Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week: How the Designers Dress

When you are a high profile fashion industry player what should you wear to one of the world's largest fashion shows, the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City?

The press and the spectators focus their attention on the fashions on the runway but the designers and critics must know that many eyes will also be on them and their outfits. It is impossible to show up and not make some type of fashion statement even if you do not want to distract too much attention away from the runway.

With that in mind, The Epoch Times style team set out to see what the people in the industry are wearing at this year's New York Fashion Week.

Donna Karan is celebrated as a designer who knows that real people are the ones who wear the clothes, not just models, so we looked at how her vision translated into her own attire.

To present her Spring Summer 2011 line on Sept. 13, she wore the kind of dress we would dream of wearing, with elegant draping. A light-gray dress with a soft neckline and draped bodice, with a cape effect over one shoulder, brought visions of descending the staircase of a European castle, ruling over the Roman legions, idling by a pool in the garden—when you dress elegantly, you find elegant things happening.

For this special fashion event, Karan’s dress shows us clothes to fit real people who have high aspirations!

Vera Wang wore gray also—a simple gray sweater that set off her long black hair beautifully. Her pants were simple black, no frills, saving the eye-catching details for the runway.

The Vogue team sat in the front row at the Vera Wang presentation, dressed to fashionably downplay their own clothes.

Grace Coddington, Vogue’s creative director, dressed in a simple black shirt and trousers with black sandals. Editor Virginia Smith wore a ruffled gray, white, black, and rust-pink print blouse with black slacks and open-toed black strap boots.

Editor-in-chief Anna Wintour wore a wavy-striped, olive green, short-sleeved dress with necklace and slip-on flats, and editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley wore a solid shirt, below-the-knee pants, and a light coat.

Sitting beside Talley, Serena Williams had on a short gray, fitted, diagonally draped dress with black straps, and gray ballet slipper flats.

Zac Posen, at the Vera Wang show, had on a light shirt with a gray V-necked sweater and a black jacket.

Also at the Vera Wang show, both wearing gray suits, were Saks Fifth Avenue CEO Steve Sadove, in a blue patterned tie, and Saks Fifth Avenue President and Chief Merchandising Officer Ron Frasch, wearing a gold tie.

Editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, Glenda Bailey, attended the Proenza Schouler Spring 2011 show on Sept. 15 in a double-layered white blouse with French cuffs, a bracelet, a slim black skirt, and black sandals with an ankle strap.

Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, also attended the Proenza Schouler show. She wore a long, gray, silk jacket with charcoal-gray blouse and a cream skirt.

All these designers and trend-shapers looked infinitely comfortable and fashionable in this runway show environment, not trying to steal the show from the designs and the models but representing the industry in style.