The Tents (2012)

"We're selling a dream, not a garment"

 Each year, tents in Bryant Park herald New York Fashion Week, whose back story is as fascinating as the couture on the catwalk. Fashion's biggest names share the sometimes shocking, often funny rags-to-riches evolution of the iconic event.

New York's Grimy Garment District Hatches Designers' Dreams

According to a 2012 report published by the Design Trust for Public Space, apparel production is the largest manufacturing division in New York City. It provides 24,000 jobs citywide with about 7,100 of those jobs centered in the Garment District. Within the district alone, those jobs generate $2.1 billion of economic output.

Citywide, the fashion industry employs 173,000 people, generating $10 billion annually.


It's also a business that helps young designers realize their dreams. Daniel Vosovic, who started his women's wear collection in 2010, produces all of his garments in New York City.

Woman Around Town: Teri Agins Knows Fashion

Agin’s career path to the Wall Street Journal began when she was a ninth grader in Kansas City, Kansas. Her journalism teacher, noting her love of clothes, suggested that she write a fashion column for her high school newspaper. “I called my column ‘Teri’s Tips for Fashion Flair.’ Even as a fourteen year-old, I knew I needed a brand, so I had my name printed in lower case letters on the byline.” Agins, continued on her path when, later, as an undergraduate at Wellesley College

Teri Agins, Fashion Journalist, Signs Book Deal For A Fashion Industry Expose

Teri Agins has another fashion book in the works. The author of “The End of Fashion,” (1999) and freelance writer for The Wall Street Journal has just signed a book deal with the Gotham imprint of Penguin books. Her nonfiction book, which is billed as a “behind-the-scenes exposé,” will focus on the rise of fast fashion and celebrity designers in the multibillion fashion industry. The book is scheduled to be published in early 2014.Agins noted that she conducted 140 interviews for her first book, which explored how marketing changed the apparel business. While writing her new book, she plans to continue her freelance career writing for the Journal, Vogue, Town & Country, O, the Oprah Magazine and Essence.

ANDRÉ LEON TALLEY