At the Business of Fashion Dinner, Industry Heavyweights Discuss The Business of Kanye

The CFDA’s Steven Kolb and Diane von Furstenberg with Business of Fashion’s Imran Amed. Photo: BFAnyc.com 

On Tuesday night at the New York Edition, the CFDA’s Diane von Furstenberg and Steven Kolb teamed up to throw a party with the Business of Fashion’s Imran Amed. The lobby bar at the Madison Square Park hotel was absolutely packed with fashion heavyweights—Joseph Altuzarra, Prabal Gurung, Tim Blanks, Vera Wang, Thakoon, Aimee Song, and Lucky Blue Smith, among them. The occasion? “The disruptive,” said Diane von Furstenberg, and in particular, “[The] list. Everybody wants to be in that list.” The list is of course Amed’s now ultimate who’s-who of who’s influential in fashion—a meticulously curated selection of 500 significant contributors to every segment of the industry, from the creative to sales to management and social media.

“Well, honestly it’s really crazy!” exclaimed Lucky Blue Smith, who was added last night, teasing that he was “peaking” and might be “over” by 30. “I’m only 17 and I’m on this list. I just think it’s insane. It feels surreal. I don’t really—it’s like I still don’t believe it.”

It was a frantic, buzzing, energized evening of celebration. And because the theme was disruption—keeping the industry talking by pinpointing individuals who are keeping it fresh—we thought we might ask a few bold faces what they think about NYFW’s most controversial designer showing this season—Kanye West, who’s last minute decision to show today, off the official CFDA calendar (and during the same time as two previously scheduled shows) is creating quite the conversation.

Here’s what the guests of the night had to say about Kanye:

Thakoon— “I actually didn’t know about it! I just haven’t been reading anything so I didn’t really know about it… I hope um, I hope he can get some models!”

Caroline Issa— “Well, I think it’s exciting! I’m really excited to do it tomorrow and I think that anything that Kanye does is really worth our attention. So I’m looking forward to it.”

Model Hari Neff— “At fashion week? Oh, I didn’t even know about it. I mean, I’m a Kanye West fan. I think he earns the space that he occupies. And I feel like the prejudice against him—which I have encountered a lot—is very pre-millennial. Older people don’t get it. There’s nothing wrong with doing lots of different things. I just a girl who was like a model-blogger-chef-actor-writer, and I just bought it—because she was cool. I mean, art is just saying the same thing in different languages.”

Hat designer Gigi Burris— “I sometimes believe the best decisions are the most rash decisions.”

CFDA President Steven Kolb— “I think I said it already. Kanye decided to do a show, he made the decision to not put it on fashion calendar, and that’s it. I know I don’t think Kanye’s intentions are to hurt someone else. The show is really a small show. He has no outside media. It’s only an in-house crew, and he’s got top editors, obviously, that are gonna be at that show. But there are a lot of editors that go to shows. I don’t think there is any ill will in Kanye’s decision. And, everyone will be fine.”

Designer Jonathan Cohen— “I think it’s just part of the way the business works. You just have to react to it as best you can. You just gotta kind of role with it.”

Lucky Blue Smith— “You know, I haven’t heard about it yet, so now I know about it! My agency told me that there was a cocktail party to go to and now I’m here! I have one show tomorrow morning, but then I’ve just been going to dinners and having fun not being so serious.”

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