A BAMA BELLE'S FIRST TIME AT FASHION WEEK

by Rebecca Mummert
I don’t know about you, but I have always watched snippets of fashion shows on TV and looked at photographs in magazines and just felt very removed from the whole thing. All the people lining the runway to watch model after model parading in ridiculous get-ups that I, for one, would never be caught dead wearing. I can remember being a little girl and watching fashion shows for what seemed like hours, mesmerized by the music and expressionless faces. Then, suddenly, the show was over, and I kind of shook my head out of my trance and went about my day, not giving much thought to it until the next time I stumbled upon a show while flipping through the channels.

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All that changed about three months ago when I moved to New York City to work in the fashion industry and live with a girl who eats, sleeps and breathes fashion. Cameron, who works at a fashion PR firm, is fashion to me. “Can I borrow your skinny jeans? Can I wear that fun necklace? Do you think this goes together?” The poor girl probably wishes she had her closet back!
Last week New York Fashion Week arrived with the same pomp and circumstance I can only compare to the start of college football season in the South. In the weeks before “kickoff”, all the girls were talking about what shows they have been invited to and what celebrities would hopefully be there. The girls who work in the industry all but disappeared for the two weeks surrounding Fashion Week - late nights and long hours doing any and everything to help the label they work for be a success. Compiling guest lists, printing name cards, calling invitees, dressing models...exhausting work and not too glamorous, but thrilling nonetheless!

Soon the models began rolling into town, and it was like a migration of a rare bird species. “Model spotting”, as I like to call it, is pretty easy to do, really. Just look for the super tall, super skinny-legged girls with messy hair and no makeup. The water cooler talk at my office centered around model spotting for several days - "There was a group of models on 23rd and 5th last night," or "I saw the skinniest one ever in SoHo!" If physical appearance doesn’t give away their model identity, just look for the carefully propped portfolio conveniently peeking out of their bag.

Thanks to my sweet roommate, I got invited to two really great fashion shows on Tuesday. The first was Monique Lhuillier at 11:00 AM in The Tent at Bryant Park. For all you new fashionistas – Bryant Park is the main hub where all the action of Fashion Week takes place. I used my lunch hour to head the 20 blocks up Broadway for the festivities. It was a rainy day, but it wasn't so bad of a commute since the subway entrance is at the end of my street, and I exited a block from Bryant Park. I left my big red galoshes at work and braved the rain in my super sassy leopard print heels - had to try to glam it up a bit! That was my problem with going to fashion shows – what in the world to wear?! Of course, black is always the safest bet, so I opted for a straight black skirt and a crisp white button up with fun jewelry and “the” shoes – hopefully I’d look like I knew what I was doing at a fashion show!

Once inside the tent, I waited in line for about 20 minutes - all the shows start late, or so I've learned. I was supposed to be standing room, but just before the show started there were empty chairs so I got to sit! It looked exactly how you'd expect, just as I’d seen so many times on TV as a little girl - the long runway with a throng of photographers at one end and the audience on each side. Before the show started, there was a small group of photographers in the middle of the runway taking pictures of celebrities on the front row. Thankfully, I had grabbed a seat by a fellow Southern girl who was as star struck as me. We hit it off right away as fashion show buddies and star spotters.
We saw singer Leann Rimes and her husband, actress Michelle Trachtenberg, socialite Ivana Trump, and a host of other familiar faces we couldn’t quite put a name with! In between our front-row scanning and celebrity watching, we tried to focus on the fashion show going on!
What struck me the most from the show was how unbelievably skinny the models were. They had terrible posture and had the most expressionless faces ever! Photographers were piled one on top of the other at the end of the runway…I’m such a ham for the camera, I couldn’t stop thinking I would just have to smile when I struck a pose if I were them!
Monique Lhuillier makes gorgeous wedding dresses and ball gowns, so the majority of the looks had long flowy skirts. Only one model tripped up as she reached the end of the runway. Her arms jerked, but she straightened right away and only slightly cracked her blank, expressionless face. I felt bad for her but couldn’t help but enjoy it and wish she had given us more of a facial reaction!

