7th on Sixth’s Sponsorship Surfeit

Fashion Week is upon us, and that means major sponsorship opportunities. Olympus paid more than $1 million for the title sponsorship opportunity, but dozens of other designers splash their names on the Bryant Park tents. More than half 7th on Sixth’s estimated budget of $4 million to $5 million each season comes from sponsors, The New York Times reports. With the average cost of presenting a show at more than $100,000, some new designers are depending on sponsorships, to the extent that their fashions are influenced—and compromised, some would say—by sponsors’ motives: Designer Peter Som’s sponsor, the Bermuda Department of Tourism, calls for him to incorporate Bermuda shorts into his collection; and Richard Tyler, who is sponsored by Delta, showed more uniforms he designed for the airline’s personnel than designs for his own label, Richard Tyler Couture.

"I'm walking by Bryant Park and all I see is a circus, with a tightrope walker and a cotton candy machine," Nicole Miller C.E.O. Bud Konheim told The Times. "When you're talking about sponsors, they come with commercial obligations that have to be in your face all the time. What happened to the fashion? Where is the elegance?"
Posted 02.09.05