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No Shirt? No Shoes? No Problem as Fashion Week Kicks Off at Lincoln Center

By DNAinfo Staff on September 9, 2010 1:09pm  | Updated on September 12, 2010 12:49pm

By Josh Williams and Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Staff

LINCOLN CENTER — Models began to strut down the runways across Manhattan as Fashion Week got underway Thursday — with or without their heels or shirts.

At Lincoln Center, one model lost her footwear during the opening event of Fashion Week while showing off clothing designed by "Project Runway," but that didn't stop her. She finished the catwalk on her tip-toes.

The gold-colored, high-heeled shoes stayed on the runway during the show, with other models navigating around them, until a spectator pulled them away.

Since only six episodes of "Project Runway" have aired so far, collections from all 10 of the remaining contestants were featured so as not to reveal the identities of the finalists, People magazine reported.

Pop star Jessica Simpson was there as a guest judge, alongside regulars Nina Garcia and Michael Kors.

Later in the day, hip label Number Lab SS11 held a men's fashion show at "The xchange" on West 28th Street and Twelfth Avenue.

The designers teamed up with the NYC Bike Polo Association, and some of the models started the show riding bikes and using mallets to hit balls to each other.

"Bike polo is an urban sport with a classic rooting," said designer Luis Fernandez, who added that he was inspired by the bike polo players near his office. "New York City is a very sporting but sophisticated city. You have to look very clean and polished."

The show was one of the first to be held away from the main runways at Lincoln Center.

"Off-venue shows provide the designer a lot more freedom, the designer has a say on their vision," said Genevive Espantman, 22, a stylist who lives in the Garment District. "You get a better close up of the fashion."

Earlier in the day at Lincoln Center, Nina Garcia had an easier time getting to her seat along the runway than she did last year, when she tripped and fell on a patch of ice outside of the Bryant Park tents.

Fellow fashionista and "Project Runway" host Heidi Klum wore a bright red pants suit to the event, while Kors viewed the designs through a pair of dark aviator sunglasses.

Eccentric dressmaker Betsey Johnson was also there, taking the opportunity to cheer Fashion Week’s move to Lincoln Center.

“It’s the best — far far superior than Bryant Park,” Johnson told DNAinfo. “This is New York — its the big time.”

Celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch agreed.

"Gorgeous with a capital G!" is how he described Lincoln Center. "It's glamorous and everything fashion should be. It's definitely an upgrade from Bryant Park. Look around, it's more spacious and photogenic."

Fashion Week left its former home in Bryant Park this year for Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center Plaza and 62nd Street, after organizers said it had "outgrown the facilities" there. The move uptown also allows designers to make use of Lincoln Center’s many performance spaces.