gloss ISSUE NO. 003 MAY 2011
A WORLD UNSEEN
— backstage at NYFW
ON THE STREET
— with Bill Cunningham
THE NEW FRONT ROW — bloggers at NYFW
CONTENTS MAY 2011
THE NEW FRONT ROW
Fashion bloggers are starting to infiltrate the front row at NYFW, which raises the question: should they really be there?
A WORLD UNSEEN
With the proliferation of social media and bloggers, it’s easier than ever to go behind the runway at New York Fashion Week.
ON THE STREET
Long before The Sartorialist made his mark on the streets of Manhattan, there was Bill. Loveable Bill.
With the proliferation of social media and bloggers, it’s easier than ever to go behind the runway at New York Fashion Week.
AS THE HUDDLED FASHION masses limp to the end of the fashion week finish line, let me just take the opportunity to say: the excitement of fashion week has been greatly exaggerated. Truth be told, it really only exists in small pockets of the city. In the landscape of entertainment afforded to us, it lands somewhere between the oscars and the westminster dog show. Fashion week does not hold a candle to the excitement, discourse, and viewership that occurs with the oscars. And like the westminster dog show, it is held dear by those who understand it— and that’s usually because they’re in it. It should be mentioned at this point that attending fashion week is different than actually attending a fashion show. Although the fashion industry is a small community, it is not without hierarchy. There are those who have seats to a show, those who stand at the show, and those who just show up. (Ah yes, the fashion freeloaders.) And there are those who
come hoping to be photographed by the Sartoralist himself, Scott Schuman. (But really, anyone with a camera and a blog will do.) They spend their days in the tents, checking their coats at the American Express coat check, drinking the event-sponsored Fiji Water, getting their hair done at the TRESemme lounge, and trying to be seen. Kayla Harvey, who worked backstage this season, explains the allure: “People want to be on blogs like the Sartorialist or Street Peeper so badly, they take their Man Repeller knowledge and douse themselves in textures and colors and hang out in hopes of getting photographed. I’m pretty sure…these people aren’t actually going to any of the shows, [just] to be photographed.” I asked Harvey about how this Fashion Week stacked up with the others. “People seem, dare I say it, nicer?” Kayla who has experienced Fashion Week as a spectator, a guest, and a backstage worker bee traces this change to social media. “It’s because
[fashion people now] know that their words can get tweeted in four seconds.” She confirms that this “rise in courtesy” is very “anti-industry.” Before, fashion was very much about the have and the have-nots. Those who attended the fashion shows (editors, buyers, the designer’s favored celebrity), and the fashion lovers who pressed their noses against the proverbial glass (their computer screens in this case), trying to glimpse at the fun happening on the inside. This is no longer the case. Daniel Saynt, Chief Marketing Officer of Rebecca Minkoff, says, “This fashion week, more bloggers were being invited backstage, more were sitting front row, and more were being asked to live tweet and share live streams of fashion shows.” Saynt, for his part, made sure bloggers “with niche audiences that better targeted ‘our girl’ online, were given a massive presence at our fashion show.” And when you’re nice to bloggers, they are nice to you.
THERE’S NOTHING LIKE THE ENERGY AND CHAOS THAT EXISTS BACKSTAGE OF FASHION SHOWS. IT’S PURE MAGIC. NINA GARCIA
A model backstage at Gucci Fall 2011
ON THE STREET
Long before The Sartorialist made his mark on the streets of Manhattan, there was Bill. Loveable Bill.
EVERY MORNING, Bill Cunningham takes his bike out of a closet down the hall from his tiny studio apartment, and heads out on the streets to take pictures of what New Yorkers are wearing. That’s been the photographer’s routine for decades: In Cunningham, a youthful fascination for the everyday creativity of how we dress ourselves met a penchant for quiet observation, and transformed into a singular career documenting nearly a half-century of New York fashion. And when Cunningham talks fashion, it’s with an eye ever on the sidewalks over the catwalks. Richard Press’ documentary turns the camera around on someone unused to being on this side of the lens. Now in his 80s, Cunningham is friendly, quick with a smile and a story, but there’s also a sweet shyness and a humble reluctance to be the center of attention. Even at a reception held as he’s about to be inducted into the French Order of Arts and Letters, he spends most of his time taking pictures of everyone else at the party. When someone points out the oddity of his working at an event in his honor, he responds that it’s not work — it’s pleasure. Ever on the fringes, Cunningham’s still largely an unknown to many of the people he shoots; it’s fascinating to watch the director draw out their speculations on Cunningham’s origins, only to have the photographer contradict them when he
WATCH THE TRAILER BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK
“ WE ALL GET DRESSED FOR BILL. “
finally reveals his own life story. That story is not just his, but the story of New York itself. The equal billing in the title is no accident: This is a film about the city, about the ways it has changed through the decades and how that history was captured on all those miles of film passing through Cunningham’s camera. Press also makes him the modest symbol of a bygone artistic era in the city, one of the last tenants at the famous Carnegie Hall studios that housed Marlon Brando, Leonard Bernstein and countless other giants of 20th century theater, music and dance. “He who seeks beauty will find it,” Cunningham says, voice breaking, as he accepts that rare moment in the spotlight at the French awards ceremony. Few people embody the truth in those words as much as Cunningham, who can be seen seeking and finding beauty throughout the film. When Press sits him down for some personal questions and asks if he ever regretted never having a romantic relationship, Cunningham shows no signs of wanting to change even a moment that’s come before. Given the boundlessness of his enthusiasm and youthful energy, it’s apparent that this is a man who found exactly what he was supposed to be doing, in exactly the city that needed him to do it. “I’ll be your mirror, reflect what you are, in case you don’t know,” go the opening lines of the Velvet Underground song that Press uses
ANNA WINTOUR