The upcoming 2011 New York Fashion Week extravaganza is scheduled from September 8 to September 15, 2011. Definitely we will see designers from around the world that will exhibit their Spring/Summer 2012 collections. As always, IMG remains the main driving force behind New York Fashion Week, with Mercedes Benz and Olympus alternately providing major sponsorship. For sure many of you are curious to know what fashion week is all about. Josh Patner a respected fashion journalist, former assistant designer for Donna Karan, and co-founder of the popular label Tuleh answered most of our nagging questions from a sit down with Slate.com. Here's an excerpt of that amazing interview.
What is the purpose of fashion week?
Simply put, fashion week initiates the two major seasons—fall and spring—in which designers present their new collections for the fashion press, retail buyers, and others with influence in the fashion world. Fashion journalists review the collections just as film critics might cover new releases at Cannes. Fashion magazine editors assess the mood of the season and identify the trends to be photographed and written about. 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.
Does the perceived success of a fashion show at fashion week correlate to how well a designer fares in a given season?
Yes and no. If editors and buyers leave a show feeling exhilarated, it only serves the designer well. Major stories might be written and photo shoots planned. Orders might be increased and the clothes featured in a store's advertising or window display. This is particularly true for a new name. For established designers, a knockout show might increase media exposure, but it doesn't necessarily translate into more money.
Do the designers make any money from the shows themselves (not from increasing their profile or getting into newspapers and magazines), or are they just a massive expense? How do young designers afford stylists, makeup artists, etc.?
Designers don't charge admission for fashion shows. Even fashion addicts have limits; no one would go. 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.
What happens if you have a fashion show and no one shows up? How do you induce people to come when you're just starting out?
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. But 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.
How are the shows scheduled to avoid conflict? Is there a particular night/time slot that is the most coveted or a time slot that the heavyweights usually win (say, Marc Jacobs)? If you're a small designer, how do you make sure there are no bigger shows scheduled when you schedule yours?
An industry firm called the Fashion Calendar has long managed the tangled problem of too many designers trying to show over too few days (approximately 150 designers over seven days); the service is run by subscription and produces a weekly schedule of international fashion-related events that buyers and editors look to throughout the year. Conflicts do arise with overlapping shows. Editors and buyers must choose whose show to see, and the little guy generally loses out.
Do designers choreograph the show? Do they pick the music for their show, or do they work with a DJ? Is there a dress rehearsal?
Most designers are quite actively involved in selecting show music. They work with a DJ—many, like Michel Gaubert who mixes music for New York design darlings Proenza Schouler, specialize in runway tracks—with the idea that every detail of a show makes an impact on its success. Designers are 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.
Who gets the front row? (And who gets usually stuck in back or in the standing section?) Is there a hierarchy among fashion editors and journalists, fashion buyers, and celebrities? Does the publicist decide the seating arrangements, or does the designer usually insist on looking at the placement?
Publicists and sales teams generally review the guest list, and they apportion the seats accordingly; they work their way back, putting the most important people in front and from there following the natural hierarchy of the guests (editors in chief before associates, store presidents before buyers, etc.). Celebrities, who have been wooed by invitation months before, either make a grand entrance in the final moments of a show and are shepherded to their seat by a PR escort, or they park themselves in their seats before the show begins for added paparazzi time. The idea, of course, is that a shot of a celebrity at a show will give added value to that designer's cachet. As for the designers, most give a glance to the front row seating plan, but any designer too concerned with that ought to go back to his fittings.
Do the models get to keep the clothes?
Models often work for clothes rather than money, especially when the designers have small houses but growing prestige. While fashion can be a brutal business, support is shown by the modeling agencies and by the models themselves when the shows are cast. Models generally do not keep the actual clothes they wear in the show, as those pieces will be needed for sales appointments or magazine shoots. But they do order clothes, which are sent to them later.
To learn more about fashion week from Josh Patner's perspective CLICK HERE to read the full interview. Anyway stay up-to-date with the upcoming New York Fashion Week by checking out information on the web through these sites regarding the latest trends, news & updates on the upcoming New York Fashion Week.
MERCEDES-BENZ FASHION WEEK - The official site featuring news & updates with the complete schedule, designer profiles, and daily photos.
STYLE.COM - Offers a front row seat to late breaking fashion news in Paris, Milan and New York with special coverage throughout New York Fashion Week.
