Oh great. Instead of getting to watch the Gucci SS10 fashion show live from Milan (with my e-seat, 8180H), I got this error message:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_VARIABLE, expecting T_FUNCTION in /srv/gucciconnect/sites/production/public_html/application/controllers/signin.php on line 37

It works!! Here are some stills from the show!

I confess, I am a Teen Vogue It Girl. Sure, I may be just a bit outside the demographic. But when I applied (while doing a project for Dollhouse and Teen Vogue), they accepted me! So now I get to attend this Gucci e-fashion show! I got my e-ticket with a "seat assignment" and everything. I'll probably sit in my own chair, I'm guessing.

I have no idea how this will work. This will be my very first e-fashion show. I'll let you know everything I get to see!

Futuristic & new covered walkways. Doesn't this shot
look like an architectural rendering rather than a photo?


This sign is new too. And I'm sure it lights up at night.

This photographer loved these two, so I jumped behind
him to shoot him shooting them.

I cannot express how much unexpected fun I had yesterday taking the 1 up to Lincoln Center to study the new New York Fashion Week. I didn't expect to love it. But Lincoln Center has always cast a magic spell over me, ever since I was a kid and dreamed of becoming first clarinet at the New York Philharmonic. (Yes, when you're in the 4th grade you can dream big. I used to play clarinet rather seriously, but then my life turned towards Japanese Art in college, and later, fashion, after college. It's strange how many twists and turns one's life takes...)

As usual, the people-watching at Fashion Week was fantastic. I may go back today to take more pictures and enjoy the scenery.

I love these (I'm guessing) Upper West Side ladies.
The composition with the 2 cops in the background
was a happy accident.


I love the graphic white lines of the ground and the Philharmonic
in the background.


Rachel Roy models handing out cleverly shaped lookbooks.


This man was perhaps the biggest character.


I don't get why a Starbucks safari girl is with the cameraman.


Again, so glad I got this shot.

Sorry, Bryant Park. Normally I am a fan of you in every way. You know that. But when it comes to Lincoln Center -- the grandeur, the 60s architectural beauty, the drama -- you just can't compete. And imagine the tony parties that can be held on the balconies!

This first production of New York Fashion Week at Lincoln Center is better in every way. There had to be set designers involved in the design of The Tents. Just look at the monolith they built! And the secret? The marble that exactly matches the signature (and oh-so-stunning) Lincoln Center marble is actually fabric! Printed fabric that has been stretched over a metal armature. If I hadn't seen the metal armature a few weeks ago when we watched Dr Atomic at the Met's HD Festival, I would have never known. And the disembodied dress. I love it. It seems like it's something out of The Tales of Hoffman. Bravo Lincoln Center!

I'll be back with fashionable crowd shots tomorrow.

You see, you didn't have to worry about not getting into Fashion Night Out's The Show, and spending senseless dollars (tickets were $250 and $400!), and worrying about what to wear. No you didn't have to fuss, because you could sneak this strange peak. This video is definitely my favorite bootleg. Isn't the soundtrack just terrible? (And I don't think that's the bootlegger's fault.)

So they've finally done what they've been threatening to do. Sell tickets to a fashion show. And if you're interested in participating in what Fashion's Night Out touts as "the largest public fashion show in New York City history" (New York institutions just love hyperbole), then you best get ready to click at the stroke of 10am tomorrow! Or if you're the wait-in-line-all-night type, you should grab your camping chair or whatever and head on over to the Alice Tully Hall or Avery Fisher Hall box office right now (Lincoln Center, Broadway at 65th Street). Again, tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10am. Here's the box office phone number too: 212.721.6500.

The event will take place on the Josie Robertson Plaza, near the main fountain. Good luck!


***
Update
I have a better idea. Just get a dinner reservation at Rosa Mexicano and request to be seated near the window upstairs!

