Back when Fashion Week was more of an industry event and less of a spectacle, it was easier to be sensitive to the hard times. During the seasons after the 9/11 attacks (which coincidentally took place during Fashion Week), the mood in the tents was somber: everyone had a story to tell about where they had been on that day. As recently as 2005 -- after Katrina -- the fashion crowd was glued to the runways but still thinking (and writing about) the terrible ordeal the people of New Orleans had endured.
Tomorrow Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicks off in New York. Will the mood reflect the dismal economic crisis? I'm not sure designers have really wrapped their minds around the new economic reality: that no one is buying much of anything. How out of touch are some designers? In a WWD.com article about how to stretch your wardrobe budget, one designer suggested wearing shocking pink next to your face. So....if I'm broke, unemployed and facing financial ruin, all I need is a little pink to make it through. Good to know.
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