For those of you, who like us, find yourselves inexplicably drawn to the train-wreck that is the Real House Wives of New York City, you may have noticed this season’s repeated mentions of Brooklyn Fashion Week. First Alex brought the ladies together to help chose designers for the show (of course like the vapid middle-school drama queens they are, this got overshadowed by yet another rehashing of an old catfight) and explained a bit about the project. Then later in the season we got to see bits of the show (and of course more RHONYC drama, jealous much Jill?) Brooklyn Fashion Week was presented as the younger, more indie, and perhaps more low-brow cousin of NYFW (and a backdrop for the crazy-eyed Ramona to strut her stuff). This got us thinking, besides the famed New York Fashion Week in the Tents, what other fashion weeks are to be found in our city? Well, quite a few it turns out.

Brooklyn Fashion Week — As mentioned on RHONYC, this fashion week takes place after the big Manhattan shows, and focuses on Brooklyn based designers.  This show is held twice- yearly and it benefits the Brooklyn Style Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping up and coming Brooklyn designers.  For more info please click here.

Queens Fashion Week –  Not to be out done by Brooklyn, this is also a biannual Fashion Week of events. QFW is an upscale series of events that shines a spotlight on the trendy goods and services available in Queens.  As one of the most diverse communities in the nation, Queens offers a wealth of fashionable attractions and events.  For more scoop please click here.

Full Figured Fashion Week – This show takes place this June and is geared towards “The State of the Curvy Community.” They will be addressing a huge segment of the population that often gets overlooked when it comes to fashion.  We are eager to see how it goes! For more info click here.

Eco Fashion Week – The Eco fashion shows take place during the traditional NY Fashion Week but are in separate locations around the city.  Some of the outstanding designers that participated this year are Gary Harvey, Vaute Couture, Sonkja De Elzen, Joann Berman, Keia Bounds, Popomomo, Samantha Pleet, Duex FM, Ekovaruhuset, and C. Marchuksuska.  For more info on Eco Fashion week please click here.

Urban Fashion Week – This week of events has been going on for over a decade now and it has some of the boldest fashion statements in all of fashion.  With a distinct flair for the urban fashionista, it is also one of the few fashion events geared as much to men as women. For all the details click here.

(Part One)

A while back we mentioned that skinny jeans were hazardous to your health, well now, we’d say the fashion calendar is a hazard to our industry.  In our business the fashion calendar and the time from development to market, has gotten so tight that it is strangling our creativity and killing our profits.  The old system of fashion collections being shown on the runway six months before they hit the store, or featured in fashion magazines months before the consumer could purchase them, or even merchandise on the floor a season before the customer could feasibly wear it, is all part of an outdated and broken system.  While the last issue is no longer a major obstacle, as thankfully we are not forced to buy wool coats in July anymore (especially thanks to online shopping), the other two issues, especially fashion week, are major problems.

There was a recent article in the WSJ addressing the issue of getting clothes from catwalk to closet, faster.  The six month delay allows fast fashion chains like Forever 21 and H&M time to knock off designers and have the more affordable imitations available in stores even before the originals.  To combat this issue some designers have begun putting their collections into production before they walk the runway and made them available for sale immediately following their shows. Designers Norma Kamali, Cynthia Rowley, and Burberry have recently tried this tactic with extremely lucrative results.  The WSJ also mentions that part of the problem is the designer’s collections are featured in Vogue or Elle and the customer sees them, but by the time they are available in stores they no longer appear fresh and new to the shopper.  We would also like to add that the role of fashion blogs have tightened the calendar even more, as the shopper does not have to wait a month for Vogue but can go online immediately and view the pieces within 24 hours of the show.

For most designers and brands, fashion week do not equal sales, as very few actually show during the week. And for those that do show, much of the actual selling and ordering takes place in the showroom. While fashion week gets the media attention and is a PR darling for the high-end designers, many of us know that far more of the world’s apparel gets sold during market week not fashion week and sales often get done in private showings not on the runway. However, to the shopper and of course to fashion’s marketing, PR, media, bloggers, and celebs, fashion week is the Holy Grail. But many of us realize the current model is no longer effective for either end of the industry.

