Autumn in Summer

Labor Day always sneaks up on us when we're just getting into the swing and ease of summer. On moment it's Memorial Day and then that's it. Labor Day. Time to go back to school, time to present Spring Collections. Ever since the Fashion Calendar was mangled years ago thanks to Helmut Lang, Donna, Ralph, Calvin, Carolina, Oscar and others, we, the Americans were forced into showing before Europe instead of after. The egos in power forced the hand of everyone else to cut out weeks of preparation, having to overlap fall production with the making of the new season. This seemingly small alteration to the seasonal calendar changed the flow of a machine that worked well. Companies with huge teams and tremendous financial means manage this truncated system with little obvious struggle. I remember my friends having a different experience. It was a mad dash, long , grueling weeks and weekends to get everything ready for the runway or just the market that is a very short tight window.

This I don't miss.My mind drifts back to the endless winter months slogging through work, trunk shows and production dreaming of the spring and summer months as a reward. When they appeared the clock seemed to speed to double time with the days and weeks spinning away from me. Throughout,the mounting pressure of production and Market Week had a way of annihilating the restfulness that used to be summer.

Now that another Labor Day has arrived, I am free of that task for the first time in 22 years. It's truly weird and even disquieting. Something feels terribly off. I awake with anxiety that I see now is displaced and no longer a fact of my life. I don't miss it, but I do feel strangely at loose ends. Reading in WWD the other day , those annoying 'Postcards" from designers reporting from their far flung vacations. What still puzzles me are those trips are always 3 weeks or so before the collections. How is it they have dessert before dinner? Michael Kors' trip, a jaunt to South Africa with a few safaris thrown in and lots of shopping to balance out the hardships of the bush. No hardships were part of this amazingly luxe Outward Bound adventure. The economy has had little effect on Kors.His description of buying black alligator boxes because the idea of such luxe storage boxes was irresistible. Sounds it to me. Hey, if you've got it, get it. The African economy can certainly use the bump. It just rang a bit flat when you figure it's not a luxury the majority of us can indulge. there was such a tone of conspicuous self indulgence when it seemed like he might have been at work with the team, made me look at how things are done when you sit on top.

So Autumn has infiltrated summer, it's sweater weather today and the clock is ticking to show time. I wish all a great season. I hope Fashion's Night Out does what so many want and need it to. I hope people do a little shopping and resist using it as an excuse to run from luxury store to the next filling up on gift bags, food and drink. I'll be very curious to see.

Happy Labor Day and 'Break a Heel' or 'Jam a zipper' !!!!!