One of the four fashion capitals usually has the misfortune of its Fashion Week overlapping with Rosh Hashanah. In September, New York will have to deal with that. Our spring 2011 Fashion Week is scheduled for Thursday, September 9 through Thursday, September 16 in order to accommodate London Fashion Week. Rosh Hashanah, that two-day holiday set aside for Jews to usher in a new year, begins at sundown on Wednesday, September 7. So we can start our list of things to repent on Yom Kippur with being at the shows instead of going to services and then home to eat brisket with our loved ones (along with challah this season, because — don’t you know? — curves are “back”).
The CFDA sent out a memo yesterday to designers to make sure they show in an organized fashion that will save showgoers from frantically running back and forth across town all day, developing painful corns, and feeling miserable about it. Designers are supposed to keep their time slots, since changing forces everyone around them to change. However, the council pledged to be sensitive to Jewish designers who might not want to show over the holiday. They also encouraged designers to show in presentations instead of shows, and to use off-site venues located on the West Side north of Houston Street to make it easier to go back and forth from Lincoln Center, where the shows will be held for the first time in September. So, hopefully, those long Fashion Week days will be more manageable and easier on the feet for everyone. But many of us Jews will have sinned terribly. So: business as usual!
