A model walks the runway at the John Bartlett Spring 2007 fashion show
© AFP Robyn BeckNEW YORK (AFP) - A record 80 runway shows are on the official program at the marquee city that springs up in Bryant Park off Fifth Avenue every year, in a testimony to the health of the sector and America's seemingly unbridled passion for fashion.
Designers will be vying for the attention of hundreds of fashion editors and buyers on the look out for the next Donna Karan and Calvin Klein.
One of the most sought-after runway invitations of the week will be for the new collection by Marc Jacobs, whose signature pieces such as ballet-inspired skimmers have long set the tone on the streets.
People gather at the main entrance for Olympus Fashion Week
© AFPBut besides being a showcase for established industry heavyweights like Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta and Michael Kors, fashion week is increasingly a battle ground for young designers.
Fledgling couturiers from around the world see the week as an unrivaled opportunity to access the massive US market and capture some of the insatiable media attention that comes with one of the world's leading fashion events.
Among the up-and-coming talents showing this year are Russian Alexander Terekhov, Australia's Toni Maticevski, Paris-based Californian Erin Fetherston and US designers from young label Vena Cava.
Others, despite their youth, already seem like veterans, including 25-year-old New Yorker Zac Posen, the design duo behind Proenza Schouler, both 28, and Californian design collective Trovata, a foursome in their 20s.
Models walk down the runway at the BCBG Max Azria Spring 2007 fashion show
© AFP Robyn BeckMuch of the interest will be focused on the newcomer American talent.
"There is a lot of originality and creativity that is coming from the States," says Steven Kolb, executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
American fashion has in recent years evolved from the ready-to-wear collections, which while still the cornerstone of US output is giving way to a more ambitious approach, he says.
"There's a new wave of really tailored, very constructed clothing, and it is about the techniques and the mechanics, and that is an influence you see with young designers," he says.
The industry is in good shape, he adds, buoyed by more fashion-conscious consumers and ever-more choice in terms of design. But a more crowded sector is creating fierce competition among designers.
A model presents a swimsuit design
© AFP Robyn Beck"There is really only room for so many designers to be successful and with this increased interest in fashion in America and more people wanting to break into that business, there's not a lot of room for it," Kolb says.
The spring collections are likely to see designers going for a more fitted look and a greater willingness to use colour after the subdued black-dominated and loose designs of the last season.
"I think perhaps we'll see a playful mix of colours, we come from a dark fall, with a lot of volume. Maybe we'll see the reverse of that, something more playful, something lighter."
Interest in the industry has also picked up, with designers working with mass retailers and mixing more and more in celebrity circles, he adds.
"Fashion here really has become mass fashion. We see designers working on so many things, not just their regular lines... and just becoming more celebrities than ever," he says.
One symbol of the public's appetite for fashion is the success of reality show "Project Runway," which like its showbiz equivalents aims to root out tomorrow's talent from a field of hopefuls.
The show has proved a favorite not just in the United States but around the world and is due to show collections from its three finalists during the week.
The show's success and an explosion of interest in fashion beyond the tradition realm of industry stalwarts such as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar has brought a new audience interested in high-end fashion, he says.
©AFP