The dates of the second installment of New York Fashion Week: Men’s have shifted again.
The shows will now take place Feb. 1 to 4 at Skylight Clarkson North, a venue up the street from Skylight Clarkson Sq where they were held in July. The original dates were Jan. 28 to 31.
The dates are in better alignment with the European men’s shows that end in Paris on Jan. 30, according to Mark Beckham, the business director of fashion week for the Council of Fashion Designers of America, organizers of the event.
“With the proximity of the men’s and women’s shows and the schedule in Europe, we’re pushing our dates to accommodate the maximum number of retailers and editors,” he said. The women’s shows in New York will start a week later, on Feb. 11, he said.
The change in dates also necessitated a change of venue, he said, since Skylight Clarkson Sq is being occupied at that time.
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“What worked in July was having a centralized location with three show venues so we worked with the Skylight Group to identify an alternative,” he said.
The new location, about a block from the original space, is 70,000 square feet, which is “slightly larger” than Clarkson Square. It also has windows and a “loftlike” atmosphere and three different spaces for shows, Beckham said. There will be one that seats 400, another with 230 seats and a third dedicated to emerging designers, sponsored by Dockers.
Beckham said all of the major sponsors are returning, led by Amazon Fashion, Cadillac and Shinola, in addition to Dockers.
The application and designer manual is going out on Nov. 2 and an official schedule should be released prior to the holidays.
All told, he expects to stage the same number of shows as last season, or about 51. This number includes the 12 that will be hosted by Erin Hawker of Agentry PR, whose up-and-coming design roster will include six designers showing at 10 a.m., and six at 4 p.m., on Feb. 1.
The shift in dates leaves the New York trade shows out in the cold, however. Originally, CFDA had hoped to better align its dates with the major trade shows, but the fall runway shows are now going to be a week later.
Project and MRket are slated for Jan. 24 to 26, while Capsule and Liberty Fairs are set for Jan. 26 to 28.
Beckham called the situation “unfortunate,” but said it was unavoidable because to do it any earlier, NYFW: Men’s would have conflicted with the Paris men’s season.
“We spoke to the trade shows and they’re fine with it,” he said.