NYW's Of-The-Minute

Frankly The Fall 97 NY shows were not the adrenaline shot calvacade of fabulousness that the Spring shows were. In much the same way that LVMH/Moet Hennessy has hijacked French fashion culture, news of Ralph Lauren's impending I.P.O cast a long shadow over New York's fashion industry. I mean $1.5 billion dollars in net worth for a fashion company! So that's where all the money was all this time!
All the major designers tried to reinforce a measure of exclusivity to their shows by staging it in their showrooms or special appointed venues and a shocking glimpse at the rate sheets for the Women models verified that a new breed of Supermodels (megamodels?) have fallen in place.

In between the cracks however, of all that official monotony were rude little moments that made cruising the circuit worthwhile. To honor the disruptive bravery and insouciant cool of the brilliant and wild, ladies and gentlemen here are NYW's Fall 97 Fashion Week Awards. (Henceforth known as the FWA's -rhymes with Mwah!)

Model-Of-The-Season:

Kristen McMenamy, for keeping us constantly titillated, if you know what we mean.

Best Hair:

Danilo's flawless aerodynamic for newcomer Searle

Debacle-Of-The-Season:

Spooky: Pretentious, disorganized and half empty. Two words on the clothes! E-U.

Best Invite:

Diesel's industrial rubber envelope. Mad cool!

Coolest Editor:

Interview's Natasha Standford. Such sang froid...that elegant detachment...the perfect ennui. Prada taught her well!

Best Make-Up:

Dick Page's Rock Chic for Micheal Kors.

Breakthrough Show:

Richard Tyler Couture. Audacious, intimate and breathtakingly intricate. Plus Tyler is one of the nicest guys in The Biz.

Best Music:

Kenneth Richard's punk electronica cut with video game effects was perfect for the supercool clothes.

Best Staging:

Isaac Mizrahi's texture obsessed show at the Manhattan Center, reprised the backstage-behind-a -scrim concept from "Unzipped" with total success.