fashion week diaries from a kid in 1990s

how i snuck into NYFW with a disposable camera (with pics to tell the tale)

what did 1990s NYFW look like pre-cell phones, pre-vogue.com and pre-pre influencers?! thanks to a disposable camera & some old fashioned elbow grease, i have some pics that tell the tale

A few weeks ago the good folks at @Cabmate posted some pics of 90s models I had taken - from a fun story I did Brooke Bobb for Vogue back in 2020. it was a fun article on how i’d stand outside of fashion shows in the 90's - pre cellphones, pre vogue.com and pre pre influencers - and take pics of models on disposable cameras.

since it was just fashion week here in NYC, I thought it'd be fun to share some other photos not published + some BTS stories from that special time. I decided to break them down into three designers since they were my favorite ones to hit every season !

Anna Sui 

I moved to NYC the fall of 1995 to attend Parsons hot off a viewing of UNZIPPED in theatre in Toronto - for those of u who don't know the movie (and you should!) - it follows Isaac Mizrahi from his initial sketches to the showing of his Fall ‘94 collection - I was a kid CRAZY about fashion, crazy about NYC, crazy about Isaac and and even crazier about models - so my move that summer was divine intervention - all my fav things colliding in my dream city .

I moved the last week of august and by mid september I had met a girl named Ellen who was hanging out with my roommate Chad in our dorm room - we got to talking about what she was up to that weekend:

"i'm going to Bryant Park to hang with some models backstage at the Anna Sui Fall 96 show - u should come!" WHAT?!? 

Ellen was a photographer and said she'd go with her big Minolta and just shoot models backstage. she said she'd try to get me in - 

fast toward to 48 hrs later - I was at the Duane Reade down the street from Loeb Hall buying a green and white Fuji disposable camera on my way up to Bryant Park. Little did I know that camera would be the first of hundreds id take to countless shows for many years to come. 

*side note - Ellen never did come out to get me that day-I was obviously bummed but in hindsight she helped kick start an adventure so cool that i'm nothing but grateful. - we reconnected when the vogue article came out a few years ago - when we spoke last she was in LA with her archive of backstage photos. she’s thinking about a possible show of them- now how cool would that be! 

kiara kabakuru Anna Sui Fall 96 - prob the 2nd photo I ever took - I have the first somewhere- i'll find it!

linda evangelista Anna Sui Spring 97 - the ultimate! up until now all these girls were only as real to me as the magazines i'd study each month - so to spot them casually walking up 40th street or coming out of a taxi on their way to the tents was beyond anything i'd had ever experienced before. 

carmen kass, Anna Sui, Spring 97

Kylie Bax Anna sui Fall 96 -

naomi campbell Anna Sui Fall 96 - I spent years studying the models’ names - and i’d like to think they didn’t mind stopping for a pic because I’d ask for them by name. to this day, i remember probs 90% of their names from the 90s.

Isaac Mizrahi 

My record for getting into Isaac Mizrahi shows was pretty crumby! and boy did I try - I tried really hard - My attempt to get into the Spring 1997 show was pretty memorable cause it was such an epic fail ! Back in the day you couldn't just google location of show. u had to look it up in The Fashion Calendar or WWD - but I knew it was happening on October 31, 1995 - HALLOWEEN! 

I remember grabbing a phone book that morning and looking up Isaac Mizrahi Inc. - I called the office asking for the press department. when I got thru I remember saying I was a certain Canadian reporter's assistant (since I was Canadian I was familiar with a bunch of them and since they were Canadian I hoped they’d be less well known to the the press offices in nyc) -

" hi I’m calling on behalf of Mr. So and So - he hasn't received his invite for the show and is  wondering where tonight's show is happening "

-silence ..."oh  that's interesting cause Mr. So and So is standing in front of me - I just handed him his invite”

"- oh wow - u don't say” click! I have never in my life hung up so fast - MORTIFIED. DEEEEAD. 

