The commencement of Fashion Week in NYC – - – As we participate collectively coming out and supporting one of the things that New York does best – fashion.
As I weave up Madison Avenue, throngs of styled out fashionistas strut their stuff in stilettos or teeter depending on level experience, turning the thoroughfare into one gigantic runway show. It’s one of the greatest nights of the year not only for fashion forecasting, but people watching.
Maneuvering in and out of stores, it was interesting to see who was doing what and how they had organized it. It ranged from doing absolutely nothing other than staying open late, to lovely events with music, champagne and hors d’oeuvres, to velvet ropes with gate keepers with lists to over-crowded, over-hyped, garish events I did not understand nor see the appeal.
As an image consultant, I get invited to a lot of things during fashion week, but for me the coveted invitation is to Giorgio Armani. Of all the events all over town, it is the chicest, most opulent and, I feel, the most intelligent as far as integrating lifestyle and the arts. A Q & A discussion with Samuel L Jackson and Angela Bassett, led by Vogue’s contributing editor Adam Green about their new stage performance, ensued. It explored an intimate look at Martin Luther King as a man, apart from being a cultural and political icon.
I can only describe the feeling in that room as magical. It had everything; all the trappings of the most elegant soirées, amazing clothes (as always), limitless style between the collection and the guests, huge stars in an intimate setting and a discussion that had me so engaged, my pulse was racing. I was not alone as there was a collective energy in that room potent enough to rebuild the world, if only the whole world could have shared it.
Although Fashion’s Night out was meant to be an international evening of festivities to bolster the economy through patronage to the fashion industry, I saw very few shopping bags to offset the seemingly endless flow of champagne. Has Fashion’s Night Out become more hoopla than help to the fashion industry, just part of the annual advertising budgets? Perhaps. But it also makes Fashion Week accessible to everyone at a time when magazine sales are down and not everyone can get into the shows. It’s a very clever way of engaging the consumer public. Without consumers there is no fashion industry. The fashion houses may make the styles and the media may do their best to manipulate our thoughts about what’s hot and what’s not, but at the end of the day what we wear and how we wear is still our decision.
Posted by Samantha Von Sperling
on September 10, 2011. Filed under Ask Sam,COLUMNS,FAMILY,Fashion and Beauty,Shopping.
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