Fashion week and/or fashion is for the weak

Preparations for madness have begun. After spending the past three months on Style.com watching the collections walk across my screen, it's almost time to see models and garments on a real runway.

So begins the e-mail RSVPs, phone calls, and interview requests. I trekked uptown today to find out what the editors want, and am now ready to get lost in all our local fashion. But before that there are a few friends whose collections I'd rather see than any other.

Above and below are pieces by Angelo Amante, worn by the beautiful Syliva Ogweng. We all worked together, long ago, in (of course) retail hell. Now Angelo is finishing up at school and has photos of girls in pretty dresses to share.

After all the established designers parade their looks, the students will take their turn. With Jade and Kitty graduating, I'll be taking a seat at this year's Mass Exodus exhibit. There the critical eye will be turned off, and with it will go all my snarky remarks.

And maybe, if I'm as nice like I plan to be, someday I'll get a special custom-tailored piece made especially to fit.

*photos by Kevin Marzo

The circus ended with a long, dark, and beautiful bang

The hours they spent together in that sleet, concrete back-room were not glamorous. They hid copies of Vogue and bags of candy underneath their work-stations, gossiped about new-hires, and waited for the punch line. It never came.

Years later, only one is left. She's still tall, thin and gorgeous; still comes and goes as she pleases. Parsons and Holt's got a hold of the other two. But Manhattan is pulling each away slowly. It gets all the good ones.

And then, there is me. I'm here, at least for now. But these three are going places, and I can't wait to watch.

Model: Sylvia Ogweng
Designer: Angelo Amante
Photographer: Michael Kai Young