It wouldn’t be the worst place to confine herself. In June 2009, she left Vogue to stay home with her children, Zachary, 8 Tyler, 6 and Alexi, 3. In fact, Wolkoff wasn’t even supposed to be working right now. And while friends always advised her to take advantage of her physique on the runway, she chose the hardwood, and played two seasons as a shot-swatting basketball power forward at Fordham. She is the rare fashion personality who does not look out of proportion posing next to the 6-foot-7 Andre Leon Talley in party photos. Wolkoff herself could be mistaken for a former model, with her alluringly hooded eyes, saber-edge cheekbones and willowy 6-foot-1 frame. Wolkoff, 39, seems well suited to staring down any tantrum-throwing prima donnas, and not just because of her social stature. And leaving Bryant Park meant cutting fashion week’s physical ties with the garment district. Fashion people may be genetically predisposed to spot new trends, but that doesn’t mean they like change. In years past, members of the general public could only huddle on the sidewalks outside Bryant Park, hoping to catch a glimpse of Karl Lagerfeld’s ponytail as he ducked past security.īut it’s been no small task. While hardly sweeping, such efforts still constitute a change in personality for fashion week. “Exclusivity,“ she added, “was something we wanted to get away from.“ “The more that we can open it up to people who, before, were only seeing it on television, or only seeing it in the magazines, the more it will become real life for them. “Fashion, ultimately, is for the masses,” Wolkoff said. At the very least, they can visit fashion-themed cafes and juice bars, to get a whiff of the atmosphere. The hoi polloi will have an opportunity to wander its glassy atriums and modernist plazas, perhaps check out a presentation of new work by 11 designers sponsored by Women’s Wear Daily, or see a runway show of student designers selected by a panel of Elle editors. Instead of the white-tented, walled compound that Bryant Park became twice a year, Lincoln Center will function more like an open fashion campus. So, Wolkoff is helping to pull back the velvet rope and is bringing Fashion Week - or at least a taste of it - to the people. Rather, it’s pop culture for those who hang on every “auf wiedersehen” on “Project Runway” and follow Catherine Malandrino and Zac Posen on Twitter. Wolkoff’s chief qualification was organizing the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala, the lavish and star-studded event often known simply as the party of the year.īut just as Vogue now features celebrities like Halle Berry on its cover, fashion is no longer a private club for the super rich. A Winston - of the jewelry Winstons - she is a Vogue veteran who was steered into the newly created job by the empress of New York fashion herself, Anna Wintour. 9 at Lincoln Center, lucky members of the public will be able to glimpse new looks by designers like Marchesa and Jason Wu, just like a certain Chanel-clad fashion editor.įor that, outsiders can thank one of New York fashion’s ultimate insiders - Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a well-connected event planner who was tapped by Lincoln Center to become its first fashion director and to oversee Fashion Week for its new home. But at this year’s New York Fashion Week, which starts on Sept. NEW YORK - You might not be seated next to Daphne Guinness in the front row at the Narciso Rodriguez show, or overhear Madonna and Lady Gaga chatting backstage at Badgley Mischka.
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