Those are the feels of designers Anne Bowen and Naeem Khan rn, after 12 months of hard work prepping collections to show at New York Fashion Week has been rendered all but pointless by Kanye West‘s last-minute decision to show his street wear line at the same time.
Bowen was all set to debut her collection Nomad VII at midday Wednesday when Kanye unceremoniously announced his plans to unveil Yeezy Season 2 to the world, and knows as well as anyone that she has zero chance of receiving more coverage than an P.S to Yeezus’ celebrity attendees, which will probs include Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Rihanna and every Kardashian.
“Our media will go to zero if we don’t completely move our show time and there are no other time slots that day. So this severely adversely affects us,” she told Fox411. “I am completely devastated, angered and bewildered! This affects us financially, attendance-wise and in all ways.”
And to WWD:
“Kanye knows he is a media sensation and it is just not ethical to do this. It’s like we are David and he is Goliath. We have put our heart and soul into our show, and should not be stepped on like this.”
TBH, this is just rude: NYFW schedules are locked down weeks in advance to prevent clashes and allow for fashion editors/celebrities/models to plan their attendance. Now these poor suckers are staring down the barrel of 0 bums-on-seats thanks to Kanye consulting *literally* no one before deciding he’s ready for the world to see Yeezy Season 2.
Not even the CFDA Fashion Calendar (it’s a thing) was privy to the details of Kanye’s NYFW plans, says Steven Kolb, CFDA President.
“The first I heard about the Kanye show was what I read [in the media]. There was no listing on the Fashion Calendar, and we didn’t know about it,” he told WWD. “We can’t avoid conflicts unless we know someone’s doing it.”
Following a sweetly naive plea that Kanye reconsider falling on deaf ears, Bowen is now working like a madwoman to have her show pushed out to Thursday in what she’s called “a logistical nightmare”.
Bowen’s publicist – who shall henceforth be referred to as The NYC Publicist Tied To Her Blackberry For The Next 84 Hours – told WWD:
“We’re scrambling like crazy and it’s costing us a lot of money… and now we have to re-invite the press…We sent out printed invites by hand, and they’re useless. We’re trying to contact everyone by e-mail.”
It’s believed Naeem Khan’s show will go ahead as planned – albeit with significantly less pulling-power – while Bowen has filed an official complaint with the CFDA.
#SorryHesNotSorryGuys
Via Fox411/WWD.
Lead image via Getty/Theo Wargo.
