By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LINCOLN CENTER — Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicked off on Thursday with a cold start.
Temperatures well below freezing seemed to keep some people away, but the serious fashionistas braved the cold to make it to the runway shows.
"I have blue fur. I'm prepared," said Seventeen magazine stylist Andrew Mukamal of his stylish winter attire. "Then again, I'm wearing a mesh shirt underneath and that's making me freezing. But it's fashion, it's not supposed to make sense."
The morning's big show was BCBGMaxazria, which featured long layered styles in the fall 2011 collection. Celebrity attendees included actresses Jennifer Love Hewitt, Taraji P. Henson, and Katrina Bowden.
A moderate crowd gathered for the Duckie Brown show in the early afternoon, featuring oversized outerwear for the menswear line.
Industry insiders said Fashion Week's slower start was typical. Still, the excitement level was high in the main tent on Thursday.
"It's kind of like the first day of class at school. You get to see all your friends from the other magazines and everyone's at their best and in their best outfits and really polite and cheerful," said Andrew Bevan, style editor at Teen Vogue.
"But it starts to unravel by Monday and Tuesday when people have been going to the parties for multiple nights in a row."
Mukamal added that Fashion Week provides those in the inudstry the opportunity to see into their own future.
"You see what you'll be working with for the next six months and what you'll be wearing in 12 months," Mukamal said.
"If you live by fashion like I do as a stylist, this week is really it."
