When we first received New York Magazine’s Look edition we were indifferent.Then taking it on the train from Manhattan to Brooklyn proved to be one of the best reads post-fashion week. The stats-obsessed, photography loving New York magazine writers pour over every possible detail from fashion week. From following a designer as she gets ready for her fashion show during the day (dropping off her kids, talking to models, before runway and after), to finding out what the limo and car service drivers overhear during fashion week. The mag even asks questions like who is their favorite designer (Calvin Klein wins by a large margin) and if anyone has had sex in the back of their car during fashion week (they become a little less forthcoming with those details).

Definitely a good read if you’re looking to understand the dynamics (and somewhat pleasantly vile underbelly) of fashion week. It is on newstands now.

So our lead fashion week photographer Anne-Marie is in Los Angeles right now taking in the sights and sounds. LA Fashion week always seems to be the bastardized stepchild of the fashion week season. I was on the phone a day ago with another editor who said something to the effect that the fashion week season ends in Paris. That may be true but this step child is looking to come out of the shadows a bit. Here’s a shot from the Joseph Domingo show at Los Angeles Fashion Week:

The self important fashion bloggers who complain about not getting into shows (sheepishly raising hand) should take note from Cathy Horyn. Although her reasons seems wholly related to her review as opposed to her status. Today she goes into detail on receiving an invite then having that invite from Armani called back. Why? Because she told “the man” a little something about his collection and where he could collectively stick it. Ok, she didn’t go so far, but she did say what I guess were unflattering things about his posse and their gear and faster than you could say Sam not getting into Custo Barcelona, she was dissed. Here’s a bit of an excerpt from her self-inflicted public flogging:

Armani had decided not to invite me to his show and, of course, that was the intent of the letter, once I had read it. He didn’t like the tone of my comments about his January couture show in Paris; specifically, he thought I was “belittling” of his family and friends. I had described their appearance and manner in the moments before the show. It was pretty innocuous stuff.

This isn’t the first time journalists from reputable publications have been left out in the cold. Remember the D & G debacle a couple of seasons back? We were certain that the feud would come to rival the Hatfield & McCoys, somehow they were able to patch things up. We’re certain that envoys will be sent before the next season and all will be forgiven. Now if we can only get our blogger into his show…

Our publisher, Sam Francois got an up-close and personal look at the tents this year. I say up close and personal because according to him, he had never been in the tents during fashion week. It seems as if he’s got a real aversion towards hobnobbing with “that” crowd. He’s such a snob he turns his nose up at the fashion crowd, go figure. Seems he got a bit of comeuppance last Thursday at the Custo Barcelona show. Here’s how he recalls it:
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So here I am somewhat excited and curious as this was the first time I’d witness an actual show in the tents. I asked Michelle (editor in chief at PD) so many questions, by the time we actually got inside the tent she couldn’t wait to get away from me. I would say stuff like “so I just show them the Custo Barcelona invite and bingo I am in?” She told me yes, but we may be in “standing”, apparently that’s tent vernacular for no seats, just the standing section. Now mind you we’ve shot Custo clothes in our fashion shoots and I’m very happy they extended an actual invite to me personally let alone the Papierdoll staff. Designers and their PR firms (with the exception of People’s Revolution) tend to get weird or not know how to play in the online space. I don’t fault them or their PR agencies, there are many online publications, bloggers and websites that leave a lot to be desired. Why give up a seat to a blogger that might (in an uneducated fashion) rip your show apart when you can give it to a buyer who has way more clout and actually serves a purpose instead?

I digress.

We wait on what would seem to be a line but actually is a bunch of people standing and pushing forward until they get noticed by a pr person with a clipboard. Michelle gestures at the pr person with a clipboard and she lifts the rope for us to go in. Here I am thoroughly impressed by my editor’s skills, when we end up on another line, this time a bit more organized. I’m now thinking, ok, any second now we’ll be in. 25 minutes go by and suddenly I see a police officer (an omen to be sure) standing at the entrance of the Custo Barcelona show. Then a man moves the rope as if to close off the section. Then everyone starts walking around in an orderly fashion, once again.

I ask Michelle, “what happened?” she says and I paraphrase, we were given standing and they are not letting standing people in. What about the cop? I ask. She responds, “just in case anyone doesn’t take kind to not being let in”… oh… I looked at my invite crestfallen, yet understanding what happened. A woman who was near one of our writers asks,”excuse me does this mean that we were hosed/dissed” (can’t quite remember the word she used). Michelle allayed her fears and said “yes, dear, we were dissed”.

If found it funny, yet a bit more snobbish than even I could understand. The fashion crowd is so exclusive that they won’t even tell you when they are “dissing” you. Cool… I.. think.

What is even more remarkable though is the passion my staff had, I was getting ready to go the garage, get my car and have some Thai (that always helps the mood). They insisted that we not leave until we finished watching the show on the big screen. Having been summarily dismissed by the designers, PR firm and tent, I would have said, screw them, they don’t want us at their show, we just won’t provide coverage. Caroline (another writer) insisted we stay and our photographer was already in, so we got the photos and were able to see the show (at least on TV). To give this the sugary sweet ending that this deserves I ended up being inspired by my co-workers/staff, because they decided they were going to cover fashion week no matter what was thrown at them. What could have been a miserable experience turned out alright. Our staff in London and Paris tells us their fashion week is nothing like that. Cool.

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Welcome to the world of fashion, Sam.

-Eva

Received the cutest Year of the Mouse e-mail from Vivienne Tam and had to share. We’ll have photos of her show up soon.