The curtain has fallen on another New York fashion week. After months of grueling preparation for a minute of spectacle, designers have taken their bows. The sound of applause is only an echo now. Coltish young models whose shoulders shaped the season's silhouettes have scattered to the wind and the lens of the paparazzi has refocused on the new light of the next big sensation. Spring '09 fashion week is history.
So what happens when the show is over? The media may move on as the last model exits the last runway, but this is the moment when the real business of fashion actually begins. I spoke with Claudia Cividino, president of ADAM (designed by Adam Lippes) about the aftershow experience:
What happens after the show is done?
We hire a production company that handles the logistics of the show. After the show is done, they pack up their gear [lights, seating, backstage equipment, etc] and head on to the next show. The dressers [in charge of helping the models change during the show] wrap up the racks of sample garments and make sure the samples get brought back to our showroom. The clothes and the shoes are about the only things that come back- everything else belongs to the production company and moves on with them.
What happens to the clothes when they return to the showroom?
The clothes come back to us by "exits" [each individually styled runway look]. We unpack all of this and organize it according to fabrication. The collection is designed by fabrication, so Adam and I go through it with our sales team and determine which fabrications from the runway show will also be important commercially. We asses whether we need to add certain pieces to complete the collection- for instance, if we sent a really edgy looking jacket down the runway we may need to offer a more conventional looking jacket shape also cut in the same fabric. At this point we may add about 20% to the collection, but it depends on where Adam was at the time of the design and how fanciful the design inspiration was. In the case of the Spring '09 collection, there was really very little to add, the collection was pretty comprehensive. It takes us about 2 days to add on the additional pieces, then we open our showroom to the retail store buyers.
What's been the buyer's reaction to the collection so far?
The feedback has been very positive. Sales are strong. Despite the troubled economy, stores are buying fabulously. They are buying emotional pieces that express a point of view, something of this moment. Buyers want to bring wonderful, special clothes to shoppers, to really give them a reason to buy. We've been selling a lot of color. We've been selling more of the special, unique runway pieces than commercial basics.
How did you and Adam feel after the show? What did you do?
The lead up to the show was an incredibly intense experience. I think it was much more dramatic for Adam because he is so emotionally involved in the process- it's like your laying yourself bare in front of all of these people. Then the applause come and the interviews happen backstage. Then everybody moves on to the next show. And you're just kind of left. After the show Adam and I looked at each other and we wanted to download what we thought we saw and how we felt about what happened. So we went to his apartment for a quiet place to have a salad and a glass of wine. That's kind of what we did- I think he went out with some friends that night and I went home and just collapsed. It takes a few days to really recover- you don't even realize when you are in the moment how totally consuming creating a show is. You go, go, go and then it just stops. That's just part and parcel of the business- but it's totally exhilarating as well.