"..And Who Are You Wearing?"

Late winter, early spring... A time of cold, snow and clothes.  It is a time that sends the fashion world into overdrive.  Designers' collections transform from garments into art and from art into promotions.  Celebrities unknowingly become spokespersons as the world observes their every move.  New York Fashion Week and the various entertainment award events are the pinnacle of every designer's year.  A fashion show is, quite literally a giant advertising opportunity for the fashion industry.  Buyers from all over the world, fashion magazine editors, other designers, stylists and celebrities are among the guests invited to view the collections at fashion week.  Buyers are looking for the next fashion inspiration to stock their racks with, fashion editors are looking to find the next big trend to announce to the world, other designers view their competition while stylists and celebrities preview their potential wardrobes.  Fashion week is an actual event created for designers to forecast trends and show their creations, but is the world realizing that it is also a huge marketing ploy? Over 100,000 people attend, and at least 4000 are with the press the world fashion markets are changed to reflect the styles displayed.  With each new trend comes a new twist to the market, think Ugg Boots, leggings and skinny jeans.  Before these were deemed "stylish" at one time or another there was virtually no market for them.  Since then there have been hundreds of Ugg-inspired designs, shirts made for paring with leggings and the end of the "boot cut" era was marked by the beginning of the Skinny Jean age.  The fashion market is constantly changing, and is fueled by New York Fashion Week.
Secondly comes the various entertainment award ceremonies like the Grammys, Academy Awards, Tonys and the Oscars.  The Red Carpet transforms into an advertisement platform as celebrities enter the event and are asked "Who are you wearing?" with every one hoping to be named "best dressed".  However, it is not really the celebrity who wins the title, but the designer.  In that moment, each celebrity becomes an unpaid spokesman for that designer's collections be it vintage Jean-Paul Gaultier or Christian Seriano. The Red Carpet manages to achieve what so many companies around the world wish they could do.  It secures a genuine high quality promotion with use of a familiar face that people would relate to, all for free!  What other industry do you know that a celebrity could genuinely endorse a product they are fond of without compensation?  There clearly is more than meets the eye going on in the fashion world today.