The Tents at Bryant Park, September 15, 1pm-ish

People are funny. Fashion people are funnier. Well, that's just my opinion. You can disagree if you want. I strolled over to Bryant Park yesterday at lunch to size up the crowds and do a little photographing. The above photo sums up the whole scene for me. People gawking and shooting whomever looked important, even if they had no idea who they were. The energy is great. Everyone is excited. An English woman with a charming accent asked me right after I shot this pic who the lady in red was. I said, I have no idea. I was shooting the lady next to me shooting the lady in red. I am pretty sure she had no idea who she was either.

Wait, is that Project Runway's Tim Gunn?

Tim Gunn waiting for his close-up, looking placid.

O.N.E. must be the official water of New York Fashion Week.
I saw it all over the park. I thought it was the equally fashionable coconut water.
But no. Oh wait. O.N.E. also makes coconut water.

Even the bird has it's 15 minutes.

See the blonde in the black dress whose face is mostly obscured by the brunette
in the backless dress? Well that's Liz Lemon's intern on 30 Rock. Katrina Bowden.
At the secret back entrance on 40th Street.

Yes, I got whipped up into the frenzy too. I didn't know who these people were,
but since they were in a black car with tinted windows riding along 40th Street
to the secret back entrance, I thought they must be somebodies. Guesses?

[image via TimesOnline.com]

I find this hat made entirely of pom-poms most appealing for some reason. Hat by Diane Von Furstenberg, Autumn/Winter 2009.

Nigel Barker and friend with very nice macro-fish net stockings,
on their way in to see the Twinkle by Wenlan show

Upon spotting Nigel Barker, Tyra's co-star on America's Next Top Model, as he approached the Tents at Bryant Park, I broke into an inexplicably half-giddy sprint to snap his picture.

Soap opera star, Finola Hughes, dashes past after the Lacoste show.
Her current fashion-related project is called 'Style Kick'
where she delivers fashion trends and news directly to your mobile phone

Mystery Man with Philip Johnson glasses exits Lacoste show
and rushes past. Do you know who he is? I don't either.
But I know he's somebody.

Bill Cunningham of The New York Times captures everyone on the street,
but I captured Bill Cunningham!

In my book, two major fashion press powerhouses:
Cunningham confers with Fashion Director of The Daily Telegraph,
Hilary Alexander

and then she gets in a car and speeds off to the next show.
Hilary Alexander!

Bill Cunningham of The New York Times and I caught the crowd rushing out of the Tents at Bryant Park this morning after the Lacoste show. "Look, that's Bill Cunningham! He is the photographer for 'On the Street' in the Sunday Style section! Wow, Bill Cunningham. I think he uses real film in his camera. Neat." Yes I was at it again. See previous post for details.

And then he turned his camera on me. I hope I don't appear in tomorrow's New York Times. It was not my best hair day.

[image from WireImage by way of New York Magazine]*

Marc Jacobs? The center of a reality TV show? Well I would watch it in a second.

I seem to have a never-ending interest in Marc Jacobs. I just read this article and heard myself saying, "I like Sponge Bob too! I have iced coffee in the afternoon!" Let me explain. I don't know what it is about fashion designers and celebrity chefs. When I see once in person, I get goofy. I point and urgently hit my husband's arm and point and point, "Look, it's Valentino!!!!!!" (at Phillips de Pury) "Look look look! Isaac Mizrahi! In the navy and white striped shirt, and the sweater!" (at BAM last week seeing Happy Days) "Look! Todd English!! Todd English!!!" (at one of his restaurants).

And then I monitor their every move giving a blow by blow commentary to my husband where he cannot possibly get a word in until we leave or they leave. On Valentino, "He's looking at the Gurskys. I wonder if he owns a Gursky. He's over by the strawberries and champagne. He is really tan. Is that a model he's with? Look at that suit! I wonder what his art collection is like... He is really really tan." On Mizrahi, "I wonder if he'll come back for the second act. Hey he's back for the second act. I'm impressed. Is he here alone? I wonder if he likes Beckett or if he came because Target sent him the tickets. I think he likes Beckett. He did come back for the second act." On English, "He's talking to the assistant chef. Wow he is tall in person. Where did he go? I wonder if he'll be back."

