G-STAR RAW Fall 2008 Fashion Week Gotham Hall 1356 Broadway February 4, 2008 Written by Wendy R. Williams Photographed by Katherin Wermke

G-Star is Cool and We (and you) Are Not

Amsterdam based G-STAR RAW held its Fall 2008 Fashion show at Manhattan’s aptly named Gotham Hall, a huge gothic-enough-to–have-been-in-Ghost-Busters edifice at 1356 Broadway. And this movie-set-ready building was the perfect set for what turned out to be an impromptu (and totally unexpected) game of "Dungeons and Dragons" between the witches of G-STAR and New York Cool.

Katherin Wermke, a Barcelona based New York Cool photographer, has always been bullish about G-STAR (“They’re huge in Europe”). Katherin covered the G-STAR RAW Spring 2008 Fashion Show last September. So when February Fashion Week rolled around, we quickly got in touch with super-connected-and-all-around-rocking-downtown-PR-guy Abe Gurko of Abe New York. Abe put us in touch with G-STAR’s rep, Allison Chayo of HL Group, LLC who after numerous back-in-forth emails confirmed that I was on the list to attend the show and Katherin was on the list for the risers and also on the back-stage list (“we are scheduling blocks for people to come backstage, I have you schedule[d] for 5PM-5:15PM” Allison Chayo)

So the night of the show, I arrived an hour early and was told that I had been given a standing-room pass and that standing room was outside the building in the thinking-about-raining mist. So I got in line (the head of the line actually) and was standing outside with my hair slowly frizzing when I picked up a message on my cell phone from a crying Katherin. It seem that Katherin had arrived for her appointment at 5:00PM and had been checked off the list by the outside-the-building security and told to wait in a holding area where she waited for over an hour. An hour and half later, Allison Chayo walked out to where Katherin was waiting and told Katherin that she had to leave because she was not on the list. When Katherin protested that we had an email confirming backstage access (see quote from email above) and the outside guard had checked her name off the list, Allison told her that she could either leave or she would have her thrown out of the building by the security guard. Now if a security guard wanted to flex his muscles and throw someone from the building, Katherin would be an excellent choice. Katherin is incredibly polite and weighs only 125 pounds so she would not even make a big splat on the sidewalk. But regardless of how much fun this might be for the security guard (and Allison), being physically thrown out of a fashion show is not something I would ever want to happen to one of our photographers.

So……. I frantically tried to “redial” Katherin but the call would not go through because she has a Barcelona number. I also could not reach the international operator with all the rush-hour noise outside on Broadway, so I wrote a quick note to Katherin (who had called me from inside on the photographer’s riser; her name had miraculously appeared on the riser list) saying something comforting along the lines of, “I am so sorry that happened. Why don't you just tell them that you have been thrown out of much nicer places than this and walk out the door?” I then asked one of the ubiquitous guards if he could either take the note to Katherin or show me someone who could. The guard said he could not leave his post, but pointed to an official looking man who was standing outside. So I walked up to the officiary and said, “Excuse me sir, is there anyway someone could get a message to one of the photographers in the risers. She is in town from Barcelona and her cell phone does not work.” The official-looking-man screamed at me, “Of course not. Can’t you see I am trying to seat the guests?” Now, I did read the Story of O in my youth, but even in my foolish teens I realized that the Story of O depicted a lifestyle that was not sustainable for everyday living. So after my public dressing down, I did what any non S & M lover would do in this type of situation, I left. I crossed the street and walked into a Jean Pierre salon to have the mist and spit washed out of my hair ($28 plus tax and tip).

After the show I caught up with Katherin who told me that it was actually a good show (see what an easy toss she would have been). Here are Katherin’s photos so you can judge for yourself (Katherin is an incredible photographer). I have nothing to say about the show because as I just told you, I found something better to do with my time.

P. S. G-Star Raw has recently opened a store in New York City's Union Square. But if you get up the courage to brave their lair, be humble, very humble…. they get off on it.

	Dennis Hopper

G-star Designer Pierre Morisset and Dennis Hopper