Feb 13 (Reuters) - Behind the scenes of New York
Fashion Week, reams of legal contracts bind together designers,
models, hair and make-up artists, photographers, stagehands,
lighting technicians and even celebrities flaunting their
clothes.
These days fashion contracts can range from a premium price
of up to $65,000 to rent the main runway at Lincoln Center where
the top designers tend to show, to a smaller designer's DJ
contract including a clause that the DJ must have the right to
publicly broadcast the music they pump out during the show.
"No one ever sees all of the business and legal work that
goes into creating these shows," Susan Scafidi, director of
Fordham Law School's Fashion Institute, said. "There are reams
of contracts that have to happen."
Below is a peek of the kinds of negotiations that take place
in order for each of the 90-plus shows to happen.
THE TENTS: The fashion shows most familiar to the public
are those at the IMG event at Lincoln Center, where tent rents
range from $16,500 to $65,000. Contracts for these venues are
generally non-negotiable, and, like most Fashion Week-related
agreements, subject to secrecy. The IMG contract, Scafidi said,
"has confidentiality written all over it."
Some of the standard provisions cover lighting, seating and
how long the designer will have access to the tents. Tent
contracts also require that literature for each show includes
the event's full name, and that a designer's sponsors don't
conflict with the week's official event sponsors. With Diet
Pepsi as a sponsor this year, for instance, Diet Coke would
likely not be approved.
MODELS: While fees and other details are typically included
in a designer's contract with models, the issue lawyers on both
sides worry about most is how the models' images will be used in
advertising, social media and other outlets.
Designers usually want to be able to use the images "in
perpetuity." Models' representatives try to limit that contract
language to a more defined period, typically six months, said
Ali Grace, deputy director of business and legal at model
management company Wilhelmina International Ltd.
For prominent models, the contracts will be heavily
negotiated, often at the last minute. Typically, design houses
present their own contracts to the model agency and the agency
edits the language and tries to persuade the designer's
representative to agree.
MUSIC RIGHTS: IMG has a contract with the American Society
of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the organization
that controls music rights. For the fashion shows, ASCAP allows
designers to play most artists without worrying about the record
companies claiming copyright infringement, said Steve Gordon, an
entertainment lawyer who discussed the topic at a panel held at
Fordham Law School last week.
Designers who show away from Lincoln Center at smaller
spaces such as art galleries need to purchase ASCAP licenses
themselves, or ensure any contract with the DJ includes a clause
that they have the right to publicly broadcast the music they
play.
SPONSORS: Designers use sponsors to help defray the costs
of the show. Because that involves using the sponsor companies'
trademarked logos as well as how the companies' names will be
used, lawyers are needed.
An issue that sometimes arises is the conflicting
sponsorship. For example, labels showing in Mercedes-Benz tents
can't turn to other carmakers as sponsors. But if the designer
is showing at another venue, automakers are fair game -- which
is why the label Rag & Bone could sign up Land Rover for Fashion
Week last September. That involved both a sponsorship fee as
well as Land Rover providing cars to ferry Rag & Bone V.I.P.
guests to and from their show, said Douglas Hand, an attorney at
Hand Baldachin Amburgey who helped negotiate the contract.
CELEBRITIES: Designers work hard to get celebrities to
their shows, and the process often is complicated, involving
negotiations over if the starlet will speak to the press, pose
for pictures and what they'll wear, Scafidi said. The contracts
however are nearly unenforceable, since no designer would want
the bad press of suing a celebrity for non-attendance.
(An earlier version of this article dropped the name Hand
from Hand Baldachin & Amburgey)
(Reporting by Erin Geiger Smith)
Follow us on Twitter: @ReutersLegal