Over the past 12 years, the most important names in New York fashion have largely enjoyed a close bond with a Michael Bloomberg-governed City Hall. It was the billionaire mayor himself who championed a litany of art initiatives throughout his three terms, even proposing $50 million in taxpayer funds to support the Culture Shed, an organization aiming to house special programs and events including Fashion Week.
But with a new mayor now in charge, The New York Times is reporting an air of uncertainty is looming over the fashion world as it looks towards its future relationship with Bill de Blasio.
“Nobody in fashion knows this guy,” Steven Kolb, the Council of Fashion Designers of America's chief executive, told the paper.
During last year's mayoral campaign, de Blasio ran on a progressive platform promising to fix income inequality in the city, positioning himself as something of an anti-Bloomberg.
Joanna Coles, editor of Cosmopolitan, said that very "tale of two cities" narrative probably won't resonate with the fashion community.
“I don’t think that felt relevant to people in fashion," Coles told the Times. "Not because everybody is dreaming of a mansion on the Upper East Side but because fashion feels broader and wider and more artistic than that.”
But many, including designer and prominent New Yorker Diane von Furstenberg, have expressed a hopeful willingness to preserve a bond with the mayor's office.
On Thursday, the mayor visited the CFDA’s Fashion Incubator, where he pledged to support the industry as an integral economic and cultural part of the city
“I loved him, loved him," Furstenberg told Politicker on Thursday. "He’s so attractive!”
After de Blasio commented that his grandmother once worked in the Garment District, von Furstenberg reportedly said with glee, "You're one of us!"
We bet everyone knows his fashionable daughter, Chiara:
