Watch the runway

WEEK 37

It’s New York Fashion Week, and I’ve become obsessed with getting a seat at my first-ever runway show. How hard could this be? Nearly impossible it turns out. I texted friends in public relations. In publishing. I reached out to entertainment managers and boutique buyers. Irena and I even went to a Fashion Week rave on the wildly unlikely chance that we’d meet models or designers or stylists who would invite us to a runway show. No luck.

Then it occurred to me. Fashion Week is an industry event. Just like CES or the auto show, right? Although it’s easy to equate models and fashion with celebrity, these are in fact working shows for buyers, journalists, bloggers, photographers and all those in the fashion-verse. Industry folk can purchase thousand-dollar and up packages to the major events, so why would designers willingly give up a precious seat to a curious onlooker like me?

Then, after hours and hours of online searching down a very deep rabbit hole, I found a few shows open to the public at the more civilian general admission price of $40. As in all things, you get what you pay for.

I selected a Saturday afternoon show sponsored by the SOCIETY, a production house that proclaimed its intent to make Fashion Week an inclusive experience for all. Their shows took place on Broad Street, just two doors down from the New York Stock Exchange and around the corner, oddly enough, from the prior night’s rave.

[A quick sidebar on that: A DJ we’ve danced to many times, Guy Gerber, often draws a beautiful-people crowd, and with a dose of Fashion Week added to the mix – in the ballroom of a 1927 landmark venue on Wall Street that originally housed the Bank of New York – the event delivered. Many tall bodies, some fitted dresses and towering heels, a handful of jumpsuits, two friends in head-to-toe white sequined tuxedos with platform high tops. Lots of fun eye candy.]

Back to our fashion show …

Irena and I queued up around 1:00pm in front of 41 Broad Street, another historic bank building from the same soon-to-be-Depression era. Of course at that time, given the proximity to the New York harbor, this area was the commercial heart of the city.

The tickets suggested that we “dress fabulously as there will be photographers,” yet not all in line read the fine print. We were a motley crew of fashion-curious, everything from leather pants, floor-length pink toile and designer bags, to ratty jeans, backpacks, puffers and sneakers.

After the VIP group at the front of the line passed through the velvet rope, we made our way inside. A slightly raised, shiny white, U-shaped runway dominated the center of the cavernous (and very chilly) space, with chairs all around. We found a bench near the back, and directly across from us sat a trio of women in the front-row who had brought their A-game: fur hats, shiny fabrics, bold makeup, big brand labels layered onto more labels. We counted about 100 selfies in the first 10 minutes.

Six designers were on the program – all unknown to us – with a range of looks. The first few walked what I believe would be considered ready-to-wear fashions, like leggings, bandeau tops and jackets. But the majority of the 75-minute show featured elaborate get-ups with ballgowns, intricate shoes, headpieces and technical fabrics.

I was delighted to see that the models do indeed do a catwalk-walk, standing incredibly straight as if suspended from a ceiling string, with blank eyes and a distant look. From time to time, a model would pause to pose and make very deliberate individual eye contact with an audience member, but mostly their eyes gazed at the horizon.

After each collection, the models did a quicker lap in tighter succession, with an odd dainty hand clap as the designer herself walked the runway (our show happened to feature all female designers).

During our post-show lunch debrief, Irena and I started thinking about what we saw from a business perspective. Understanding that this is an industry event, what’s a successful outcome for a niche designer? And is there crazy competition to even show your collection?

The effort to create the looks was mind-blowing – the clothes themselves yes, but the hair and makeup and headpieces and what looked like one-of-a-kind shoes. It must have been hours and hours per collection and weeks of all-nighters sewing and preparing.

I suppose if we were curious enough we could ask around and get an answer. But it’s more fun to take in the spectacle.