fashion’s frivolous nature, the tents in Bryant Park fill to capacity twice a year with hordes of magazine editors, upscale department store buyers, celebrities, socialites, and those who fall under no labels or too many to count. Also in attendance are people who have once graced the halls of Beaver with their noteworthy presence—namely Eliza Dushku, a Beaver mystery herself. All sharing the prerequisite of being well dressed, these people fly into New York or walk across the street to be part of the extravaganza that is Fashion Week, specifically, the semi-annual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. First held in 1943 during the Second World War, its goal was to take the attention away from French fashion when traveling to France wasn’t possible for fashion journalists.

New York Fashion Week is very much like an art festival backed by German automotive sponsors. The designers are the artists, and the runways are the galleries on which the art is displayed for the world to see. As art is illegal to forge, the designer’s guild has worked hard to copyright their designs, but clothing and accessories are still copied and mass-produced in such stores as Century 21. The designs that came down on the runways on top models such as Coca Rocha and Agyness Deyn, however, were completely original creations.

Fall MMVIII (2008) fashion week began on February 1st and finished on February 8th. Over 100,000 guests were expected to attend, which included 3,000 of the worldwide press and fashion industry. Some lucky college students worked on the shows behind the scenes and as seat-fillers. One NYU student who volunteered at the Y-3 show described it as: “Great! I got stuck in the second row (VIP section), which was both terrifying and the coolest moment of my life!”

Whether or not you approve of the models’ weight, or even the consumer culture that the week represents, the spectacle of Fashion Week has become a tradition in cities worldwide. However, the Internet has made the exhibition of designs available to those who cannot make it to the tents in Bryant Park, which were decorated this year as Greco Roman “Temples of Fashion.” All the collections are available for your viewing pleasure on http://www.style.com/, as are front row and backstage pictures, including an appearance by the not-so-well-dressed Ms. Dushku. Stay tuned for collection highlights and the aftermath.