Last week was prep time for New York Fashion Week, and I was asked if I could fly out to help coolify some sponsor activations at Lincoln Center. Clearly a REALLY DIFFICULT DECISION. It was fascinating, a lot less glam than you'd think (like everything usually is), and I saw more avant garde heels in one place than ever before. Lots of fun and not much sleep.
Photo evidence below:
PREP TIME
The future entrance to the Grand Lobby of MB Fashion Week. Elegant, no? Turns out the tents are really... tents.
Fashion Week is a tent city. A runway ghetto. Hope you're not disappointed.
Think there's enough electrical being supplied to the tents?
Backsttaaaaaggeeee
48 hours later, this backstage area was filled with naked models.
The "you can't fake fashion" bag exhibit. A zillion big-name designers each contributed a design, which is essentially preaching to the choir; I doubt anyone attending New York Fashion Week has ever dreamed of buying a "fake Spade" or fake anything else. They should really have installed this on a street corner in Chinatown.
The Grand Lobby lounge we designed for our lovely client & fashion week sponsor, Diet Pepsi. The print is Jonathan Adler (how did I NOT KNOW that he and Simon were a pair?!) and I put together video content and merchandised stuff and blah blah blah if you really want to know I'll send you a project summary. The lounge turned out pretty swanky and evvvveryone was stalking around sipping drinky drinks with our Jonathan Adler-printed straws.
DHL did a pretty bang-up job with their lobby display; they had Parsons design students create fashions using only DHL packaging. Kind of want the airplane fascinator on the left for myself.
The inimitable Simon Doonan at fittings for our runway show event. I was wide-eyed in love with his floral shirt & yellow string tie.
Simon reviewing a design with Elise Bergman, my fave of the 4 DP Style Studio designers.
I'm putting this photo from my hotel room balcony here to signify sunset, but it's probably sunrise, since I was never back from work early enough to catch the sunset.
Late-night bi bim bap is one of the few things that makes me consider moving to Manhattan.
Inspired a new song, "Put An Egg On It," for my webseries Takeoutlandia.
THURSDAY, OH YOU KNOW FASHION WEEK LAUNCH DAY
The chicest registration crew I've ever seen. Compared to some of the attendees,* they proved that black is not a bad way to go. [I didn't include the girl with the 2-tone Chanel tights... hoped they were fake so I didn't have to envy-hate her with the fire of a thousand suns.]
*="some of the attendees." oh dear.
Christian Cota's sketches up on our video wall. Photo taken after an hour of troubleshooting video screen connections. Thank god for Greg the tech dude.
THE RUNWAY SHOW COCKTAIL PARTY EVENT THING @ THE BOX AT LINCOLN CTR:
I could post boring setup pix, but instead I'll feature this guy, head of sound engineering for Lincoln Center and also Santa.
I doubt the excellent DJ
Steve Kream has ever had to score a runway show before but he killed it, AND got all the Diet Pepsi girls to fall in love with him.
I bet even puckerface Kelly Rutherford cut a rug or two. She's the only one I pap-stalked, but
Mary-Kate was there (didn't see her, I think she's below my line of sight) along with Debra Messing and Kristen Chenowith. Job well done,
H&S.
The only way for me to see the runway was to scale the light riggings. 4-inch heels don't stop me NOSIRREE BOB. The runway was made of cans under glass, and the chandeliers are Jonathan Adler. There are also
waaay better pix on Nitrolicious.
Evidently was VERY HAPPY to see
Jess.
Other appearances included
Eric and my uber-fashionable 70-something cousin.
Speaking of fashionable, check out my bartenders. Silver ties are the new awesome. Yes, this is a joke, I bought them online and they're pre-tied, which is kind of great. How cute are the boys, though? Tempted to ask the one on the left if he was even old enough to be there, but didn't in case it made him stop pouring my drink.
The final looks with their designers on the runway.
ALSO:
Such a treat to stroll into Bergdorf's and see client Coquette Atelier in the window!
P.S. Bergdorf's restaurant is probably the most plush and comforting place in the universe and I'd recommend it if you're in NYC and missing your therapist. The chairs are just as good.
Only had a few minutes of downtime, but where better to spend them than the hippest flooring store I've ever seen? LV Wood in Chelsea. Huge spare space, midcentury chairs, air plants and library ladders...
...and the most jaw-dropping espresso machine. And check out those HIP STACKED BOOKS. omg. This place made me want to drop everything and study wood.
Know what else is rad? Restaurant supply stores.
ALSO RAD:
Jess for inviting me to the best hipster Super Bowl in Bushwick, Eric for housing me and showing me the best of Jersey City, Simon Doonan for all the haircut compliments (Sassoon, darling), Peel's on Bowery for saving the day with bougie brunch, and JetBlue for those delicious Popcorners.