STORY: :: Ahead of New York Fashion Week, organizers push to expand the event's footprint
:: New York
:: Imad Izemrane, CEO and founder, N4XT Experiences
"We are, like we did last season, taking over the Empire State Building with a lighting ceremony and officially announcing the kickoff of New York Fashion Week." //
"There's 500,000 people that come to New York over the course of the fashion weeks. The majority of them don't even attend fashion shows, but they'll come here for a celebration of some sorts, a capsule collection that's dropping, a showroom. //
"So there's always gonna be a place for the fashion enthusiast, but also the fashion insiders to come together and feel that they're part of that community. Last September, we took over Highline 9 and made that the central point and then had different locations where we were showing up with designers. Now we're doubling down on that, so we're taking again Highline 9 over, but we're also expanding with Storied, formerly known as Chelsea Factory for the shared runways. We're going to have showrooms at Highline 9. And we're going to have a lot of our brand partner activations happen in that area, part of Highline 9 as well."
Among the closely watched catwalk shows will be Ralph Lauren and Coach, both of whom have bucked the trend and are enjoying strong demand, with preppy styles in and some shoppers opting for more affordable handbags after sharp price hikes at the likes of Chanel and Dior.
Efforts to reform NYFW are underway after the event suffered from a decline in sponsorship from big brands, with some large labels opting to stage shows outside the usual calendar.
Ralph Lauren's show takes place on Tuesday at the Jack Shainman Gallery, ahead of the official start of NYFW on Wednesday, when designer Rachel Scott will show her debut collection for Proenza Schouler.
Overall some 60 labels will host catwalk shows or designer presentations from February 11 to 16.
