Fashion Week returns to New York Feb. 9, and once again designers and the press are heading to the web to engage consumer audiences.
Building off success from past seasons, many brands -- roughly one-third showing at Lincoln Center -- will live-stream the unveiling of their Fall 2012 collections on their websites and Facebook Pages, as well as video platforms such as YouTube and Livestream. Still more will be uploading backstage footage via their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram accounts.
Meanwhile, members of the fashion press will be churning out 140-character reviews and mobile snapshots live from the shows, while posting longer, slideshow-accompanied reviews on their respective news sites.
With so much to choose from, following Fashion Week online can feel nearly as overwhelming as attending in person -- which is why we've gathered together the best resources for enjoying the festivities online and on your mobile phone. If there’s any we’ve missed, please let us know in the comments section below.
Live Video
YouTube has once again partnered with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and Maybelline to live-stream more than 25 shows at youtube.com/liverunway. (A mobile-optimized version is available at m.youtube.com/liverunway.) Several other brands are streaming shows via their websites, Facebook pages and apps. Full schedule below.
Thursday, Feb. 9, 9 a.m. ET
Thursday, Feb. 9, 10 a.m. ET
Thursday, Feb. 9, 11 a.m. ET
Friday, Feb. 10, 2 p.m. ET
Friday, Feb. 10, 3 p.m. ET
Friday, Feb. 10, 5:30 p.m. ET
Friday, Feb. 10, 6 p.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 11, 10 a.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 11, 11 a.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 11, 3 p.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 11, 6 p.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 11, 7 p.m. ET
Sunday, Feb. 12, 2 p.m. ET
Sunday, Feb. 12, 4 p.m. ET
Sunday, Feb. 12, 4 p.m. ET
Sunday, Feb. 12, 8 p.m. ET
Monday, Feb. 13, 10 a.m. ET
Monday, Feb. 13, 11 a.m. ET
Monday, Feb. 13, 5 p.m. ET
Monday, Feb. 13, 6 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Feb.14, 10 a.m. ET
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 11 a.m. ET
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 3 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Feb. 13, 3 p.m. ET
Tuesday, Feb. 14, 8 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 10 a.m. ET
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 3 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 4 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 6 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Feb. 15, 7 p.m. ET
If you prefer live tweets to live video, we have a few favorites we recommend you follow. You can follow the full conversation by tracking the hashtags #nyfw and #mbfw.
Official Twitter account of fashion trade publication Women's Wear Daily; tweets commentary and photos.
Retail/fashion reporter for The Wall Street Journal, frequently posts mobile pics and news.
Teen Vogue's beauty director is the top source for backstage photos and makeup advice.
Beautiful mobile shots from the runway, courtesy of the WSJ's Robin Kawakami.
New York Times critic, tweets colorful, descriptive commentary from the shows.
Guest moderators tweet from the Twitter's official New York Fashion Week handle throughout the week.
IMG's official account for New York Fashion Week.
A live, photo-filled chronicle of runway shows and parties from freelance fashion journalist Jim Shi.
Retweets from Conde Nast fashion and beauty editors at the shows.
WSJ multimedia producer and reporter, posts high-quality photos straight from the runway.
Updates (including plenty of gossip) from New York magazine's fashion blog.
Fashion News Sites
For those of you who prefer more editorially heavy coverage, here our top five picks for fashion news and imagery throughout the week.
Some of the most intelligent collection reviews during Fashion Week, accompanied by comprehensive slideshows and videos from the runway. If you're more interested in behind-the-scenes stories, see Style.com's People + Parties section.
Blog-style coverage and slideshows from The Wall Street Journal.
The New York Times' style blog contains short updates from on and around the runway, often accompanied by slideshows.
A more edited approach to the designs, trends and parties emerging during Fashion Week.
Reviews and highlights from the collections, portions of which are available outside the paywall.
Tumblr
For the third season running, Tumblr is sending a group of bloggers -- just six this time -- to chronicle the shows. An internal staff of editors will also be curating posts to display at tumblr.com/nyfw.
Alongside Tumblr's chosen six, we'd also like to put these Tumblrs on your radar during Fashion Week:
Consistently one of the first to upload runway footage to Tumblr, plus a hearty dose of backstage and celebrity/front row footage.
Some of the most beautiful -- and occasionally animated -- behind-the-scenes footage from duo Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg.
Timely runway footage, plus shots from the scene in and around Lincoln Center.
Teen Vogue's beauty director posts her daily outfits, backstage shots and loads of beauty advice from top stylists throughout NYFW.
If you don't have the pleasure of sorting through thousands of show invite requests each season, you can live vicariously through the updates from DKNY's online personality, "dknyprgirl." In addition to humorously inappropriate requests and other behind-the-scenes anecdotes, you can hope to get a few sneak peeks of show preparations, too.
Given the enthusiasm with which Fashion Week reporters and attendees have embraced photo-sharing app Instagram, we decided to include a list of some of our favorites for a visual report of the week. To locate them, open up Instagram and search for their usernames under Profile > Search Instagram > Users and usernames.
kawaks
Artistically shot images from the front row and pre-show interviews, courtesy of the WSJ's Robin Kawakami.
evachen212
Eva Chen cross-posts most of her Instagram snapshots to Tumblr and Twitter, but if you're keen to get backstage snapshots of makeup artists in action directly in your Instagram feed, you can follow her there too.
oscarprgirl
Watch Oscar de la Renta and his team put the finishing touches on the Fall 2012 collection from Director of Communications Erika Bearman. As a bonus, you'll get to see what the elegant Bearman wears to work all week.
simonesoliver
Expect a fair number of street photographs from Simone Oliver, online fashion editor at The New York Times.
katespadeny