Fashion Week returns to New York City Sept. 6, and once again designers and the press are heading to the web to engage massive consumer audiences.
Building off success from past seasons, many brands -- roughly one-third showing at Lincoln Center -- will live-stream the unveiling of their Spring 2013 collections on their websites and Facebook pages, as well as via video platforms such as YouTube and Livestream. Still more will upload backstage footage via their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest accounts.
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Meanwhile, members of the fashion press will churn 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 the best resources for enjoying the festivities online and via your mobile phone. If there’s any we’ve missed, please let us know in the comments section below.
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Live Video
This year, more than 30 shows will stream live on YouTube, a 17% increase from last season. Head over to youtube.com/liverunway (or m.youtube.com/liverunway from your mobile phone) to preview the schedule and add shows to your Google Calendar or iCal. Several other brands are streaming shows via their websites, Facebook pages and apps. See the full schedule below.
Nicholas K Thursday, Sept. 6, 9 a.m. ET
BCBGMAXAZRIA Thursday, Sept. 6, 10 a.m. ET
Richard Chai Thursday, Sept. 6, 11 a.m. ET
Jason Wu Thursday, Sept. 6, 1 p.m. ET
Tadashi Shoji Thursday, Sept. 6, 2 p.m. ET
Rebecca Minkoff Friday, Sept. 7, 3 p.m. ET Ahead of the show, Teen Vogue's Eva Chen will host a Google Hangout on Lyst's Google+ page.
Tommy Hilfiger Friday, Sept. 7, 5:30 p.m. ET
Nicole Miller Friday, Sept. 7, 6 p.m. ET
Charlotte Ronson Friday, Sept. 7, 7 p.m. ET
Lacoste Saturday, Sept. 8, 10 a.m. ET
Jill Stuart Saturday, Sept. 8, 11 a.m. ET
Mara Hoffman Saturday, Sept. 8, 2 p.m. ET
Herve Léger by Max Azria Saturday, Sept. 8, 3 p.m. ET
Monique Lhuillier Saturday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m. ET
Lela Rose Sunday, Sept. 9, 11 a.m. ET
Tracy Reese Sunday, Sept. 9, 2 p.m. ET
Custo Barcelona Sunday, Sept. 9, 2 p.m. ET
Diane von Furstenberg Sunday, Sept. 9, 4 p.m. ET
Timo Weiland Sunday, Sept. 9, 6 p.m. ET
Chado Ralph Rucci Sunday, Sept. 9, 8 p.m. ET
Carolina Herrera Monday, Sept. 10, 10 a.m. ET
Carlos Miele Monday, Sept. 10, 11 a.m. ET
Reem Acra Monday, Sept. 10, 3 p.m. ET
Badgley Mischka Tuesday, Sept. 11, 10 a.m. ET
Vera Wang Tuesday, Sept. 11, 11 a.m. ET
Jenny Packham Tuesday, Sept. 11, 1 p.m. ET
Bibhu Mohapatra Wednesday, Sept. 12, 9 a.m. ET
Michael Kors Wednesday, Sept. 12, 10 a.m. ET
Rachel Zoe Wednesday, Sept. 12, 1 p.m. ET
J. Mendel Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2 p.m. ET
Milly by Michelle Smith Wednesday, Sept. 12, 3 p.m. ET
Anna Sui Wednesday, Sept. 12, 6 p.m. ET
Vivienne Tam Wednesday, Sept. 12, 7 p.m. ET
If you prefer live tweets to live video, we have a few favorites to recommend. You can follow the full conversation by tracking the hashtags #nyfw and #mbfw.
@womensweardaily Official Twitter account of fashion trade publication Women's Wear Daily; tweets commentary and photos.
@EHolmesWSJ Retail/fashion reporter for The Wall Street Journal, who frequently posts mobile pics during and immediately after shows.
@evachen212 Teen Vogue's beauty director is a top source for backstage photos and makeup advice.
@robinha Beautiful mobile shots from the runway, courtesy of the WSJ's Robin Kawakami.