It seems to us a decision needs to be made as to the purpose of fashion week and if that purpose is advertising and immediate retail (not wholesale) sales than put photographers and bloggers in the front row, move the calendar forward to meet the production requirements, schedule fashion week closer to the actual season when goods hit the floor for shoppers to purchase immediately. If the intent is to use fashion week as industry event to generate internal buzz and initiate wholesale buying then it should be kept that way, and moved back to the Garment center. The problem is for many years fashion week worked for both sides of the business, but that is just no longer feasible. Between online shopping, new media, consumers buy now mentality and the increasing production times for oversea manufacturing, fashion week can no longer accommodate both needs effectively.

As you may have noticed, we marked this post as “Part One” that is because the fashion calendar is not just detrimental to fashion week and high-end designers, but also for the rest of the apparel industry. Those of us working for big brands, private label lines, vertical retailers, and everyone from Walmart to Saks are suffering from calendar woes as well. These designers, due to production issues, bureaucracy, and the micro-managing of creativity, are also suffering. They companies require designers to design a year or more ahead of calendar. The product then suffers and often looks dated and unoriginal, while the designers end up like this.  So stay tuned for a follow up post from this perspective too.

We also adore Anna Sui who made it clear how unhappy she was that Fashion Week was moving out of the Garment Center. In her show we saw the usual wild pairings of colors, prints, patterns and textures in Sui’s fantastic trademark hippie-glam style. We also loved the more unexpected addition of the elegant retro flapper dresses.

We have a new obsession with Chris Benz, he is another local designer who believes, “our responsibility is to support the domestic garment industry.” We found this excellent video of him discussing the issue here:

Throughout the week many designers have made an effort to support local manufacturing and business and we would like to see that trend continue.

So what else did we like from fashion week? Well there was a lot actually, but here are some favs, with images courtesy of NY Mag.

Badgley Mischka                     J Mendel                    Catherine Malandrino

Diane Von Furstenberg         Carolina Herrera                    Marchesa

Well, there sure is a lot going on right now, so lets get to it.

First, Happy New York Fashion Week! Yep, Fashion Week is fully underway. This year’s NYFW has gotten off to an ominous start with the blizzard of 2010 wreaking havoc on the East Coast and the heartbreaking news of the death of young talented designer Alexander (Lee) McQueen. Hopefully things will turn around and we will have a memorable and successful Fashion Week. So where to get all the scoop? You can check out the big guns of course, NY Magazine and Style.com. But we’d also like to recommend some of our favorite fellow bloggers for an insider look at Fashion Week. Unlike us they are much better photographers and will give you the full scoop on all the behind the tent action. So please visit, Fasshonaburu, Clutch22 and Dream Sequins.

Next, Happy Chinese New Year! Not only is this the biggest holiday for China and many Asian nations but it has a huge impact on the Garment Center and the fashion industry. Since so much apparel is made in China these days, our local companies from designers to production managers have been working overtime trying to get all their requests in to the factories before they close. The holiday lasts about two weeks, in which factories are shutdown and in the fashion industry that amount of time has a HUGE impact on all our schedules. If you are in NYC, Chinatown has tons of festivities going on, starting with the annual Fireworks and Dragon parade. So happy year of the Tiger everyone!

And finally, Happy Valentine’s Day! We found this fun lingerie blog, which is the blog to the fabulous boutique Faire Frou Frou. If you haven’t ever visited check out their sexy little underthings by clicking here. This Sunday February 14th is the big day, whether you consider it a day to celebrate love, or a day to try out that whip and pasties, or a day you consider a hallmark holiday, or even a day you refer to as Singles Awareness Day, we wish you all a very happy Valentines Day.

One of our biggest allies in the fight to Save the Garment Center is designer Anna Sui.  We have written extensively about the many challenges facing our neighborhood, one of which is New York Fashion Week.  Our lovely Bryant Park, while in the perfect location, has been deemed too small for the swelling fashion shows.  We are certainly thrilled at how large our city’s fashion week has become but at the same time saddened to lose such a notable event in the Garment Center.

