Change is never easy for us American’s, you want some proof then look at the debate over health care reform and the amount of time, energy, and money put into killing that kind of change. So its no surprise that when it was announced last year that fashion week would no longer be at Bryant Park and instead will be held at Lincoln Center the fashion world was almost instantly against it, which should come as no surprise since the Fashion types are about as stuck in there ways as a highly conservative republican.
But now, after the dust, glitter, and hairspray has settled, and all the Elites in the fashion world are heading to Milan for the next wave of fashion shows, the reviews are in and everyone seems to love it.
Peter Levy, the man behind the shows at fashion week, said about the new space "What we're excited about is the modernization of space we're providing,” which clearly worked since many designers decided to return to the main tent, people like Cynthia Rowley and Betsey Johnson, who, for the past few years have found off site locations to do their shows.
But it wasn’t just the high and mighty that liked it; even an intern (and personal friend) who was helping set up the Blondie show liked the new location. “Lincoln center is a pretty dramatic place, but lets face it, this is the fashion world, one of the few places were the more drama the better” and I think many people would agree with her. She, and her fellow interns, also found the shear amount of space to be helpful. They told me stories of the old days when the backstage at shows were confined to almost closet size spaces, and how at times people literally had to climb over people to bring a model a shoe for the next look, “But here you just don’t find that sort of thing happening, here we have plenty of room for everyone working the show (and the occasional reporter friend)” she said.
After asking around a while I discovered my intern friend might have hit the nail on the head with the space complaint, it seemed that this was a major complaint from almost everyone who worked at Fashion week in Bryant Park. This seems to be almost the number one reason why Fashion week needed to move in the first place, I mean its hard to draw in buyers and fashion editors to fashion week when the very people putting on the show aren’t that thrilled to be there. Even the New York Times noticed this trend last year reporting “only one third of the events of fashion week were taking place at Bryant Park”. Plus with more space to hold they event it means they can sell more tickets, and for a business as large as the fashion industry that is a very good thing.
But it wasn’t all shiny sequined dresses, and freshly polished leather Louis Vuitton shoes at fashion week, there were a few frayed edges at Lincoln Center and that was mostly because of its location in Manhattan. Since Lincoln center is located so far uptown, it took a lot of coaxing to get many of the designers who are located downtown in places like Chelsea and SoHo, to move their shows into the main tents, and of course by coaxing I mean paying them more then they might have had in previous years, and when any company has to pay their clientele more money for the same thing, no matter what the business, you can guess they aren’t exactly jumping for joy (which could be hard in 5” Manolo’s).
But even with that minor set back, the crowd at fashion week loved it, A friend of mine, a design student herself at FIT, and a recurring attendee of fashion week since child hood, said “I found the space to be more warming then in previous years, whether that was just the new car smell of the location, or because the people were happier to be there, I am not really sure.” She went on to say “it reminded me of the old days at Bryant park when I was really young, everyone on equal ground, I even talked to one of those guys on Project Runway”.
Clearly it’s a success for Lincoln Center, and it can look forward to years of beautiful skinny girls and the people who dress them.
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