When the fall shows wrap up in New York, the fashion set will bid adieu to Bryant Park. The spring 2011 collections — which open on Sept. 8 — will be held at Damrosch Park in Lincoln Center on Manhattan’s west side. But this isn’t the first time the sartorial cognoscenti have been booted off Sixth Avenue. In 1997, after only four years producing the first major centralized runway shows for New York designers, the organizers of 7th on Sixth were forced out of Bryant Park. As WWD put it then, “A crucial decision loomed.”
After such troubled relations with Bryant Park (i.e., disappearing venues and the opening of the Bryant Park Grill), 7th on Sixth was searching for calmer seas. “There had been too much fall out from the tents,” Nicole Miller told WWD on July 14. The fashion week organizers jumped at the chance to show the spring 1998 collections at Chelsea Piers. According to Stan Herman, president of 7th on Sixth, “We were quickly able to reach an agreement to use the space at Pier 59.”
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At first, the reaction on Seventh Avenue was generally positive. “Fashion is about change,” Bloomingdale’s Kal Ruttenstein said. “There’s a certain excitement in these Chelsea Piers.” And Yeohlee Teng said, “There’s something magical about it.” But there were some detractors as well. “It’s incredibly inconvenient,” said ready-to-wear designer Donald Deal. By Aug. 20, tours of the new venue were under way, and WWD reported some people’s reactions. On one walk-through Fern Mallis, executive director of 7th on Sixth, admitted getting people in and out of the Chelsea complex was “the biggest issue” the shows faced, but Karen Ericksen of Seventh House PR found another significant fault: “The large space is too large, and the next smaller space is too small,” she said. “I feel like Mama Bear — nothing’s just right.”
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On the first day of shows on Nov. 2, it was obvious the venue would be a failure. “It doesn’t smell like fashion. It smells like smelly jocks,” blasted Suzy Menkes of the International Herald Tribune. “I nearly got killed crossing the road.” In fact, many a stiletto-heeled editor could be seen perilously traversing the multilane West Side Highway in search of an elusive taxi. “It’s not a nice place to be,” said Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour. There was poor signage and no back entrance for models and production staff, an oversight that resulted in massive pedestrian traffic jams. And according to Frances Parnas, fashion editor at the Denver Post, the press room was almost nonexistent. “The piers are more remote than Denver,” she quipped. “The shows were sandwiched between potholed highways and a glance of New Jersey.”
One month later, despite a standing two-year contract between Chelsea Piers and 7th on Sixth, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and reportedly New York Governor George Pataki rallied behind fashion week organizers to broker a return to Bryant Park. “We heard the criticism of Chelsea Piers loud and clear,” said Mallis. “We’re not ignorant or masochistic.” Perhaps lessons learned in Chelsea will make the move to Lincoln Center a little more pleasant.