Written and photographed by Lisa Klein. Story sponsored by Total Health Physical Therapy.
DAY 1: WE EAT FASHION – PART 1
Overheard going into the Farah Angsana show: “I went to 5 shows back to back and then I realized I hadn’t eaten since yesterday. It’s the Fashion Week diet.”
I was so thrilled with my first Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York experience in February that I made sure to bug Walter enough to get press credentials for September. I loved the whole experience of being there: the people, the clothes, the designers, going backstage. It was a fashion-magical experience in every possible way.
My plan for my second trip was to build on the first experience. To go for a longer period of time, see more shows, have a decent camera this time and better outfits! Having press credentials only gets you into the lobby, so to see the shows you need to write to the PR people for each designer and express your desire for an invite to the show. I left DC with invites to 22 shows over 4 days, and one backstage interview. Beyond exciting!
The trip started out auspiciously enough, by me missing my intended train by literally 10 seconds (a repeat of last year.) I had gone out to Fashion’s Night Out in Georgetown the night before and had stayed way longer than anticipated. When will I ever learn?
I arrived in NY about 2 pm to make it to my first show, a 2:30 box presentation by Walter Baker. Wearing for my first day: my Alexander McQueen military jacquard weave dress (very short with short sleeves) and flats from the train. The man sitting next to me on the train commented that if only I read the sports section of the paper, I’d be the perfect woman. You’ve got to love the Acela. This outfit turned out to be a good choice as it was 85 degrees with no cabs in sight at Penn Station. Why is it that whenever you are running late you can never find a cab? I decided to take my chances away from Penn Station and started hauling my bags up 7th Avenue for what seemed like an eternity. A cabbie finally felt pity on me and stopped to pick me up but made sure to yell at me for standing on the wrong corner. I love being back in New York! I was able to drop my bags at my choice hotel for Fashion Week, the Hudson on 58th, and walk the few blocks to Lincoln Center: hot and still in flats but at least I made it in time for the show.
My next show was Rebecca Minkoff in the Theatre. On the line to get in I met a really nice online boutique owner from New Jersey. We talked about how hard it is for the smaller online retailers now that Amazon and other huge online companies are selling clothes. I hadn’t though of that, how these mega websites are really making things difficult because they can under-price the smaller sites. It’s unfortunate that is has to be that way and I wonder how the smaller sites are going to be able to make it in the long term. One of the things about Fashion Week that is so interesting is that for the most part the people you meet are very friendly and very willing to talk about themselves and what they do. It truly is a great networking opportunity for people involved in every aspect of fashion. You spend so much time on lines to get into the shows that it is nice that everyone around is so chatty and friendly.
The Theatre is the largest venue at Fashion Week and it’s all in black. I had a standing ticket and close to the start of the show they let us fill the seats that were empty. Who would not show up to a fashion show? I can’t even imagine. I scored a great seat directly across from Ryan Lochte, my first celebrity sighting of the week. I read in People magazine this week that he was sitting next to Lauren Conrad, did not recognize her at the time. Apparently the first thing one does these days when one wins big at the Olympics is to go to Fashion Week and start a fashion line. Who knew? They had live music at this show, which I hadn’t seen before. It was a great way to liven up the show. Unfortunately I had yet to discover the iPad video situation and my video and pics from this show were shot with the iPhone and all the models look like ghosts…
1