NYFW Will Return to Skylight Venues in February, Despite Complaints

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You can't please everyone. Post-New York Fashion Week, WWD gathered opinions from critics and editors about how the eight-day event went with its new venues — Skylight at Moynihan Station near Penn Station and Skylight Clarkson Square near the West Side Highway, as well as Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District officially coming into the fold — and the results were a bit mixed.

Those with prime office positioning, like editors at Condé Nast (One World Trade Center, notoriously) and New York magazine (right near the Holland Tunnel entrance) were generally satisfied, but Fashion Week queen Fern Mallis had a different take: "Anybody who thinks that the logistics weren't a problem is Helen Keller." Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey felt similarly. "I spent more time in a cab than at the shows," she told the paper. Something's got to be done."

Catherine Bennett of IMG, which organized the shows, said that "it's a work in progress, but I'm really happy. It will be even better next time," signaling that February's show's will be in the same spots. "We really invested a lot of time, energy and money into overhauling all the locations," acknowledging that issues like traffic and surrounding construction are "not something we can control" and that "the only real negative was the wifi situation, which we'll fix."

Aside from traffic and construction, IMG also can't account for the alternate venues that must-see designers often go for — this season alone had Givenchy on the Tribeca waterfront, Alexander Wang at Pier 94 in Midtown West, and Marc Jacobs right in the middle of the city at Ziegfeld Theater — that have show-goers scrambling up and down the island. But for some, like Allure editor-in-chief Linda Wells, that was a highlight. "I loved the people who went off the grid," she told the paper. "They showed us all ­­— even those of us who've lived here most of our lives ­— what is spectacular about New York City and married the setting with their collections with such imagination."

While Fashion Week's new homes haven't made things any less hectic, IMG did manage to somewhat wrangle in the circus atmosphere that often surrounds the venue. As retail consultant Robert Burke put it: "The shows were smaller and more focused with the people who really matter."