The show was over quickly – lasted maybe 15 minutes? – and Monique came out and took a quick bow. All I know is, the show felt like it was over before it started, and I needed a lot longer to get pictures of the celebrities, audience and models and to take it all in.
After the show, back in the main area of The Tent, I saw Carmen Electra broadcasting for Full Frontal Fashion. She's very tiny, but her skin-tight dress was most unflattering in person!

Back on the street, I had just put my camera back in my bag and opened my umbrella as I waited for the traffic light to change. Who pops out of a Town Car five feet from me but Ivana Trump. I saw her bleached blonde hair and saggy, skinny, tan legs trotting toward me as she hopped into another car and sped up 6th Avenue. She was so close to me I could have grabbed her, but it happened so fast all I could do was stand there with my mouth open.

So, I'd already had a pretty fun day and was pleased with the celebrity sighting I'd been able to do, but next on my fashion show calendar was Just Sweet - Jennifer Lopez's new line. It started at 9:00 PM and was at Eyebeam, a warehouse on West 21st Street between 10th and 11th Avenues. Again, I was supposed to be standing room, but when they finally ushered us into the room – 45 minutes after the “start” time - we were quickly directed to split up and fill seats. The chairs were set up all over the place (not the typical look of the earlier show). The runway for the models took them on a diagonal path through the crowd with the photographers waiting at the end. The runway then zigzagged twice back up through the crowd to exit at the entrance. I was on the front row on the stretch just before the models exited backstage.

When we walked through the black curtains into the room, the first people I saw were the cast of the Fashionista Diaries on Soapnet! My roommate and I are addicted to this show, so I had to keep myself from talking to them like I actually knew them!

My angle for this show was not the greatest for celebrity spotting, but that didn’t stop me from craning my neck and practically turning completely around in my seat to see who was near. Just before the show started, Tommy Hilfiger slipped in! I watched him quite a bit, but I couldn't get a good picture.

The show was really cool, and I paid more attention to the clothes than I did the first show of the day. I loved the models' bright make up by Flirt Cosmetics and long wavy hair. I marveled at how their skinny mini legs could balance on the platform stiletto heels! The models passed by me so close I had to be careful to keep my feet off the runway so I wouldn’t trip them.

During the second set of clothes, a model dressed as a fairy sat on a swing and rocked back and forth the whole time the girls walked. It was a nice and whimsical touch, but the swing was positioned right beside the models entrance/exit spot. I found myself being very entertained by watching the exiting models start, stop, wait, and stumble as they tried to pick the best time to pass by the swinging fairy.

After the models’ final parade around the room, I looked up and there stood J. Lo herself! My world was complete chaos during her walk down the runway. My camera battery was dying, so it took 40 million years for the camera to get ready to take another picture! Since I was more concerned with my camera functionality than applauding and watching her, I really didn't get the full J. Lo-watching experience. You'll have to take my word for it that right after she walked back up the runway, she stopped, Marc Anthony stood up (I had no idea he’d been sitting there!) and they proceeded to hug and kiss about 15 feet from me. It was an exciting moment marred by my defunct camera - I would have had the perfect picture!

I stood in the hallway for a bit after the show, watching the Fashionista Diaries cast and people like Mya and Marc Anthony walk out. I knew the excitement level was high when my normally never star struck friend Lauren who is always telling me, “please don’t get your camera out now!” was poking me and whispering, “Oh my gosh!” under her breath!

Now all the hustle and bustle around Bryant Park is over, but the television coverage is still going strong. Last night I watched Full Frontal Fashion, and when Carmen Electra introduced the Monique Lhuillier show, I pulled my chair right in front of the TV for a front row seat. As I watched with my mesmerized trance, I spotted in the dark audience a red-headed girl in a crisp white shirt take a picture from about four rows back. I smiled knowing I’d been part of something really fantastic by getting to watch the show live in person. It gave me a new respect for the business, a new excitement for the fashion, a new appreciation for the months of work required for the few minutes we see on TV. But still, I couldn’t help but giggle as again I watched the tripping model’s arms flail!