Musings about the Begining of Spring 2008Fashion Week- "Cool Kids"

It has been a while since I posted anything because I've been working on the What Works Beauty, Cosmetics & Fashion Review column for September http://www.advicesisters.net.whatworkscol3.html/ including six special photo and text features from FALL 2007's Fashion Week (the link to these features is at the top of the What Works column). And, you'll be hearing a lot about Fashion Week in the coming days, as officially begins, tomorrow.

For me, Fashion Week starts when the invitations start appearing in the mail and (increasingly), by Email. The invites are exciting, colorful, and mysterious. Some arrive in oversized envelopes, some have overlays and beautiful for hard to read type and formatting, some are plain and to the point. They come as attchments in my email, and by snail mail in plain white envelopes, bright red ones, orange, yellow, green, and some, multi-colored. Waiting to see which designers (or their public relations firms) will send an invitation (let alone a seat assignment) reminds me of the anxious moments in elementary school, when Valentine's Day meant you would get a lot or many just a few tiny missives on your desk. This, before the decision by wise teachers that no child should be left out, and that every kid deserves to be "appreciated" by every other kid by getting an equal amount of Valentine's. But, back in the day, the "Cool Kids" got lots more valentines. You'd see them piling up on their desks --- big ones, little ones, oddly-shaped ones....not unlike finding the Fashion Week invitations in the mailbox.

If I get a LOT of Fashion Week invitations that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm "cool," but it does mean that someone has made the decision to allow me to see the show, and hopefully realizes the value it has if I can report on it for you. If I dont' get a lot of invites I DO feel less "loved," but this is a business, not a popularity contest. When it comes to Fashion Week, no one forces the designers and their public relations firms to give equal access.

For the fashionistas, buyers, etc. Fashion Week officially starts tomorrow, when the tents open and the shows begin. Today is my first day when I go to pick up my press badge at Bryant Park--and I'll be taking the train to do just that after I finish posting this. No matter how early I get there before the Noon call, there will already be a long, long, long, long line of photographers and other media professionals, to enter the tiny space that is the press office and pick up a plastic badge on a black neck lanyard that says "Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Spring 2008 Collections" and "Press & Industry" This special badge allows the registered media to enter the tents any time, although it does not guarantee entry into any of the shows (see above). The tents on their own are interesting...a melange of professional buyers and media who really need to be there, plus celebrities, curious fashion students, and the usual assortment of people in outrageous outfits, hoping to be featured in The Daily (the "daily magazine of Fashion Week) or some other media outlet. Come tomorrow, the tents will be crowded with people eager to see what will be "new" for Spring 2008.

There is always drama during Fashion Week. Last year, it was the unusually cold weather, forcing the less lucky last February to wait outside on standing room only lines in the "non-tent" venus, just to get a peek at Fall fashions. And, Anna Nicole Smith died, and that was the topic of a lot of conversations, too. No one can tell at this point how the Fashion Week stories will play out, but it'll be fun to experience them as they happen. As with conventions and vacations, and some really good casinos, you get wrapped up in the environment of Fashion Week and it becomes your "reality" for that time.

Stay tuned!