Daily Front Row

2010 February 19

Bryant Park's Last Dance

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Nicky Hilton and models
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(NEW YORK)  After 17 years, 31 seasons, and approximately 2,450 fashion shows, the Bryant Park era has come to an end for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Appropriately, Fern Mallis and the IMG Fashion team threw a bash to honor this bittersweet ending. Last night, they stocked the Tents with two DJs, hundreds (or was it thousands?) of guests, several bars, and plenty of tears. “I feel like I grew up here in some ways,” said Liya Kebede. “I couldn’t pass up the chance to say goodbye.” That was the sentiment among many revellers who gave warm hugs to Mallis. She spent many moments between shows yesterday reading grateful emails from the designers and industry insiders who have attended Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week so faithfully over all these years.

“We never showed at the Tents, but this is always part of our ultimate dream,” said Michelle Ochs, who dropped by with Carly Cushine. “We interned at shows here! All our idols became iconic in these Tents. We just wanted to be part of the final goodbye!”  Patrick McMullan, Andre Harell, and Russell Simmons were just few of the other guests who refused to leave until the late hours--but Lorenzo Martone had a better idea. “As a souvenir, I was hoping to take some of the marking tape from the Promenade,” he smiled. “But then I discovered I wasn’t the only one with that idea!”
VALENTINE UHOVSKI