Anna Sui has loudly protesting the moving of fashion week from Bryant Park to the Upper West-side’s Lincoln center.  Not only is it a symbolic loss for the neighborhood, but it takes much needed money away from our local businesses and is a logistic nightmare for designers.  As Anna pointed out, it will no longer be cheap and easy to walk racks from showrooms to runways.  Nor simple to make a quick trip back to the office for some forgotten item.  As a farewell nod to the 15 years in the Bryant Park tents, Anna Sui drew inspiration from them for her last NYFW show.  Anna used large hand painted canvas of glittery tents as the backdrop to her runway.  So how do you feel about New York’s Fashion Week’s big move?

**Don’t forget to visit our forum for more fashion scoop**

Fashion Week has always been a busy time, and this year it seems like NYFW was on steroids! Maybe it was the frenzy of Fashion’s Night Out or perhaps we are ready to be done with the recession and its sour effect on the fashion world, whatever the reason Fashion Week seemed to be in overdrive. The lack of parties and tent shows from last season were a distant memory. We had a fantastic time and decided to post some favorite looks from the last week. While, we are perhaps skilled designers, patternmakers, graphic artists, (maybe even writers?) we don’t have a decent camera in the bunch. Therefore, please enjoy these photos courtesy of NY Magazine!

Monique Lhuillier                               Reem Acra

Preen                                            Zac Posen

Nicole Miller                               Narciscio Rodriguez

Chris Benz                                   Jill Stuart

Altuzarra                                   Catherine Malandrino

One of the most spectacular events of this last week has been meeting up with many other fabulous and talented fashion bloggers. We especially want to thank Jennine from The Coveted for hosting another fantastic IFB soiree.  How she does it all, we have no idea but bravo to you Jennine for all your work and looking so hot while doing it! We had a lovely time and especially want to give a shout-out (remember those?) to some fellow bloggers from the event whose sites you must check out: Jordana from Clutch 22, Wendy from Wendy Brandes Jewelry Blog,  the ladies from Fasshonaburu, Nichelle from Style Mom, Crosby of PR Couture, the Fine & Dandy boys, Gilda from Queen Gilda and Susie from Style Bubble. For more (and better) photos of the event click here.

   
                                                             image via 

No, we aren’t talking about rap music rivalry here, but rather fashion week.  As a New York based blog we rarely write about our West Coast sister city LA, and when we do the results aren’t so pretty.  However, upon hearing the news that LA’s March fashion week has been canceled, we felt the need to address it.  It’ll come as no surprise to our readers that we believe, as the US fashion capital, we should be hosting the only true American fashion week.  Between the fact, that most designer’s showrooms are located here, plus the Garment Center as the heart and soul of the industry is here, plus all the major fashion publications and PR firms are headquartered here, makes this town the ideal fashion week spot.  As for Los Angeles, they have lost all of their corporate support, as well as, many of their designers.  According to the Wall Street Journal, “Apparel manufacturing is one of L.A.’s largest employers, but the city’s most famous designers, including Monique Lhuillier, Trina Turk, and Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte, show their wares in New York.  Mr. Obando credits his first shows in L.A. with showing him the ropes. But when he started showing in New York three seasons ago, he says the impact was immediate. “Sales appointments were up 500%,” he says.”  Bottom line, LA maybe great for consumer shopping, celebrity attention, and red carpet publicity, but the money and business of fashion happens here!

We are, of course, well aware that ours is a biased opinion and we do feel a twinge of sadness for West Coast fashionistas losing this event.  So, we decided to get the opinions of some non-NYC based fashion bloggers.  We asked them to tell us how they feel about the canceling of LA’s fashion week and here are their replies.

Liz – It’s Unbeweavable – Los Angeles
I was not at all surprised when LA Fashion Week was cancelled.  As an LA girl who works in the industry, of course I want to say that I am disappointed, but I am honestly not.  When I think of fashion week, I think of NYC, of Bryant Park, of the excitement in the air, of the anticipation of what is going to come down the runway.  LA Fashion Week was a great way for LA based designers to show their work, and while I definitely support that-as there are so many designers nationwide who’s collections are worth press and attention, I feel there are other avenues and venues where this can be done.  I have been lucky enough to attend both Fashion Weeks and NYC’s had my heart pounding…I couldn’t believe I was there!  LA’s did not have the same effect on me, as I don’t feel the talent was up to par with NYCs.  I hope I don’t get hateraid regarding this, as I always support LA, but on this issue, I’ve got to say-it’s all about NYC!

