Day Seven: Fashion Week in New York

Fashion Week is the last place on earth you expect to find stimulating political or social opinions. Except for Kenneth Cole's thought-provoking ads or Cathy Horyn's (NY Times) sharp insight, weaving social commentary with fashion is risky business for most fashion types. But that hasn't stopped the media from blathering on about how difficult it is to watch fashion in the wake of Katrina's devastation.
It all sounded like hollow references to try and make the fashion media's experiences sound relevant until I found myself standing next to a cameraman at Carolina Herrera who had just returned from spending two weeks in New Orleans. He told me stories of how he put down his camera in between takes to pull survivors on board the boat, wading through the awful waist-deep water, and leaving people behind that they didn't have space to rescue (the stranded people told him "God bless you" even when they couldn't be rescued).
After hearing this first-hand account of New Orleans, when the lights dimmed, the plastic was pulled back from the runway and the gorgeous models wearing jet-set black sunglasses and sparkly dresses came down the runway it wasn't a pleasant departure from reality. It was absolutely jarring.
Heather Mills McCartney chimed in with her social commentary on Tuesday as she appeared for PETA denouncing the use of fur in fashion, an opinion that falls mostly on deaf ears at the tents. Wouldn't PETA have been better off collecting money to help all of the animals that were left behind on the Gulf Coast? For animal lovers, that seems like the pre-eminent responsibility right now.
Yesterday at the shows, Michael Kors raised a question of whether his camoflauge-prints (a camo evening gown, no less) were, in fact, some sort of political statement (which would be hard to imagine because this is one American designer who is a huge supporter of the good life). (Photo, top left, of designer Kenneth Cole, whose shirt said 1-800-Help-Now on the back. Bottom, camo-print dress from Michael Kors. Both, © About.com).
Photos of Kenneth Cole's women's collection for Spring 2006
Photos of Michael Kors' women's collection for Spring 2006