Designers have a flair for the dramatic. This is why they decided at an early age that they would not be school teachers or electrical engineers. With extravagant runway sets, lighting concepts and hoards of celebrities lining the front row, New York Fashion Week has emerged as a rival to the theater.

Designers such as Marc Jacobs brought spectacle, story and substance to the lucky few who filled the seats and to those waiting by their computers for online postings to the masses. Tearing brown paper packaging from an enormous wooden frame, Jacobs revealed a stage onto which his models emerged.