Erica – Unfunded – Southern California
I think the canceling of L.A. fashion week is unfortunate. I do think we need two major fashion weeks, one in L.A. and one in NYC, because each coast has something different to offer, and I think it’s important to break up the monotony. I can only hope that L.A. fashion week will be as successful as NYC fashion week, but I think it’s important that we start showcasing more L.A. indie and emerging designers. High fashion and more established designers will always have a place in NYC. We have a lot to offer, and not everyone gets to see or appreciate that all the time.

Betsey – A Few Goody Gumdrops – Boston
Being from Boston, I doubtfully would fly to LA for fashion week. Having said that, I can only assume that many Californians would not fly to NYC for fashion week. I think it is very important to have shows on both major fashion coasts. Obviously, NYC is closer for me but there is so much style coming out of LA and a different fashion perspective. LA is just as important a fashion city as NYC, representing the latest styles and trends. You see all sorts of people in both major “fashion” cities and it is an injustice to entertain fashion on just the east coast! I think given the right amount of exposure and preparation an LA fashion week would be extremely successful especially from a blogger’s point of view. Many of the girls I blog with are from LA.

Marie – Shop Diary – Los Angeles
I feel that the cancellation of L.A. Fashion Weak (no typo there!) in March is indicative of the shift from the long held tradition of runway shows to alternative formats such as videos (Viktor & Rolf) or presentations. The fashion cycle is getting shorter and runway shows are becoming passé. With that said, it is more advantageous for fashion designers to show in New York than in Los Angeles. New York Fashion Week kicks off the major RTW fashion weeks (New York, London, Milan and Paris) when store buyers’ coffers are still full and interest is at its peak. L.A. Fashion Week shows at the tail end, after Paris, and buyers have already spent their budgets.

This week was the big senior fashion show for FIT students.  For you little ones, thinking of attending fashion school you may find these pictures inspirational. As always they did a lovely job, especially for students, it’s great to see the passion these kids have for the business. For all the details and more pics please visit our friend the Fashion Herald who managed to attend and took these fabulous pictures!

                                                              image via Gizmodo.com

At China’s fashion week (yes they have one too) amid many lovely designs was one show that stood out from the rest.  Or perhaps we should say it surreally hovered above the rest.  According to reports the designer, Jiang Zhou was inspired by recent UFO sightings in the country.  The resulting collection is certainly out of this world.  It kind of combines an avant-garde ET meets Lady Gaga in bondage. What do you all think?

               Dolce and Gabbana                               Dsquared2

      Missoni                                Versace                             Ferragamo

— Dirty whore Ashley Dupre, AKA Elliott Spitzer’s call girl crashed New York’s fashion week much to the dismay of the designer, Ashley was spotted in the front row of the Yigal Azrouël show.  This resulted in Yigal firing his PR company, People’s Revolution, headed by Kelly Cutrone AKA crazy bitch we love from The Hills.

— A small bright spot for fashion retailers seems to be online shopping.  According to the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index, clothing and accessories sales online are up 32%.

— Giorgio Armani announced that he will be donating $1,000,000 to the New York City Fund for Public Schools.  He made the announcement at the opening of his new store on 5^thAve, which is really quite an impressive shop, alongside Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

— We’ve got the scoop on a job opening, Conde Nast is hiring two assistants to replace the ones Anna Wintour has recently driven off.  Here’s the internal email that was sent around Vogue offices.  “Hi guys, Sorry for the mass email. Two of the three assistants in Anna Wintour’s office are leaving soon and Conde Nast is starting to look for candidates. If you know of anyone that may be interested in applying, have them shoot me an email and I can put them in touch with the right person in HR. Some experience in fashion or media is good. Smart, well-educated, calm, etc…Let me know if you can think of anyone.
Thanks!”

— Our favorite British retailer, Topshop, held a press breakfast last week to promote the April opening of their SoHo store.  Apparently when it finally does open, everybody’s favorite coke-head Kate Moss will be cutting the ribbon and introducing her latest collection for Topshop.

