Celebs galore at New York Fashion Week

Bruce Willis at the Erin Wasson/RVCA collaboration show. Photo / Isaac Hindin Miller

Everybody remembers where they were the moment the planes hit the Twin Towers. I was at home in Christchurch just getting ready to go to school when my Mum called to tell me the news. What she didn't mention though was that New York Fashion Week was in full swing that same day.

One can imagine just how insignificant clothes became in the face of a full scale terrorist attack. Planes hitting buildings? Or models walking down runways. You decide.

I'd heard that every year on the 9/11 anniversary Fashion Week shuts down for a minute of silence. If that happens, I wasn't there to witness it.

What I did witness today was more celebrities than I've seen before in a year. I hate to be crass, but 9/11/09 will forever go down in my history books as the day I first saw the following: Mark Ronson, Russell Simmons, Estelle, Samantha Ronson, Nicky Hilton, Emanuelle Chriqui, Alexa Chung, Taylor Momsen, Charlize Theron, Elijah Wood aaaand Bruce Willis.

It all started in the morning.

I awoke with a sense of determination. I was going to crack New York Fashion Week, and nothing was going to stop me. First show of the day was Yigal Azrouel, and it was good.

Emanuelle Chriqui (better known to most as E's on again/off again girlfriend Sloan on Entourage) was sitting front row and centre looking almost better in real life than she does on the show.

The clothes didn't disappoint either - the first girl walked out in a shawl-collared mannish blazer with a slash-printed tee shirt (think slices in the fabric but created with ink) and leather shorts.

Sliced fabric was a recurring theme - it popped up on plenty of dresses throughout the show. The boys were in dual-coloured blazers with tuxedo-striped pants but all in casual fabrics and colours.

Charlotte Ronson's eponymous line's show came next, and it was a lesson in well played commercialism. The guest list: sister Samantha Ronson (yes, Lindsay Lohan's on again/off again girlfriend - is this becoming a theme?) spinning the music live on the decks; brother Mark Ronson in the front row... alongside Nicky Hilton, Estelle and Russell Simmons - who chucked a small tanty when his front row seat wasn't readily available.

His wasn't the only one though, I saw a few high powered fashion editors miss out on their front row seats due to over crowding. But if you're throwing a show nothing beats a bit of over crowding - it just adds to the hype.

And of course, the clothes: utterly on trend - acid washed denim, body suits and the Balmain shoulder. I can imagine almost every teenaged girl from LA to Auckland wanting to wear the entire collection.

I don't claim to have any skills whatsoever as a photographer - just look at the majority of my Twitpics to see what I mean, but I have taken one good photograph in my life - with my Blackberry of all things.

It was of supermodel Magdalean Fracowiak leaning out a window backstage at the Christian Dior Couture show in June. I leaned out of the adjacent window and asked to snap a shot. She got the fright of her life but quickly recovered… and this photo was the result.

I ran into her backstage at Rag and Bone (my favourite show of the day) and asked her if she remembered me. She looked me up and down, said no, then looked at me again. I pulled out my Blackberry and showed her the picture I'd taken. She remembered. Then she told me that not only had she loved the photograph, but that it had gone absolutely everywhere - including being printed in magazines. Guess I'm still waiting on the royalty cheque for that one.

Front row at Rag and Bone was a fun-filled sight - a smiley Anna Wintour sitting next to Grace Coddington, Charlize Theron surrounded by paparazzi photographers, but my personal favourite was Elijah Wood.

I told him I was a New Zealander and that I used to get stopped on the side of the street as an 18-year-old Frodo-lookalike with longish curly hair (true story).

He was by far the most friendly, unassuming famous person I've ever met. Also the smallest.

The clothes at Rag and Bone were amazing. Masculine, military/hunting/stable boy tailoring for girls - field jackets, pinched-back blazers and club collars, and the same for the boys.

It was all showed in a very muted colour palette of army-fatigue green, grey, beige, denim blue and lemon.

Many of the outfits looked to be replicated for both sexes. I'm always saying this and I'll say it again, there's nothing cooler than girls who can pull off a head to toe boyish outfit. Nothing.

Final show of the day was supermodel Erin Wasson's collaboration with streetwear label RVCA (pronounced RUCA).

It was a paparazzo's dream - Alexa Chung with boyfriend/lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys Alex Turner, Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen, and out of nowhere, Bruce Willis.

I had to get a photograph of Alexa Chung - my life depended on it, and she was polite enough to sit there while I shot two simultaneously with a camera in each hand (a friend asked me to take one for her too).

When the show was finished (it featured a live band, lots of cut off shorts and oversized tees - very Erin Wasson), I sprinted down to the runway to snap a photo of Bruce Willis leaving.

Two massive bodyguards were shoving photographers out of the way but I managed to get a clear view of the side of his head.

Who am I to complain? The man's got a good looking head.

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