BY LAUREN DAVID PEDEN/THE FASHION INFORMER

It always makes me laugh to look at photos from the shows, when all you see are perfect-looking models in perfect-looking makeup in perfect-looking clothes. Because while there’s certainly plenty of all of the above, the fact is that if the camera were to turn just a foot, or, in some cases, an inch, to the left or right, the reality would look very different.

Between the crowds (which are usually packed in like sardines), the venues (far grittier than the typical runway glamour shots would lead you to believe), and the machinations to actually get to the events (Lincoln Center may be the official “home” to New York Fashion Week, but the shows are, in fact, spread out in different locations all over the city, with many designers opting to present in the farthest reaches of Chelsea), New York Fashion Week is often about as far from being fun and glamorous as you can imagine.

That’s not to say I don’t love NYFW and don’t love covering it — I do! I do! — just that perception and reality are often worlds apart, which I find incredibly ironic.

Take, for instance, the SILVIO LIU presentation on Friday – in a grimy building in the MPD, with a four-floor walk up steep stairs to get to the event.

In short, NYFW is kind of like The Wizard of Oz: It may look magical and enchanting from the outside, but pull back the curtain and it’s a whole other story.

Lauren David Peden has been hired by Rue La La for her reporting at New York Fashion Week. ]]> http://www.ruelala.com/blog/2011/02/16/nyfw-2001-perception-vs-reality/feed/ 0