NYC Fashion Week to move after 17 years

[February 03, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- New York Fashion Week is getting a new look.

The twice-annual event, which has been held at Bryant Park since 1993, will relocate to Lincoln Center starting in September 2010, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not yet been announced.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office worked with the Council of Fashion Designers of America and IMG Fashion, which runs the shows, for more than two years to find a new location. The deal was to be announced Wednesday.

Bloomberg has long maintained that the events were outgrowing the park. It takes 10 days to erect the tents, followed by eight days of celebrity-studded shows, with five more days of cleanup.

The 6-acre Bryant Park, situated behind the New York Public Library on 42nd Street in Manhattan, has been the main home for Fashion Week, except for one season at Chelsea Piers.

Starting in 2010, designers will present their collections at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park, located at the southwest corner of the Lincoln Center's plaza, at 62nd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, according to the person with knowledge of the deal.

The city says Fashion Week generates hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity.

[Associated Press; By SARA KUGLER]

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