Photo By Liya Liu
So New York Fashion week begins and the whirlwind is even more confusing now as brands and designers are all over the map, literally and figuratively. Everything is up for grabs including deciding how designers want to show their clothes, where they want to show them or whom they want to see them. So rather than just the traditional runway show, and there will be some of those, there will be multiple events and experiences that may make it challenging to take stock of the entire showing. Whether it is a collaborative ballet performance, a party where carefully curated guests are dressed in the collection and just mingle or leaving town entirely and showing in LA, New York Fashion Week is up for grabs. The question becomes as W’s Stefano Tonchi asks us to consider in today’s WWD, whether New York Fashion Week is, “suffering from a dense calendar overloaded with too much of too little fashion significance?”
Some are favoring the quiet and intimate presentation approach where one gets to talk to the designer and to feel and really see the textures and shapes of the clothes. As I wrote in the Fall in my post, A Tale of Two Fashion Weeks, that approach to Fashion Week is the one that is of the most interest to me. So in a very busy week where I have important choices to make about where I go and how I use my time, I am electing to go the experience and relationship route. I will be spending Friday afternoon in the company of emerging women clothing and jewelry designers I have showcased here before and also hope to meet some new ones. If you are in New York for the shows and wish to have a moment of real connection and learn about the thought, inspiration, hard work, ethics and care that goes into a design, stop by the the W. 14th St. Designers Collective at 426 W. 14th Street. I will be spending Friday afternoon there so please stop by. It’s open weekdays 12-8 and weekends 12-10.
So now for the secret plotting. When I go on Friday I am bringing Calvin under the pretense of taking photos. Of course he will take photographs but I also have an ulterior motive. I want him to get me another piece of jewelry for Valentine’s Day from my dear friend Elena Kriegner who will be there. It is a rare opportunity to see her pieces and hold them in your hands. Since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, the timing could not be better. I have always considered assisting your partner with decision-making about gifts by showing options attached to a big hint, a thoughtful gesture. So if the two of you happen to be walking by…
Since Calvin always likes to look at my blog posts I will have to figure out a way to keep him distracted until Friday. Maybe I will send him out to take street photos of the whirlwind of what is now NY Fashion Week. That should keep him busy!
Photo by Liya Liu