@CathyHorynNYT New York Times critic, who tweets colorful, descriptive commentary from the shows.
@EricWilsonNYT The New York Times's Eric Wilson expertly surfaces details and anecdotes -- particularly humorous ones -- you won't find anywhere else.
@nyfw Guest moderators tweet from Twitter's official New York Fashion Week handle throughout the week.
@MBFashionWeek Mercedes Benz's official account for New York Fashion Week.
@jimshi809 A live, photo-filled chronicle of runway shows and parties from freelance fashion journalist Jim Shi.
@CNFashion Retweets from Conde Nast fashion and beauty editors at the shows.
@elvainadine WSJ multimedia producer and reporter, who posts high-quality photos straight from the runway.
@TheCut Updates (including plenty of gossip) from New York Magazine's fashion blog.
Fashion News Sites
For those who prefer more editorially heavy coverage, here our top five picks for fashion news and imagery throughout the week.
The Cut: With zoomable, high-definition photos and concise review roundups, The Cut will be our first stop for all New York Fashion Week coverage.
Style.com: Long the go-to site for immediate Fashion Week coverage, Style.com offers some of the most intelligent collection reviews, accompanied by comprehensive (if laborious) slideshows and videos from the runway. If you're more interested in behind-the-scenes stories, see Style.com's People + Parties section.
Heard on the Runway: Blog-style coverage and slideshows from The Wall Street Journal.
On the Runway: The New York Times' style blog contains short updates from on and around the runway, often accompanied by slideshows.
Women's Wear Daily: Reviews and highlights from the collections, portions of which are available outside the paywall.
Tumblr
Looking for immediate, photo-rich coverage of New York Fashion Week? Tumblr is your best bet. In fact, the social blogging company is once again sending six excellent Tumblr bloggers to cover the event. Stay tuned to Mashable for more information on those lucky six. In the meantime, check out our picks.
Tumblr.com/NYFW: Tumblr's curated feed of New York Fashion Week posts.
WGSN: Expect lightning-fast uploads, high-res detail shots and street style photography from WGSN's Tumblr. The trend forecasting agency also offers insights into runway trends mid-week.
WWD: Consistently one of the first to upload runway footage to Tumblr, plus a hearty dose of backstage and celebrity/front row footage.
From Me To You: Some of the most beautiful -- and occasionally animated -- behind-the-scenes footage from duo Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg.
Teen Vogue: Timely runway footage, plus shots from the scene in and around Lincoln Center.
Eva Chen: Teen Vogue's beauty director posts her daily outfits, backstage shots and loads of beauty advice from top stylists throughout NYFW.
dknyprgirl: 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.
These days, fashion show attendees surely snap a runway photo (or six) to upload to Instagram, sometimes even mid-show. To locate our favorites, listed below, open Instagram and search for their usernames under Profile > Search Instagram > Users and usernames.
showstudio_nick_knight In between landscape and celebrity shots, expect to find plenty of front-row runway footage from established fashion photographer Nick Knight.
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.
kawaks Artistically shot images from the front row and pre-show interviews, courtesy of the WSJ's Robin Kawakami.
simonesoliver Expect a fair number of street photographs from Simone Oliver, online fashion editor at The New York Times.
katespadeny Peek into preparations for Kate Spade New York's Spring 2013 fashion presentation.
Last season, Instagram was the darling of Fashion Week. This September, it might very well be Pinterest, particularly given the attention Oscar de la Renta attracted when it live-pinned its bridal show in April. Since few brands were active on Pinterest last fashion week, our picks below are more guesses than sure calls.
Oscar de la Renta If ODLR's bridal show is anything to go by, expect near-live imagery leading up to and throughout the show on the brand's Pinterest page.
Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal was among the first news organizations to experiment with fashion coverage on Pinterest, having established a dedicated board for New York Fashion Week in February. We're expecting similar things this September.
WWD In addition to photos, WWD also uploads runway videos to its Pinterest page.
Images courtesy of Jason Wu, Nicole Miller, Vera Wang
This story originally published on Mashable here.