Getty ImagesKanye West is causing problems during New York Fashion Week.
Yeezy announced a last-minute fashion show for Sept. 16 at noon, and there is at least one designer who is furious with the rapper. Anne Bowen planned to launch her new street collection, Nomad VII by Anne Bown, during the same time slot, but is now up in arms about having to reschedule her collection's debut.
Naeem Khan is also scheduled to show in the "Jesus Walks" rapper's time slot.
"We have been prepping for a year for this at considerable financial, labor- and commitment-cost to our company. Our show date has been scheduled for months and has been on the Fashion Calendar for weeks," Bowen explained to WWD Sunday. "We went through all the proper channels to make this a reality. And just yesterday we learned that Kanye West is having a show at the same time on the same date as ours."
Bowen said West's decision has many consequences for other designers.
"Kanye knows he is a media sensation and it is just not ethical to do this," she added. "It's like we are David and he is Goliath. We have put our heart and soul into our show and should not be stepped on like this."
Bowen and her team have since pushed their show date to Sept. 17 at 12:30 p.m. at the same location, Tao at 92 Ninth Ave. "In order for our show to have any significance, we now have to move our date and time which is a logistical nightmare, three days out from our originally scheduled time," said Bowen.
The fashion designer's publicist also explained that getting word out about the last-minute change has proven difficult. "We're scrambling like crazy and it's costing us a lot of money." The rep explained cancellation fees have been through the roof and they have to try to re-book the same models and photographers, adding, "Now we have to re-invite the press...We sent out printed invites by hand, and they're useless. We're trying to contact everyone by e-mail."
Bowen's publicist further explained that Khan's show wasn't as much of a conflict for Bowen's because Khan is showing evening wear while Bowen is debuting a streetwear collection that is more similar to West's new Kanye West X Adidas Originals Collection, AKA Yeezy Season 2.
Bowen has issued an official complaint with the CFDA fashion calendar, but Steven Kolb, president of the CFDA, said West never announced his show on the calendar.
"The first I heard about the Kanye show was what I read in the Post," said Kolb. "There was no listing on the Fashion Calendar, and we didn't know about it. We can't avoid conflicts unless we know someone's doing it."