#NYFW: Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief

photos by David TW Leung

This was the hottest ticket of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief event last night at Lincoln Center brought out the top celebrities of music, fashion and entertainment to raise money for Ebola Survival Fund.

The supermodel strutted her famous walk down the runway herself multiple times, along with actresses like Rosario Dawson, Michelle Rodriguez, socialite Paris Hilton, fashion police squad Kelly Osbourne and Brad Goreski, stylist June Ambrose and editor Joe Zee. Diva Mary J. Blige was in full glamour along with actor Bryshere Y. Gray from Empire came out with Naomi Campbell for the finale. Guests in the audience included Justin Beiber. There was live music and a silent auction making this show the best party of the night.

Designers who lent their clothes and time for this event included everyone from Diane Von Furstenberg, Proenza Schouler, Marc Jacobs, Emilio Pucci, Givenchy, Roberto Cavalli, Calvin Klein and Thom Browne. 

New York Fashion Week can be exhausting. It was a lot of fun to see this many creative people using their fame to collaborate on a fashion event for a good cause. Thank you, Naomi Campbell for Fashion For Relief at New York Fashion Week

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Zac Posen and Naomi Campbell - NY FASHION WEEK

How gorgeous are these gowns? Zac Posen's Spring 2013 fashion show for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was a stunner on all fronts.  It brought supermodels Naomi Campbell and Alek Wek back to the runway. Other star models included Coco Rochas and Erin O'Connor.

The opening saw Naomi Campbell stroll down the terrace of Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in a demure, floral printed ensemble.  The pretty romantic florals soon gave way to immaculate full length gowns. Amazing pleated details were manipulated into luxury fabrics like silk organza, satin, taffeta.  Alek Wek sauntered down the runway in a dark fishtail gown with blooms as accents and delicate folds of fabric.  Coco Rochas breezed by in a voluminous, bride-worthy gown.  Jewelry was glittering and full of elegance.

Half the cast of America's Next Top Model were on hand to admire the show as well as top bloggers The Man Repeller and BryanBoy who huddled together and traded accessories.  Madonna's fashion mogul in training Lourdes Ciccone was in the audience as well as tough glamour girl Gina Gershon.

Unfortunately, the show did not go off without a hitch...Naomi was late to arrive (I could overhear all of the communication from my spot in the media riser).  The PR company was at odds with Lincoln Center management, and were forced to remove a number of seats at the last minute due to fire codes.  (The poor pregnant producer was yelled at by Lincoln center management right at the start of the show). A foreign French representative of publisher Jalou, Marie-José Susskind-Jalou and her tag-along daughter Jennifer Eymere were therefore some of the guests left without seats. While the overworked Lynn Tesoro, one of the top PR mavens of NYC was trying to multi-task, the mother (or daughter) lost patience and assaulted her.   

Now, anyone who has ever attended Fashion Week has experienced the inexperienced, snotty PR assistant who was driven power-mad by her clipboard, and sometimes you want to slap them...But, there is a BIG difference from imagining something in your head to grown adults actually acting on a violent impulse.  I cannot imagine an experienced person like Lynn Tesoro was anything but professional, if possibly a little weary.  I saw first-hand the difficulty with the seats at this show, and it was a situation beyond their control.

Most guests, even A-list celebrities I observed, have always been gracious during NY Fashion week when things don't go according to plan.  For these French publishers and tag-alongs who are adults to use  slap someone because they personally feel entitled to something is classless.  What's worse, they were proud of it and bragged to the press about their behavior.

I hope a judge informs them once and for all that entitlement and savagery are will never be in style.

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Fashion at the Olympics Closing Ceremonies

Danny Boyle brought Britain's rock n' roll to the Olympics opening ceremonies.  Last night however, creative director Kim Gavin and production designer Es Devlin will be famous for bringing British fashion to the Olympics closing ceremonies.

The industry most memorably showcased in the closing was fashion.  Famed photographer Nick Knight had his photos of Britain's supermodels, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Stella Tennant, Lily Cole among others blown up and driven around the stadium.  The photos lifted to reveal the actual models themselves who then strutted the spokes of the Union Jack on the world's biggest runway.  The models wore British designers Alexander McQueen, Christopher Kane, Erdem, Vivienne Westwood, Victoria Beckham, Jonathan Saunders and Burberry.  

The Pet Shop Boys made an avant-garde entrance in bright orange prism-shaped carts dressed in dramatic Gareth Pugh.  Annie Lennox made a gorgeous Gothic style presentation in a corseted red gown.  She descended into a chorus of Goth-clad dancers in romantic ballgowns and frock coats.

Style I didn't care for as much?  Jessie J's barnacle-crusted nude bodysuit.  I"m sorry, did I miss something?  Was this an homage to oyster fishing in the British Isles?

I was excited to see the Spice Girls all looking so sexy and chic.  Geri Halliwell (aka Ginger Spice) looked fantastic in a shapely red dress with a nod to her signature British flag mini with a bustle made with the Union Jack.

While I  enjoy seeing fashion designers being honored at non-fashion events, I don't know if I really needed to see so much screen time devoted to models clomping down the stadium.  With an arena full of the most extraordinary athletes around the world, I found it almost an insult to celebrate models who are much more famous and better paid for merely walking.  I would have loved to see some of the Olympic athletes be the ones wearing British fashion designers.  Showing the artistry in the fashion with all of their muscle and showing the clothes in motion would have been truly impressive.  Imagine, a gymnast tumbling across the stadium in a flurry of satin,  a runner racing through while sparking in a beaded body suit?  

Is that too much to ask?

PHotos from Phil Noble, Just Jared, Getty, Reuters

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