Elizabeth Landers | The clothes make the woman

Fashion week is upon us again. As the length of New York Fashion Week keeps being extended - shows are starting days before the official kickoff date - the insanity intensifies. Designers show their fall 2013 collections a season in advance, giving buyers and tastemakers time to evaluate trends and buy or design layouts accordingly. Backstage, front row, uptown at Lincoln Center, downtown at Milk Studios - I've been everywhere for the past couple of days and in and out of the slush and subways; here's a play-by-play.

 

I resigned myself to missing class on Wednesday and headed down early in the morning to the city. After interning this summer at the new women's wear brand Veronica Beard, I was brimming with excitement to help out the girls with their fall 2013 collection. Veronica Beard is designed by two sisters-in-law, Veronica Swanson Beard and Veronica Miele Beard, who share a mutual love of American sportswear and practical dressing. They design the kind of blazer that makes anything look good. Still, I had to bolt out the door at 6 p.m. sharp and head to the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection, which was started in 2001 to raise awareness for women's heart health. Celebrities included Kris Jenner, Kylie Jenner, Olympian Gabby Douglas, Toni Braxton and Minka Kelly, who donned the red dress and hit the runway a little shaky - but smiling the whole way. Next was the PrabalGurung for Target launch party at Pier 57 in Chelsea. As I stood inside, I realized how weird my Wednesday was: I was standing in a pier converted into an indoor carnival, eating empanadas while listening Jay Sean croon "Hit The Lights."

 

Bleary-eyed describes the beginning of my Thursday. I ran downtown to pull some clothes from a PR company - what with the 10th anniversary of the magazine I write for, I was in the running for many a cocktail party during the week. After grabbing a white power suit (fashion rules are meant to be broken), I ran to Duckie Brown, an avant-gardemenswear duo. With the Daily Front Row's 10-year anniversary dinner that night at Indochine, a palm frond-decorated hot spot on Astor Place, I had about an hour to get ready then try, vainly, to find a cab to the Kenneth Cole show. The clothes were exactly the kind of grungy-cool separates and overcoats that you'd find on the streets of New York City and possibly around Boston. The who's who of fashion showed up to IndoChine - CarineRoitfeld, Linda Fargo, CindiLeive and Graydon Carter - with Heidi Klum hosting in a peculiar fur vest. Who cares, though, when the sit-down dinner is as fabulous as the sashimi and beef bokchoy floating around on silver platters?

 

"I-am-so-tired" is the tag line of most showgoers during the week. My first show of the day, Tess Giberson, included some fabulous knits and cape dresses in the same vein as Helmut Lang or Rick Owens. While the screeching music overhead was unbearable, it was refreshing to see a show with highly wearable looks. The wind howled later that night at the Kate Spade 20th anniversary party downtown in Chelsea. DJ duo Oh Land mixed tracks in a whitewashed spaced filled with everything NYC: a neon pink skyline, disco balls, taxi cabs and guys in gorilla suits. Fashion people who don't take themselves seriously DO exist! The event breathed life back into many New Yorkers downtrodden by the whirling mix of snow and hail outside. The good news is that fashion week wasn't canceled (despite a rescheduling of Marc Jacobs' show) and I survived in my incredibly impractical get-up of heels in a snowstorm.