Drawn by Numbers

Drawn by Numbers
Patricia Field bag launch party
Patricia Field bag launch party

NEW YORK, Sep 10, 2005/ FW/ — Numbers and figures say a lot. In the fashion industry, they are often used to talk about money, profits, investments etc.They also can be very significantly used to express bluntly a reality that words can hardly grasp as quickly.

Here are some of the numbers that can account for our second day of attendance at New York Fashion Week.

•HUNDREDS of passers-by could attend this morning the David Rodriguez show as the runway set at the Times Square Studios was literally extended to the curbside.A nice way to involve New Yorkers and tourists alike in the Fashion Week. The clothes were really creative and the looks great.

•SIX different shapes, FIVE different fabrics, TWO prints made a collection of FIFTY-SIX looks worm by TWENTY-EIGHT girls on the runway at the Atil Kutoglu show in the afternoon!I have no further comment, it might not deserve it. At one point, I thought the designer was competing for the prize for maximum garments possibly made with ONE only print.At the end of the show I was glad I would be in France in November and would thus not celebrate Thanksgiving… I did not want to hear about turkey before Christmas !

•TEN models in a TWO-room apartment. That’s daily life for international models during New York Fashion Week… Talk about Simple Life !

•AT LEAST FOUR is the number of shows that ONE PR firm (People’s Revolution) has organized only today.Rachel Comey, Zaldy, Atil Kutoglu, Jennifer Nicholson were all lucky enough to have this extremely efficient, courteous and fair company take care of their runway hows, THREE at the Altman building, and ONE at the Atelier in the Bryant Park tents.Headed by Kelly Cutrone, who was always present at each venue to help with front row celebrities and last minute general seating, this very professional team as a whole has managed to have every guest welcomed with a smile and with the specific attention each individual person deserves, from stars to press and buyers, not even forgetting the designers’ parents when they were present!Kelly is the person I have most admired throughout the day especially for the way she tackled every problem with a smile and a pat on the shoulder, pertinently and tactfully.She even managed to actually talk to me and exchanged a few words in French with Julien Fournie. She has proven the impressions I had yesterday about New York PRs quite wrong. The presence of her firm in MANY other fashion world capitals can maybe explain it all.

•FIFTY photographers shot Gwen Stefani in FIVE minutes when she arrived to attend the Zaldy show. She was wearing a TWO-coloured orange and green jogging suit and a crochet semi-rasta bonnet with FIVE bands and TWO colors, yellow and green. The Cartier Pantherhead pendant she was carrying around her neck made it a VERY EXPENSIVE streetwear look.ONE handbag managed to have HUNDREDS of the best fashionistas gathered at its launching party. The Patricia Field handbag party was a real success. Times Square looked so Soho for a few hours!

[JEAN PAUL CAUVIN]
Illustration by Julien Fournie