As promised, here’s my take on attending fashion
shows. I procrastinated as much as possible, but it turned out the timing is
right because of a certain little something that happened at Chanel’s Fashion
Week show a few days ago. So…let’s get going!
Once upon a time (don’t all good stories start that
way?) I finally got my first ticket to attend an honest-to-god no-kidding fashion show
at New York Fashion Week. Now, there are fashion shows all over the city during
those two weeks – department stores, colleges with fashion majors, ambitious
small designers, etc. – but to get an invitation to a show at “the tents” is
the real deal.
My imagination, as per usual, got the best of me
and while I was tossing around ideas of what I was going to wear…I choked. I’m
usually really confident that I can go into my closet(s) and pull together
something for just about any occasion and feel that’s the right outfit (for me, if not for anyone else), but this time visions of Anna Wintour with every
bobbed hair in place, Victoria Beckham cool and slim wearing the LBD du jour,
and
André
Leon Talley swathed in a too-cool-for-school caftan judging everyone
made me obsess over every choice. Was this too casual? Did this look like I was
trying too hard? And then the biggest log I threw in my path: Does show
etiquette rule that you wear only the designer’s own clothing to their show?
My first thought was: Yikes! I mean literally,
yikes! I did not then and do not now have that designer in my wardrobe
(although high on my wish list and currently being aspired to on my sewing
machine) because the price point is way out of line with my fashion budget
(another wish list). Instead of reaching for a stiff drink I reached for my
laptop and pulled up a website that helps out savvy women who need a high end frock
for a one time occasion, or reality stars and aspiring celebutants who want to
create the illusion of wealth and connections:
The concept is pure gold. They rent everything from
designer ball gowns to work appropriate outfits to weekend wear to sunglasses
for functions where you know you’re never going to want to wear that whatever
again but you want to look like a trophy. I have to admit I have yet to use it,
but I have friends who have and it’s in my address book just in case an
emergency arises…and I had pretty much convinced myself this time one was at
hand.
Just as I was about to pull the trigger on renting,
though, I decided to look up videos on past fashion shows and pull my eyes away
from the runway and celebs and look at people more on my level (i.e., sea
level). It was an eye opener. Jeans. Not chic I-bought-them-torn jeans, these
were working jeans, or outfits that obviously hadn’t been worn in a while
because they looked like they had been hiding with the dust bunnies under their
beds. And that, my friends, is the truth about fashion shows (at least in NYC);
there are a lot of levels of people who are there, and just like every office
everywhere you wear the flag of your tribe.
The people who are high up in the business of
fashion – the major players in media, stores, entertainment, etc. – are dressed
to the nines, including people who are given/loaned the clothes to wear (this
would fall into the Kardashian Kategory) because it is a given they will be
heavily covered by the press, and the exposure (in some cases, literally) in the media is
worth more than the garment itself. Clients, friends, and family of the designer
will also be waving that flag, so to speak. The next tier would be the
Fashionistas, who may not be wearing the designer of that current show, but are
decked out in major labels. The higher they are on the fashion food chain the
more current the outfit will be; in other words, if it isn’t from a show that
is currently being shown, it’s old stuff and so are they. Then there’s a big
group of people who are the Whatevers – they are there for various reasons
(Hello, let me introduce myself), and they wear whatever they feel looks great
and feels Just Right. Here’s a random shot I took while waiting for the doors to
open at a NYFW show last month. Everyone was dressed…just right.
It’s fashion – have fun!
Then there are the people who are working the show,
but are not in the show. There are a ton of them, and they outnumber all the
rest of the people in the audience. (I’m not including the buyers in this group.)
The media can be a motley crew – some are dressed like they could be headed
towards the runway; some look like they just fell out of bed. Some have slim
tablets or laptops; some are hauling stepladders because they weren’t stationed
on the bleachers with other photographers and they need to get shots above the
heads of the rest of us.
In the Olden Days invitations to glamorous business
functions used to come on elegant thick paper via snail mail, messengered
attached to flowers or gift baskets, or in the form of a clever chatchki.
That’s pretty rare now; email has taken a lot of the fun out of gimmicky Please
Attends. At any rate, let’s assume you’ve RSVP’d, showed up at the correct venue earlier
than the appointed time, and took your place in the proper line. I don’t mean
the line for the right show…I mean there are multiple lines for each show. Are
you Media? Are you a V.I.P.? Are you Everyone Else? Go there.
