Thursday, September 11, 2008

NY Fashion Week, The Frenzy of It All!

Why I Love the Fashion Industry


The scene today outside at Calvin Klein's fashion show.


I was leaving work today and right outside my building was an unexpected surprise. As you may know by now, I am an entreprenuer- fashion accessory designer and creator of www.newyorkaccents.com. I do however; freelance in the apparel industry, most recently in fashion production doing garment cost negotiating and sample tracking with the factories. So, in this particular assignment, I'm working in the same building as some of the Calvin Klein offices. I took the elevator down to the lobby as normal to find paparazzi right in front of me ready to shoot. Oh well, I guess that I disappointed them because, I'm not famous. What's going on I thought? What did I just walk into? Oh! Someone told me it's Calvin Klein's fashion show. It is NY Fashion Week after all. How convenient! I kind of got caught up in the frenzy and excitement of star gazing. The paparazzi's wandering eyes and constant buzz influenced me so, I broke out my digital and played the game.

Why do I love this industry? I know the work that goes on behind the scenes in creating, developing and costing a garment. I appreciate the process of taking a sketch which starts from an inspiration and then communicating this idea to the producing offices, who are located offshore in countries like Asia, India and Brazil among others. The back and forth communication between the offices can be tiring but, it has to be done in order to get the sample in of what the design team and the merchandisers desire. It has to be priced to meet the company's margin goals and it has to be fitted on a model so that it can be graded for production. It's a very dynamic process with many eyes looking at one garment and many hands touching a garment before it is approved to show during market week or in this case, fashion week!

The market week presentation is the result of tons of behind the scenes preparations in order to show (sell), your collection (idea) to buyers and to create industry buzz. I truly love and appreciate this entire process.

Here are some shots that I took. Now remember, I'm not a professional photographer. These are what I call real street shots. Who did I see? Just a few very big fashion icons and celebrities like Anna Wintour, Tyra Banks, Andre Talley, Eva Mendes, Constance White, and a Japanese movie star among other people whom I don't know their names.


Here's the scene in front of my building with people looking out of their office windows.



Someone famous. Do you know who she is?



Constance White, ebay's style director.



A Japanese movie star



Eva Mendes



Someone else famous. Who is she?



The excitement was so enticing!



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5 comments:

  1. I think I know who that is! Rachel Zoe, right?

    Though I could be totally wrong as I usually am. lol.

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  2. I think you're right. The photographers were calling her Rachel but, I wanted to make sure with you guys.

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  3. What fun. Wish I could have been there!

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  4. the first mystery guest was Rachel Zoe. the Japanese star is Bai Ling. i am not sure about the third mystery celeb, looks like singer LaToya.

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  5. Hi Asia, Thanks for visiting! Comments like yours is so inspiring for me to continue sharing new fashion insights with you!

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