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During Fashion Week, people kept asking me one question: "Can you tell me what it was really like to be there?" Well, that, and " ZOMG you met Tim Gunn? You shook his hand? Can I touch you?" After forcibly prying them loose, I gave them the inside scoop:
Seemingly overnight, massive tents spring up in New York's Bryant Park like mushrooms after a storm. These tents are like no tents I've ever seen before--for starters, they are not Hunter's Vest Orange and smelling faintly of Eau de Crawlspace. They are gorgeous, with high ceilings. And staircases. And ventillation systems. And a skybox, for Pete's sake!
The tents are definitely full of people, but interestingly, it's not chaotic. The space is designed with crowd control in mind, and the flow of traffic into and out of shows was pretty impressive. Event staff were well coordinated in getting people where they needed to be, and moving everyone along throughout the day.
Fashion Week is surreal in that you can be just walking along with a group of people, and turn to see that you're standing DIRECTLY BEHIND Nina Garcia. Or Kelly, the newest member of the Real Housewives of NYC. Or some Amazonian woman in an aggressively large fur hat who looks wholly unfamiliar, but is clearly SOMEONE, as everyone is angling to get a shot of her. (People, seriously, I have NO idea who she was, and I subscribe to more fashion and celebrity magazines than is probably healthy.)
I've repeatedly been asked what I wore during my time there, so I will tell you that the first day, I wore a puff (short) sleeved black cashmere turtleck from Banana Republic, paired with a taupe and black box pleat Diane von Furstenberg skirt, a long chunky gold chain necklace, and black patent round-toe stilletos from BCBG. Midday, I added the delightful accent of drugstore-brand black opaque tights. Yes, I know it's Fashion Week, but it started snowing, and blue legs are never in style. The second day, I wore a gray cowl neck tweed dress from *gasp* FOREVER 21. (It cost $30, and I get more compliments on it than many other, much pricier pieces). I paired it with ridiculously expensive Wolford tights (yes, they cost more than the dress), and t-strap Dolce Vita heels. I did see some cute trends in action on the other attendees--bright opaque tights, booties, solid shift dresses, and a LOT of jewel tones, to name a few--but I was pleasantly surprised to see that there was no "uniform" look that pervaded the scene. The only true theme I saw was that everyone seemed to be dressed appropriately for the events; I saw nary a sneaker or velour sweatsuit in all my time at Fashion Week.
The experience I had was indeed one of those "once in a lifetime" things. I spent much of my time there vacillating between standing stock-still in total wonderment of my surroundings, and frantically trying to take it all in with my camera, notebook, and recorder (the voice kind, not the... "My First Instrument" kind). It was amazing to get the inside perspective not only from industry experts, but also from American Express--to understand their goals for their Card members in creating the incredible environment in the Skybox, and also to learn that they're a key supporter of Fashion Week, providing a $250,000 grant to the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. It was a thrill to witness multiple fashion shows (including a Cardmembers-only event where I got to hear Diane von Furstenberg give insight into her collections), and of course, to interview Frederic Fekkai and Tim Gunn. It's another world, really, one which I was honored to observe, even for a few days. I so enjoyed my time there.
A huge thank you once again to American Express for making BlogHer's presence at
