>> Even established designers are editing, editing, editing for Fashion Week — the number of models, the number of looks, the amount of fabric used — but the tight times aren't keeping a crop of new blood away. Joining former Bill Blass design director Prabal Gurung and Swaim and Christina Hutson, who are starting over with a new label, in the mix — alums of Central Saint Martins, FIT, and Parsons; apprentices of Marc Jacobs, J.Mendel, and Ralph Lauren; but most importantly, New York Fashion Week virgins — show us what you've got.
*image: source, source, source
Fall 2009 Fashion Week: Still Necessary, Just with Less of Everything
>> Designers may be pulling their belt tighter this Fashion Week, but hardly any are pulling out of the rat race altogether — the attention is too valuable. "You kill a thousand birds with one stone, because you get that many people there in an hour and you're getting one message across to them," says Scott Sternberg of Boy and Band of Outsiders. "They're writers and photographers and culturally indulgent people with loud mouths."
Instead, designers are saving by hosting presentations instead of runway shows (Monique Lhuillier, Temperley London, and Carmen Marc Valvo), inviting fewer guests (Marc Jacobs and DKNY, who's slicing her usual 1,000 down to 400), sending email invites instead of by mail (nearly everyone), or showing fewer looks to save on fabric and sample-making costs.
