New locations for NYFW revealed

The announcement the fashion industry has been waiting for since January has finally arrived. The new homes for NYFW will be Midtown and west Soho. IMG has confirmed that the two new spaces for NYFW will be Skylight at Moynihan Station at 360 West 33rd Street, and Skylight Clarkson Square at 550 Washington Street. For the past five years, the show was held at Lincoln Center, but, unfortunately, the contract with them was up. Previously, NYFW was held at the tents in Bryant Park.

This fall, NYFW will take place from September 10th to the 17th and will feature the spring 2016 collections. IMG has not commented on how long their new contract will be with these new locations, but, they have said that it will be a multi-year deal, so, editors and buyers will be traveling down to these locations for a few years to come. The two venues they have selected have a very interesting history.

Both the venues are owned by Skylight Group. Moynihan Station, which is located between 8th and 9th Avenues in New York City, once processed 90 percent of the mail in the United States. In 1966, it was designated a U.S. landmark. Many designer collections have shown at the venue, including Rag & Bone, 3.1 Phillip Lim, and Theyskens' Theory. Moynihan Station is also in "phase one" of construction because it is set to be the future home of Amtrak. Amtrak is expected to relocate from Penn Station to Moynihan Station after "phase two" of construction is complete.

Skylight Clarkson Square is where NYFW: Men's will be this year, in addition to also being the location iconic American designer Ralph Lauren has shown his women's collection the past several years. Moynihan Station is capable of accommodating 1,000 guests, Skylight Clarkson Square offers two customizable studios (Studios 1 and 3), and can offer accommodation for between 250 and 500 guests, and is also capable of housing installation and presentation type shows.

Selecting these venues was no easy task. IMG met with designers, editors, and producers before finalizing their decision. Last year, at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week over 97 designers showed at the event. Mercedes-Benz has pulled out as the sponsor for NYFW. IMG's exit from Lincoln Center was a long time coming. Community activists filed a lawsuit against Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in 2013 stating that the tents were a violation of the public-trust doctrine. Lincoln Center, the City of New York, and the New York Department of Parks and Recreation agreed to a settlement and decided not to renew their contract with IMG, although it made no difference because IMG had planned to pull out of Lincoln Center regardless.

Midtown and Soho will be home to NYFW

Several years ago, the move from Bryant Park to Lincoln Center caused many designers to break away from the main location of NYFW and spread their shows all over town. The result was designers having runway shows everywhere from the very ends of Manhattan to Brooklyn. Many big name designers opted out of the Lincoln Center location last February, including Diane von Furstenburg, Victoria Beckham, and Marc Jacobs. Downtown was the "it" fashion neighborhood for a moment in time. None of the bigger names have announced if they will be showing at one of the two new locations this September, so it's a game of wait and see.

Eventually, the New York shows are expected to move to the Culture Shed which is part of the Hudson Yards redevelopment project. The Culture Shed is expected to be completed sometime between 2017 and 2019, in the meantime, NYFW will enjoy it's new home at its two new locations. NYFW, which generates 887 million dollars a year for NYC, is sure to bring the same excitement and energy it always has. After all, NYC will always be the fashion capital of America.

photo: simplymeasured.com