Almost Girl

I think it may be time to rethink the entire Fashion Week structure and ethos. Despite it only being Day 2 everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong and I just don’t mean on Coutorture with out photo and site problems. I mean with designers and publicists. Today I witnessed one of the sorriest possible scenes I think I am likely to encounter in the grand scheme of Fashion Week mishaps.

Now I am a big fan of Alexander Wang. His show was my favorite of last Fashion Week. I happen to think he is one of the most talented new designers around. But he may have a serious issue on his hands after the debacle that was his Bumble and Bumble show today. Let me set the scene for you. My crew and I arrive at 4pm on the dot making us relatively early for his show even though Thom Brown let out extremely late. We had an interview and we planned to get it.

I had TRIPLE confirmed with Leslie of The News that I would be allowed two crew members and myself to attend the show plus an interview with Alexander even though we knew the show was going to be tight. In other words we were golden despite overbooking issues. We were promised we would get in or at very least my crew would get in. We had done an AMAZING interview with him last season and we are friendly with various people in the Wang organization including his production manager. Frankly, it was a situation in which we should have been accommodated no matter what the hell was going on.

Well, it turns out multiple assurances were in fact not enough to get us anywhere, nor a working relationship, nor even a strong ability to help promote Alexander. Why? The publicists so overbooked the small venue that the fire department showed up. The Fire Marshall was there and boy howdy they sure weren’t going to let any more crew in we were informed after we patiently waited for 10 minutes while they let other people check in and go upstairs. While my crew sat about looking confused I saw at least 15 more editors waltz in but crew from organizations like Wire were kept out. People were turned away, people were kicked out, the fire marshall was ultimately happy but I am betting many a photographer is going to be pissing off his supervisors tonight because of this disaster.

I feel like we got stepped on! Sneakers from last season’s show

Now I personally ascribe to the “if a tree falls in a forest” theory of fashion shows. If a photographer or videographer isn’t there to capture the show it doesn’t matter how damn many editors are there to witness this fantastic event, it didn’t happen if there isn’t something to publish later that is tangible. In other words, the editors don’t ultimately matter, or at least the bulk of them don’t, as they rarely directly report on an event. They will go to market events and re-sees in a week anyway. The people who simply must be there are the crew. Their work goes out to the public. Hell, I BEGGED Leslie to let in just my videographer. Another door girl offered to let me in to see the show at the editor check in. Thanks but frankly what is the point of me getting in if my crew isn’t there? Sure I wanted to see Alex show but it wouldn’t have mattered.

My advice to the Wang organizations? Next time figure out who is going to get you the coverage you really want and make sure that even if you overbook a show they get in. Crew are simply more critical than editors when it all boils down. It simply is not appropriate to mistreat crew that way. Or frankly people that took the time to organize coverage of your event only to be turned away because you can’t do your job properly by keeping the numbers in check. It is disrespectful to the people who get the images of your work out to the public.

What is strangest for me in all of this is that Alex booked a HUGE space for his party tonight (which I am skipping I am so annoyed by the situation) and yet somehow booked tiny Bumble and Bumble for his show? Perplexing when he is getting so hot. I certainly hope that this unfortunate incident doesn’t cool the ardour so many of us feel for his work. This whole thing makes me wonder why even bother showing if it is only going to be a crazed affair in which one can do tremendous damage to a brand. New York Fashion Week needs to be retooled since the chaos that is surrounding this week is bad for the industry.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 7th, 2007 at 2:37 am and is filed under We are Living in Funny Times. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.