New York Fashion Week Kicks Off

New York Fashion Week opens Wednesday with Kenneth Cole in his traditional leadoff spot and other designers previewing their spring 2005 collections for retailers, editors and other fashion fans over the next eight days. Designers showing next season's creations include Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren, Zac Posen, Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan.

Tommy Hilfiger is back with his better sportswear H Hilfiger collection after sitting out last season, and, for the first time, rebel design team Imitation of Christ is joining the fashion mainstream at the Bryant Park tents in midtown Manhattan. Meanwhile, eveningwear designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka are absent from the schedule that includes more than 80 shows.

The clothes and collections are crucial to Fashion Week, but celebrities are increasingly becoming a regular fixture, too. Katie Couric, Iman and Nia Vardalos are expected at Bryant Park to announce a partnership among the fashion industry, Fashion Week title sponsor Olympus and the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance. Conde Nast Media Group is sponsoring the Fashion Rocks concert Wednesday at Radio City Music Hall with performances by Beyonce, Usher, Hoobastank and the Black Eyed Peas.

Sean "P.Diddy" Combs, who won the Council of Fashion Designers of America award for best menswear designer earlier this year, is missing from the catwalk, but he's reminding the stylish crowd that his fashion brand is getting bigger: He's hosting a champagne toast at his new flagship Sean John store, located just down the street from Bryant Park.