With all its glamor, glitz, and gloss, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (MBFW) in New York City (Sept. 10–17) has come to the end. The iconic tents in Bryant Park featured more than 63 shows and over 100,000 visitors.
The rain couldn’t keep away the five-inch stiletto heeled celebrities, paparazzi, socialites, industry moguls, and, yes, the blogging/Twitter crowd getting its first glimpse of the Spring 2010 collections.
The theme of this season’s event was fashion’s intersection with travel, symbolizing the future 2010 move of MBFW to Lincoln Center, where fashion will have its notable place among arts and culture.
Inside the tents, nostalgic displays of luxury luggage from Louis Vuitton and Gucci were the centerpieces. Also, a retrospective exhibit depicted classic Mercedes-Benz vehicles and fashion trends from the 1940s through 2010, curated by Dayle Haddon and Narciso Rodriguez, who hand-picked wardrobe samples from his past collections over two decades.
In New York, fashion is the second largest industry behind finance. The city is headquarters to more than 800 fashion companies, employing 175,000 people, and generating $10 billion in total wages. With U.S. unemployment at a 26-year high, consumers have pulled back dramatically on spending. However, savvy executives—namely Anna Wintour, U.S. Vogue magazine editor, and the Council of Fashion and Design—spearheaded the international event to make style conscious consumers spend, spend, and spend; hence the creation of “Fashion Night Out” to kick off the festivities on Sept. 10.
It was a New York minute to see frenzied crowds in full force from Barneys to Bergdorf Goodman, all trying to rub elbows while “shopping” with celebrities like Charlize Theron, who performed a monologue at Giorgio Armani, and the Olsen twins at Bergdorf, filling their glasses with Veuve Clicquot to toast their new, upscale clothing line, “The Row.” And what would Fashion Week be like without Sarah Jessica Parker cocktailing with her longtime bud Oscar de la Renta at his Madison Avenue boutique.
No rest for the weary, as MBFW will be followed by fashion weeks in London, Milan, and Paris.
Front Row Celebrities
Celebrities, as usual, adorned the front row of several shows and of course the after parities, including:
- Oscar De La Renta: Jennifer Lopez
- Marc Jacobs: Madonna, Janet Jackson, Lady Gaga performed at the after party
- Erin Wasson X RVCA: Bruce Willis
- Max Azria: Mickey Rourke
- Proenza Schouler: Rachel McAdams
- Tommy Hilfiger: Taylor Swift
- G-Star Raw: Lindsay Lohan and Taylor Momsen
