{"id":50346,"date":"2022-02-17T16:26:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T16:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=50346"},"modified":"2022-02-17T20:27:54","modified_gmt":"2022-02-17T20:27:54","slug":"meet-the-team-at-img-nyfw","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/meet-the-team-at-img-nyfw\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Team at IMG Responsible for Executing New York Fashion Week"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Courtesy IMG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In February, executives of IMG\u2019s fashion division gathered to be photographed in the empty cavernous building in Chelsea, the neighborhood of art galleries, where the Dia Art Foundation is down the block and the Commes des Gar\u00e7ons flagship next door. The crew of IMG executives and assistants were all wearing their updated versions of the downtown black uniform of fashion aficionados, as they chatted and checked their phones. There was an efficient modernity to them all. Gathered and gabbing, they brought to mind another term: a murder of crows. Too severe? Not really. A kind of keen-eyed severity is what IMG brings to NYFW: The Shows, which it owns and operates, and which the ostentation of peacocks it serves needs from it. Crows, moreover, are known for being one of the smartest of animals and their feathers are seldom ruffled.<\/p>\n

Leslie Russo, President of Fashion Events and Properties at IMG, has a thing about the number two so she was excited in February to be moving into the new suite of offices for her division of the company on the sixth floor of this 22nd Street building. After the photo shoot, she gave me a quick tour which included her corner office. From her desk she can see the Eduardo Kobra mural above the Empire Diner below. It brings to mind a Mount Rushmore of artists and includes Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Frida Kahlo, and Jean-Michel Basquiat.<\/p>\n

Sitting at her desk and gazing out at Andy is a full-circle moment for her since she got her start helping run events at Interview<\/em> magazine when the late Ingrid Sischy was its Editor-in-Chief. Andy once said, \u201cFashion wasn’t what you wore someplace anymore; it was the whole reason for going,\u201d which could be the cryptic mission statement for IMG\u2019s NYFW: The Shows. Kahlo, for her part, summed up fashion\u2019s shape-shifting allure itself with her comment that \u201cnothing is absolute, everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it was Haring and Basquiat who were fashion prophets with their love and championing of streetwear, a category that has gained such importance in the 21st century and moved American fashion to the forefront, as Russo likes to point out. \u201cIf commercialization is putting my art on a shirt so that a kid who can\u2019t afford a $30,000 painting can buy one, then I\u2019m all for it,\u201d Haring said.<\/p>\n

Basquiat loved Armani suits, he wore Issey Miyake coats and walked the Commes des Gar\u00e7ons\u2019s Spring\/Summer 1987 show. His estate has licensed his artwork\u2019s imagery to fashion labels at an assortment of prices, but the streetwear category has given his art a new framework. In 2018, the late Virgil Abloh created a capsule collection for Off-White that utilized Basquiat\u2019s art. \u201cLife is collaboration,\u201d Abloh once said. \u201cWhere I think art can be sort of misguided is that it propagates this idea of itself as a solo love affair \u2014 one person, one idea, no one else involved.\u201d That too could be mission statement for IMG since what it brings to New York Fashion Week is its collaborative zeal and expertise. It, like Abloh giving Basquiat a renewed framework, gives one as well to each New York Fashion Week that rolls around.<\/p>\n

I was thinking of Abloh and his use of quotation marks when Russo and other executives settled around the table in their new conference room for some conversation. Indeed, it was the first \u201cmeeting\u201d being held there and we were \u201cchristening\u201d the space, as Abloh would have wanted me to write the terms. Also at the table, among others, were Patrick Conners, Senior Vice-President, Global Brand Partners; Joshua Glass, Executive Editorial Director; and Dominic Kaffka, Senior Vice-President. Russo expounded on NYFW: The Shows being more than New York-centric and helping American fashion itself take its place globally \u2014 and even cited Abloh while doing so.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy IMG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFirst of all, social media and technology have changed access to consuming Fashion Week,\u201d Russo said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re in Paris, France, or Paris, Texas, anymore. You can follow along on your Instagram. You can participate now by buying things through our partner, Afterpay. Look at Gigi Hadid, an IMG model, who has 72.5 million followers on Instagram. One post can reach that many people. Add it all up. For us, New York Fashion Week already is global because when you see who watches our social channels, it is from all over the world. I do feel that American fashion has an opportunity right now on a global scale to take credit for our contribution to fashion. Look at Virgil Abloh who literally changed fashion as the first Black designer to head Louis Vuitton men\u2019s. He was from Chicago. American culture and diversity are here\u00a0 \u2014 streetwear, sneakers \u2014 but I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve gotten credit as a country of our contribution that is incredibly relevant right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

