NEW YORK (AP) – C’est la vie, fashionistas. The city of New York and Lincoln Center is evicting the invitation-only, twice-yearly Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in a court spat over destroyed trees and displaced park benches.
A judge Friday approved a pretrial settlement in a complaint brought by community groups. They objected to the onslaught of the fashion industry at Damrosch Park, a 2.4-acre stretch on the Upper West Side that is adjacent to and managed by Lincoln Center.
The groups argued the insular nature of the fashion shows that draw top designers and hundreds of buyers, editors and journalists violate laws governing public use of the land. Each February and September, the stiletto-heeled hordes cram the Lincoln Center complex for eight days of runway shows and presentations held in a large temporary tent.
“We’re going to get flowers and benches and there’s going to be a park again,” said Olive Freud, president of the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, one of the groups that filed the complaint in May 2013. “We’re all very happy here.”
The upcoming February Fashion Week will be held at Lincoln Center as scheduled but must find new digs after that. Andrew Serrano, a spokesman for IMG Fashion, which owns and produces Fashion Week, confirmed the settlement but had no immediate comment Thursday.