There’s always a lot of grumbling coming from the
media line. They need to set up, they are having some sort of equipment
problem, food food food, etc., but generally the camaraderie seems great. The
Everyone Else(s) are always in fine form – we’re glad to be there and chatty as
all get out. And then there’s the V.I.P.s. Oh boy. Now, the most V of the
V.I.P.s always seem all business – they flash their pass, and go about their
business. They do not arrive before the doors open; they probably circle in
their limos to make sure this does not happen. However, there are always a few
who think they are more important than anyone can possibly be, and those
ensuing hissy fits are one of my favorite parts of Fashion Week.
The bottom line is there is work going on to set up
a show, and no one gets in while that work is going on. There are people hired
to make sure this does not happen. Then there are people who are sure that rule
does not apply to them, they are meant to get in, and want to make sure the
people at the door know that they are making a major faux pas by keeping them
out. Ladies and gentlemen, this is when popcorn should be served because these
performances are usually better than anything seen on the runways. Most often
they are pointed to special ‘stage doors’ where the models and staff enter, and where it is possible to get a word or note through to their best friend the designer. I have no official statistics to support this, but my experience produces an educated guess that 99.9% of the time
they are sent back to us – their adoring public – even more incensed than they
were when they flounced off.
Sooooo…now you’re herded inside, into another line
to show your invitation and/or credentials, and then pointed into the correct
next line/doorway/room for your station in life. Some people are assigned
numbers, as in seat numbers, and some people get Standing Room, which means you loiter in an area near the runway waiting to see if there are any empty seats, or
you just congregate with your friends (some of whom you just met on the
various lines) in groups so you can exchange information about where the good
freebies and parties are, what’s going on at the other shows, and everything you need to
know about anything or anyone you care to know about. The front row has
the prestige; standing room is where the fun is.
Some shows are actually set up as you see them in
the movies and on television shows: runway down the middle, chairs or benches
to the side. At the end of the runway is a bank of bleachers where there are
all sorts of cameras. During the shows people are taking pictures like crazy with
their cell phones, but I’ve learned over the years that except for a few photos
to a) prove that I was actually there and not dreaming it all up, and b)
getting shots that only I would appreciate, it’s really not worth it to take
pictures of the runway clothes because lickety split the professional shots
will be up on the ‘net. Sit back and enjoy the show, concentrate on the clothes
and accessories, savor the atmosphere, and try to commit the gossip to memory.
The best laid out fashion show I ever attended was
the Malan Breton Fall/Winter 2015 collection. This was the last season of
Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, and it was held (of course) in
the Pavilion (which replaced "the tents"). Instead of having a runway down a center aisle the room had rows
of chairs, and the models came down through the center and then walked up and
down the aisles; giving everyone a front row seat.
Now – hold that thought….
No one, but no one, puts on a bigger show than
Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld. The audience attendance, the number of garments
shown…hell, the Spring/Summer Ready-To-Wear 2016 show had a frickin’ ‘doll house’ semi-collapse
at the finale!
But as the saying goes, you can’t please all of the
people all of the time, and the biggest complaint that Monsieur Lagerfeld got (besides
my not being in attendance, I'm sure) was that so many rows of chairs were required to
fit everyone in that unless you were lucky enough to snag a seat in the first
couple of rows you missed out on seeing the fine details of the new collection,
which may not be important if you’re just there to see and be seen, but if
you’re there working…not so good. Karl Lagerfeld is no fool when it comes to
business, to say the very least (who can say about his private life? I mean,
someone can but that someone is not me), and he decided to do something to
accommodate everyone. Unbelievably, at Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2016 show,
Lagerfeld gave 3,000 people a front row seat.
The layout was an extreme version of the Breton
show in my picture above, and the models walked half a mile to complete the
maze of the runway. (Many thanks to The Business of Fashion for the incredible
interview!)
As I said in my last blog, New York Fashion Week is
undergoing a great shift, and it will be interesting to see what direction it
goes in the next and coming seasons. I’ve been glued to my laptop watching
various ateliers from Paris, London and Milan trot out their newest and
best, and it never fails to amaze me how the same old fabrics, trims and cuts
can miraculously be transformed into totally fresh takes on what we thought we
knew. And now…Poof! While we’re pouring over the videos and fashion
magazines the designers are already back at their computers and sketch pads conjuring
up their next creations. Will they amaze us again? Who will crash and burn,
only to come back again another time to remind us that once down does not necessarily mean
out? What will happen to those major houses looking for head designers? I, for one, am riveted to my...couch to wait and watch the action.
In the meantime, here’s the entire Chanel show for
you to lust over. Remember, Karl Lagerfeld won’t be around forever. Enjoy his
era while you can.
‘Til next time,
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