I sensed Russo\u2019s pride not only in American fashion, but also in the company she keeps at IMG\u2019s fashion division. She has helped shape it and create it and nurture it. And while there’s no doubt she is the boss at the table, there is also a camaraderie that cuts through the corporate bull that can often bollix up the workings of company. So does she see this as more of a team or a family? \u201cI am very old-school Italian so I do like to think off it as a family but I am going to say team for this reason: we\u2019re competitive,\u201d she said. \u201cI honestly think of it as band \u2014 so that\u2019s a little bit of both I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stopped her to remind her that she once told me she thought of herself as Keith Richards in her job. The camaraderie at the table erupted in guffaws at that image. \u201cI have zero of the talent, but I am the quieter personality type,\u201d she said when the laughter died down. \u201cI do probably think of us more as a band.\u00a0 We are aligned in terms of being able to play together and compliment each other, I mean you don\u2019t need four Keith Richards. I think what we try to do is put together a band that agrees philosophically but plays together really well in bringing their individual points of view and strengths to the table. Troubleshooters, that\u2019s what we are. Troubleshooters,\u201d she reiterated, which actually sounds like a good name for a band.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hands-on,\u201d Kaffka said. \u201cIt\u2019s solving problems from morning to night. We are prepared so we have a solution at the ready for most problems,\u201d he said when I asked if his job was about finding a way to say \u201cyes” instead of saying \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IMG fashion division also owns Art+Commerce, the agency that represents an array of image-makers.\u00a0 But do the leaders of the division here at the table think of themselves as more of the \u201cart\u201d part of the industry or the \u201ccommerce\u201d part? \u201cI think we are truly both,\u201d said Russo. \u201cMaybe we\u2019re the \u2018+.\u2019\u00a0 I think this group that we have now \u2014 Patrick, Josh, and Dom \u2014 really comes from the background that merges the two. When I was interviewing Josh for his job, we discovered we both approach fashion as a sort of cultural pillar. We\u2019re not making clothes. We\u2019re not doing supply chain. What we really do is the cultural view of fashion and that entire ecosystem of the business gets routed through the things we do. We provide this platform and the resources for the artistic community in fashion. We all come from this background. Patrick and I come from Conde Nast. He was also at InStyle<\/em>. Josh was Global Digital Editorial Director at L\u2019Officiel<\/em> and at CR Fashion Book <\/em>he was Editorial and Digital Director. Dom as been in production here at IMG. It is the steroid version of what Interview <\/em>magazine used to be. It creates culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

So does IMG see itself as a publisher and, if so, is there a wall between it and the shows just as there was in the magazine world from which its executives came between the publishing side and the editorial one? \u201cEvery designer is different,\u201d said Glass. \u201cSome designers are very intensive and very collaborative and we\u2019re talking with them every day. Other designers want to come up with ideas themselves and we come to them once a month to take to them about what they\u2019re doing and how we can work together. It\u2019s never us telling them what to do or their telling us. It\u2019s a mixture of things. As with the CFDA, they manage the calendar but we will say \u2018Oh, we\u2019re doing this special exhibition at this point so maybe we should do this,\u201d he continued, referencing the \u201cArt of Rodarte\u201d immersive exhibition which was presented by Afterpay as part of NYFW: The Shows. \u201cIt\u2019s finding where all the pieces fit together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the IMG brand itself\u201d I asked Connors.<\/p>\n

“The IMG fashion brand within our community really does connect up our brand sponsors to culture,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen a brand wants to plug in to IMG fashion they not only have the opportunity to plug in to New York Fashion Week, but also off-season opportunities that we can custom create for them, too. But the truth is that what they are tapping into \u2014 yes, through a lens of fashion \u2014 is culture. And brands today no matter whether they are historic brands or emerging ones \u2014 like Afterpay \u2014 they want to tap into culture and the fastest way to do that is with brands already associated with culture. What we do is to work with them to develop the right way to be invested in our community and to have our community to invest in them \u2014 to invest in the product.\u201d<\/p>\n

But \u201cculture\u201d is huge term; it goes from Kardashian to Balanchine. \u201cDo you ever go, \u2018Well, that\u2019s a little vulgar for us but it is perfect for you,\u2019?\u201d I asked. \u201cI guess what I am really asking is if the client is always right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d\u00a0 said Connors. \u201cThis is why: they are coming to us for our advice.\u00a0 They are coming to us consultants and experts in this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giorgio Armani once said that \u201celegance in not standing out, but being remembered.\u201d I asked this rather elegant lot of executives to remember their first fashion memory that came to mind. Kaffka recalled the walk-through he gave a top executive of their parent company, WME, of the Moynihan Hall space back in 2015 when NYFW moved from the tents in Bryant Park. Glass recalled an eighth row seat at a 9 a.m. Lacoste show in those tents when he was an assistant. \u201cI wanted to be a rockstar and took guitar lessons and saved up for a cherry red electric guitar,\u201d said Russo, explaining further her Keith Richards analogy. \u201cA few years later, I sold it on my grandmother\u2019s front lawn at a yard sale because I desperately wanted the white leather fringe crop coat worn by Sloane in Ferris Bueller<\/em>\u2019<\/em>s Day off<\/em>. \u00a0Having sold the guitar, I started school that year with the jacket effectively ending my music career. I wish I had that coat right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connors:\u00a0 \u201cI was at Conde Nast and I was working at Lucky<\/em> magazine. I remember having to go to the tents in Bryant Park \u2014 not for myself, I was going to run something over to someone \u2014 and walking into the lobby area and my publisher at the time told me, \u2018Just come in with me.\u2019 I didn\u2019t even have a seat. I just stood in the back. I can\u2019t remember what show it was. After the show, I walked back to Conde Nast and Anna Wintour was right in front of me at the elevator bank. I got into the elevator and it was just her and me. And I thought, \u2018This is the fashion moment. I came from the tents in Bryant Park to Anna Wintour.\u201d You were supposedly not to get into an elevator with her. But I thought: this is it, this is why I came to New York. <\/em>There was the exclusivity of it but also the power of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you talk about with her?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbsolutely nothing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

And there you have it: fashion<\/em>. As was the cackle of camaraderie at Connors\u2019 self-deprecation that had been redesigned as a couture moment. And the need finally \u2014 always \u2014 to get back to work. That was their \u201ccue.\u201d So they did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29575,"featured_media":50358,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[17,16],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the Team at IMG Responsible for New York Fashion Week<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Before NYFW kicked off, executives of IMG\u2019s fashion division spoke with GRAZIA about what it takes to execute fashion's busiest week\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/meet-the-team-at-img-nyfw\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet the Team at IMG Responsible for Executing New York Fashion Week\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before NYFW kicked off, executives of IMG\u2019s fashion division spoke with 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