New York City’s Lincoln Center is getting ready to host fashion week for the ninth time.
Over the course of seven days in September, more than 300 designers will showcase their Spring/Summer 2015 collections to fashion lovers, buyers and critics at the New York Fashion Week.
Among the designers set to show off their latest work is Kyiv-born Lubov Azria.
She explained how long it generally takes to prepare her collections.
“We start working on ideas about nine months in advance,” said Azria. “So, we start doing colour, concepts and then it’s sort of, you know, it has to come together organically. There is nothing that can be forced in fashion, otherwise it looks like it’s forced. It looks like you’re trying too hard. And I think the best collections are the ones that look very effortless, that just come together like nature does.”
In 2006, Azria and her husband debuted the ‘Max Azria’ and ‘BCBG Max Azria’ collections during New York Fashion Week. Two years later, the couple added ‘Hervé Léger by Max Azria’ to their line up. The brand has grown bigger and bigger and today it’s a global fashion house.
In the immediate run up to the most important fashion event in North America, the brand’s Chief Creative Officer spends her time finalising music for the shows and selecting the models.
“It’s not just about a beautiful face,” said Azria. “You know, they have to be able to exude confidence, they have to have strength, they have to, you know, have the sort of body that can carry the clothes. But the other thing is, when we do castings, it’s about the character. You know, we have six months pretty much of work, for ten minutes. There’s no words, it’s just music and lighting and you’re telling that story. So if the model cannot tell the story with the way they walk, with the way they sort of, you know, their intelligence, then they probably won’t be doing our show.”
Running between September 4 and 11 2014, New York Fashion Week is considered the official start of the international catwalk season.
