Calculating the Cost
The positive exposure of a good fashion show is priceless, but there’s still a tab to pay. The team behind Bill Blass gives us a breakdown of what a show at Bryant Park usually costs. Report by Willow Duttge.
Backstage Costs Of Fashion Week
by Hitha Forbes.
After 10 years of producing fashion shows, Thomas Onorato knows the importance of a well-run backstage.
“Just a couple years ago,” says Onorato, who, with partner Max Wixom, owns special-events company Onorato-Wixom, “I remember being backstage and an entire wall collapsed an hour before the show. People were screaming and the designer was freaking out. But instead of having a breakdown, we pulled it together and made it work despite adding additional cost to backstage production. Had we not factored in the potential for snafus in the budget, it [the fashion show] would have been a disaster.”
The world may see fashion models in exquisite clothes strutting down the runway during Fashion Week, but they rarely get a glimpse of the action behind the scenes or the associated costs. A designer once asked Onorato to change all the lights to a soft pink, so a celebrity walking in the show would look younger. The total cost: $20,000.