Buy Weekly: NYFW Then and Now

From 2004-2011, I worked in the fashion industry at Ford Models, and started as an art department assistant working my way up the ranks to Creative Director. When I joined the team at Ford, I was part of their first ever in-house art department, and I was able to craft a world and job I loved for quite a few of those years.

Early on in my Ford days, I attended my first fashion shows. This was 2004 and the first show I ever went to was the clubby, wild and raucous world of Heatherette. It was fun and fabulous, but having had a background as a professional dancer, I was unimpressed with the long wait times, disorganization, lack of seating (for a lowly art dept employee like myself) for a show that lasted a total of ten minutes. I went to a handful of other fashion shows over the years, and had opportunities to attend many more during my tenure at Ford, but I determined it really wasn’t worth the effort.

Instead I focused on the elaborate show packages, which are the objects presented to casting directors and designers to showcase the models that are vying for slots in the shows. I reminisced about these projects this week, as we sat at Gotham HQ sewing brown paper bags with red thread for the Eckhaus Latta show.

It harkened back to my days at Ford, when I went to great lengths to create unique objects that demanded attention. There was the show package I made that involved lining boxes with real moss, another one where I turned old record album covers into one-of-a-kind boxes, and another where I used butterfly specimen boxes to hold the cards, with models’ photos superimposed on photos of butterflies.

This season marks Gotham’s second foray dipping our toes into fashion show collaboration, and I was able to attend three shows as a result.

The first show this past Friday was Grace Ling, whose ready-to-wear and couture pieces have been worn by J. Lo, Hari Nef and Kim Kardashian, to name a few. This show featured pre-roll bouquets and joint buffets (inside their viral butt bag of course); a first in fashion show history. The ethereal, smoky world of Ling showcased surrealist touches, diaphanous fabrics and intricate metal work.

On Sunday night, we reunited with Zoe Latta and Mike Eckhaus for an exclusive, private dinner for 75 that featured a surprise, spontaneous runway show of both new and archival pieces from Eckhaus Latta. The event was a truly magical affair, with Kate Berlant as our host, and celebs such as Jemima Kirke, Ella Emhoff, Coco Gordon and May Hong in attendance. Anyone who used the restroom was enveloped in Gotham’s Because of the Night fragrance, and all attendees went home with a custom Eckhaus Latta x Gotham branded red Japanese tool box, filled with goodies from Youth to the People, Milk Makeup, Gotham, Drew Martin, Dosist and Wyld. I am thrilled to welcome Eckhaus Latta clothing to our Williamsburg location, opening later this month!

Last night concluded Gotham’s collaborative roster of fashion brands this season, with the brand Theophilio, a contemporary ready-to-wear brand from Brooklyn-based, Jamaican-American Edvin Thompson, and drew inspiration from 70s through today club culture, featuring bold, jewel-toned sequins, bright graffiti prints and shiny satin sets.

Perhaps time has given me a renewed sense of patience, or perhaps it was because Comodo, the bar downstairs from Theophilio served the best espresso martini I’ve ever had, but somehow I didn’t hate waiting over an hour for the 10 minute fashion show to start. (Though I do think that show producers could learn a thing or two from choreographers and theatre directors). This fashion week has been one for the books, and I can’t wait for everyone to see what we cook up for Fall/Winter 2025.