By By Erika Luft

It’s none other than the kick-off of New York Fashion Week. The celebrities roam freely through the giant white tents in Manhattan’s Bryant Park, smiling at every turn for the hundreds of camera belonging to both professionals and fans.

Fashion Week runs from September 8-16, and showcases the hottest designers and their spring lines. This year Fashion Week’s title sponsor is Olympus, with a second sponsorship from UPS. UPS is all about bringing the small business the same options and advantages available to multi-million dollar corporations, therefore they created their own tent which will showcase only up and coming designers, who have not had the opportunities to present at Fashion Week in the past. They are showcasing designers like Doo.Ri, Project Alabama, Tomer and Matthew Earnest, among others. UPS is also hosting a fashion forum for design students from Parsons and Fashion Institute of Technology, so they can meet and speak with new designers as well as professionals in the design field to get a grasp on what they will be tackling in the real world of fashion design and merchandising.

The whole thing kicked off with a few spectacular bashes such as Mao Magazine’s launch party at the Chelsea club GLO and the Fashion Rocks benefit. Overflowing with the biggest names in fashion, these parties are only the beginning. Fashion Weeks brings in the biggest names in show business, not only to see the new collections, but to be seen themselves.

Fashion Week is unlike any other celebrity show-down. The celebs roam freely around Bryant Park, stopping for a cigarette or a cup of coffee just like any other New Yorker; it is the chance for the fashionista in all of us to see the real deals up close and personal.