 
     Donna Karan via NYmag                            ADAM via NYmag

We are well underway into New York’s fall 2009 Fashion Week.  The Bryant Park runway is proving to be a bright spot for the hard hit fashion industry.  Despite some of the gloom and doom going on in our world today, designers have given us a small breather full of  innovative and subdued glamour.  So take a look at some of our favorite pics from fashion week so far.  For more click HERE.

 
         ThreeAsFour via NYmag                Marc Jacobs via NYmag

     Charlotte Ronson            Karen Walker        William Rast   via NYmag

  
      Erin Fetherston  via NYmag                Thakoon  via NYmag

  
                      

For the budget fashionista:  How about some Alexander McQueen? What his $10,000 gowns not budget friendly enough for you? Well, try his new line McQ for Target! Yes, Target has landed another top designer to create an affordable, but fashion forward line at their price-point.  The renowned British designer is doing a limited edition line of casual wear, mostly knits, for women.  The line will have a neutral palette of black, grey, and white with funky trims and punk details.  McQ will debut in 250 Target stores in March, but for us lucky New Yorkers, McQueen arrives this weekend.  So spend some of your Valentine’s weekend shopping at St. John Center’s sneak peak at 330 West Street. Happy Shopping!

— For the first time ever New York’s Fashion Week will have a joint runway show at Bryant Park.  Mara Hoffman, Sergio Davila and Nicholas K will be showing together to help cut down on the enormous production costs of a fashion week show. 

— A pair of red Naughty Monkey shoes (retailing for $89) sold for over $2,000 on Ebay this week, why?  Because they were allegedly worn by Sarah Palin on the campaign trail.  Well, if there ever was a fan base gullible enough to overpay for supposed memorabilia during a recession….

— Well, if you’ve heard the rumor that Kanye West is open to doing bisexual porn, you’re not the only one.  He took a break last week from “designing” to deny the bisexual rumors and simultaneously promote his new shoe line for Louis Vuitton.  Way to multitask Kanye!

— According to US Weekly,  Sarah Jessica Parker and the rest of the gang are all on board to do a second Sex and The City Movie.

— Designer and famed boutique owner, Lisa Kline suffered great tragedy last week when her husband fell to his death in a freak accident.

— The long awaited documentary on Anna Wintour premiered at Sundance.  The movie “The September Issue” received positive reviews and included a Q & A with Anna at the village screening.

— Bad news for Anna Wintour again.  She has topped Time magazine’s list of the biggest fashion faux pas of 2008.  The Vogue editor wore a Sci-Fi silver dress to the Met Costume Gala that reportedly, “makes her look like she’s encrusted with ammonoid fossils.”  Not good press for someone whose fashion job is in danger!
— New York’s February Fashion Week is getting smaller and smaller.  The cost of these extravagant fashion shows combined with hard economic times makes it difficult for labels to justify the expense.  The following have all bowed out of Fashion Week: Monique Llhuillier, Naeem Khan, Vera Wang, Betsey Johnson, Temperley London and Carmen Marc Valvo!
— Talk about thinking outside the box in our tight job market.  A Texas woman, Julie Sarpy rented a billboard to advertise herself to potential future employers.  Sarpy rented the billboard for three days, at a price of $1,200 which reads, “Savvy Chic Stylopolitan Fashion Guru for Employ. 972-533-0308. Stylopolitan@hotmail.com.”
— The winners of the, Ecco Domani Annual Fashion Foundation awards have been announced.  The recipients are Lyn Devon, Matthew Ames, Cushnie et Ochs by Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs, and Ohne Titel by Alexa Adams and Flora Gill in the women’s design category. Corpus, by Jerrod Cornish and Keith Richardson, was honored for men’s design, and jeweler Monique Péan won for accessories. Each new designer received a $25,000 grant to help show at New York Fashion Week in February.  Great support but what about the other $75k needed to show?
— Goody’s Family Clothing is going out of business, yet another victim of the economic downturn.  The southeast chain, Goody’s had almost 300 stores and is a discount retailer.  Their poor sales may predicts tough times ahead for similar regional chains, as retail giants like Wal-mart and Target drive them out of the market!