Top designers at New York Fashion Week have been at war with the organizers at IMG over their celebrity guests.
IMG insisted that all designers bring their front-row stars through the front door of the new Lincoln Center venue on Columbus Avenue so they can be photographed in front of sponsor logos.
PHOTOS: TOMMY HILFIGER SPRING 2011 SHOW
PHOTOS: BCBG MAX AZRIA SPRING 2011 SHOW
“IMG told the designers and celebrity teams, ‘If you show at Lincoln Center, you play by our rules and bring your celebrity guests through the front,’ ” a Fashion Week source told Page Six. “But why should the celebs have to pose with the sponsor boards when they are here to support the designer?”
Instead, guests for the Tommy Hilfiger and Max Azria shows on Sunday arrived through the back entrance, at Amsterdam and 62nd.
“Celebrities need to come in the back because we care about their security and the security of show attendees. When celebs walk through the front, it causes commotion,” said a BCBG/Max Azria spokesman.
“The drop-off at 65th Street is the safest,” an IMG spokesperson told The Post’s Lisa Marsh. “There is no area backstage for them to hang out, so they get in the way of people working.”
Stars at Max Azria and his BCBG show included Solange Knowles, Ashlee Simpson and Kelly Rowland.
Hilfiger’s Sunday show was so star-packed — with Jennifer Lopez, Ed Westwick, Jessica Szohr, Lenny Kravitz, Bradley Cooper and Jason Lewis — that photographers almost came to blows in front of the A-list stars.
Some VIPs almost didn’t make the show — cars for the celebs showed up an hour late, and suits for Westwick, Cooper and other male celebs didn’t get to them until minutes before the show.
A rep for Hilfiger explained that “torrential rain unfortunately stalled some of the arrivals,” and “suits for Lewis and others were being finished at the very last minute to ensure they would be perfect.”