Well anyway, I'd watch a reality show about Marc Jacobs.



*For some reason, this image was not constrained by the usual pixel limit of 400px height. I don't know why. It looks like a Chuck Close, practically. By the way, I also saw Chuck Close once in a gallery in Chelsea and freaked out in excitement. I had cocktails near David Hockney, and for years following drank the Pimm's Cup which was no easy task because no bartender had ever heard of it. If it was Hockney's favorite, it was my favorite too. I spoke Japanese with Takashi Murakami and told everyone I met him when his Louis Vuitton bags came out years later, including some sales people at the Louis Vuitton store, who could have cared less. I stood right next to Roy Lichtenstein at his last exhibition at the MFA, Boston which was pretty darn incredible, especially since he died so soon after, never to paint anything more. So I guess you could include artists in the above list. Yes definitely.

[page print from mbfashionweek.com]

As if you didn't know.

I am going to monitor this blog for their advertised up-to-date coverage of the shows.

I was going to take myself and my camera to Bryant Park yesterday after my spinning class, but I had to run back home and do some writing. I have camera in hand today, to bring you tent candids, but rumor has it that it is going to pour buckets. The Fashion Crowd with their expensive shoes and 'dry clean only' outfits will not fair well. At least there isn't a taxi strike this time.


***
Look, "The Cut," New York Magazine's new fashion blog, agrees with me on the shoe issue.

[photo: mercurynews.com]

You can bet that this 'Piggyback Purse' which Marc Jacobs showed on his New York Fashion Week runway last week (not Paris, my mistake), will be on the streets in no time. And by on the streets, I mean at the knock-off kiosks on Canal Street and at the better tables on Madison near Barneys. Perhaps some may sneak into the hands of the guys who set up on 5th and 18th. They always get a few advance pieces of the hot trends, and at better prices than the guys on Madison.

While you may not love Marc's Piggyback Purse on first glance, don't worry. You will. When you see it carried by everyone and their mother, you will begin to covet it and you won't know why. And if they should delay the availability, or offer it as a limited edition, forget it. You will be hooked beyond belief. You will start to mentally coordinate outfits to wear with your new purse. You will imagine yourself in situations where you will elicit envious glances from other women. You won't know what you will do until the moment you can proudly call the Piggyback Purse by Marc Jacobs your own.

13 of the 29 Spring 2008 looks at H Fredriksson

As runway photos are not my specialty, I leave it to the experts. At Helena's showing on September 9, I observed the design details, took in the scene and made notes for my future article I am writing for Zoozoom, leaving my camera in my bag. Pictured above, some looks from the H Fredriksson show. [images from Fashion Tribes]

For details about the show and my 'calm before the throng' photos, see H Fredriksson Runway at the SoHo Grand.

Models darting to their next show. Admittedly, I was focusing on the power cords
being routed from the Aggreko truck parked on 42nd Street over the fence to the Tents.

The little engine that could.
Aggreko provides the heating, cooling and electrical generation for the Tents.

Wednesday was the last day of New York Fashion Week at Bryant Park. And now it is off to London (September 15-20), Milan (September 22-29) and finally Paris (September 29-October 7), where, by the way, Marc Jacobs is showing this year, not NYC. Hmpff.*

Before it all went away, I took these shots of the Aggreko generators and all the massive wiring used to power the Tents. Fascinating. I learned that the Bryant Park venue requires Aggreko to provide enough electricity and air handling to support a 1.5-million-square-foot Manhattan office building. Wow.

Here is an interesting article in Architecture Week about the build-out for Fashion Week. It certainly is quite a production. Worth a read.




*9.20.07 Note: I had been hearing rumblings about Marc leaving New York, but it did not happen this year. He showed his Marc Jacobs Spring 2008 collection in New York, two hours late! Suzy Menkes was maddder than mad. Here is are more comments from Menkes. I just love this stuff.