needless to say I didn't get into the show that night but I did figure out the location - it was in an upstairs loft on Lafayette across the street from the Public Theatre - and a block down from the office of Jcrew where I’d later work for 15 years -

carolyn murphy Isaac Mizrahi Spring 98 - the security at the Spring 98 show was pretty tight. It was at the Cipriani building in the financial district. I remember going with my friend Marianne who security stopped first and was distracted by - so i took it as my opportunity to find my opening by passing both and running in - Marianne never made it but the following season she somehow worked her way to a front row seat at his Fall 98. sweet revenge!

chandra north Isaac Mizrahi Spring 98 - it was halloween  that night hence the wild platinum wig 

shalom harlow Isaac Mizrahi Spring 1998 - Shalom and I went to the same high school in Oshawa Ontario - she was 2 years ahead of me 

guinevere van seenus Isaac Mizrahi Spring 1998 

Marc Jacobs 

In terms the the most “must-see, must-get-into, must-stand-outside-of-shows,” Marc was it. It was the must-do show for any model and because of that, the caliber of talent (which also meant the coolest number of celebrities ) was unmatched . 

For a while, Marc's shows were always at the Puck building (they switched to the Armory on Lexington by Spring 98 if I remember correctly). The first show I snuck into was his Spring 97 show  - dressed in my best impersonation of a journalist from the Globe and Mail - a Toronto paper.

I remember getting to the steps of the Puck building, saying a tiny fashion prayer and walking in. Fashion shows back then were not what they are today and the level of security was pretty minimal - so I walked up to the desk said I had forgotten my invite and gave them my name. They checked the list - my name wasn't on there obviously but So and So from the Globe and Mail’s name was on it -

"oh that's my boss." I said. To which I was handed a standing room ticket!! I got in! but as Karma would have it I somehow lost the contact in my left eye minutes later! I had to watch the show with just my right eye. 

It didn't matter cause for the next 20 minutes of the show I was in the same room with Linda, Naomi, Shalom walking to Luscious Jackson's Naked Eye - HEAVEN ! 

when the show was over, I waited outside for the girls to come out so I could get their pics  - i remember seeing all the editors come out as I waited - they all ditched their invites in the trash. being the ephemera rat that I am I grabbed one and took it home.

Fast forward to 6 months later I was on the same corner outside of the Puck building (this time, waiting outside with Bjork next to me. Swoon!)- the editors walked out and did the same thing with their invites - trash. I quickly noticed this season's invite looked exactly like last seasons minus a few dates here and there - it turns out all his invites looked the same every season -

So the next season I waited outside of the Lexington Armory and when the crowds walking in were of a juicy enough size, I joined them holding up my last season's invite like it was this seasons. no one blinked an eye!

kate moss Marc Jacobs Spring 97 - the morning after the show I would drop off my disposable camera to get developed at the magazine / cigarette shop on 12th and 6th ave. I remember being extra excited to see this round of pics because I knew I had gotten a pretty great pic of kate - up close. so when I got this pic back I was a little disappointed  - but over the years it's become one of my most favorites. for some reason it just makes me smile - it's pretty sweet and naive - reminding of a different time in nyc 

maggie riser Marc Jacobs Spring 98 - it was maggie’s first season so she was a relative unknown - I remember asking her for a photo by name to which her mom and aunt (who were chaperoning that season I guess) were tickled by - their maggie was famous!

Marc Jacobs Fall 2002 invite - although there is a seat assignment on the invite  I NEVER took a seat- I used it to get in then stand in the back with all the other crazy kids who loved Marc too much to not try to be there one way or another 

emily sanberg Marc Jacobs Spring 2000 - eye spy James Iha of the Smashing Pumpkins with her- Marc invited the coolest people! 

there you have it. a look into 1990s NYFW pre .com, pre influencer, pre anything. a few years back my friend Jo said I should put the pics together and publish them as book - that would be a dream- anyone know any publishers? ;) 

xs