The main lobby, pictured here, is home to sponsor booths, a food and drink area, and check-in for the designers’ guests. About 100,000 people will walk through this area to get to the 90 shows taking place in the tents over the course of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Some of the sponsor booths (including TRESemmé and the Style Network, shown here) are actually two floors, allowing for additional events and demos to go on above the mingling crowd—for example, TRESemmé’s top floor will host a mini-salon. Styling is actually responsible for a large chunk of the 1,500 tons of power used throughout at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, “especially when you have a bunch of hair dryers plugged into one power strip,” says David Prince of Aggreko, responsible for power and climate control at the event. To power a show this large, two large generators are designated for air conditioning while three are used for electricity. In the winter, when tents must be heated 24 hours a day, even more power is needed.

Located just off the lobby is the Mercedes-Benz Star Lounge, a private reception area for the biggest celebrities in attendance during the week. The lounge features more intricate decorative elements from stores like Z Gallerie that were still being loaded in on Tuesday morning, including this silver chandelier.

These windowed walkways, overlooking a courtyard, guide guests through the complex. Temporary places of assembly like these are just as much a part of the emergency exit strategy as the exits themselves, and must adhere to all fire codes. For an event in New York City hosting 75 people or more, there needs to be emergency lighting charged and ready at all times, so there are backup generators specifically for this purpose. It is also important that all exit doors swing out of the tents, because the number one cause of fire fatality is inward-swinging doors, says A.Form Architecture’s Andy Engler, who is in charge of making sure all permits and codes are up to snuff at the event. Eighty fire extinguishers are placed around the tents for additional precaution.

The Theatre is the largest and most prestigious of the three runway venues, with only 15 to 20 of the world’s most famous designers showing here each season. Because every designer has a different setup for their show—and these designers have the most money to spend on extravagant sets—only one or two designers can show here each day. The Theatre also has the largest capacity for a runway show at 1,300 people.

The Stage is the second-largest runway space at the venue, with a 900-person capacity. To decide which designers will show where, Christina Neault, executive producer of IMG Fashion, first looks at a designer’s seniority, and then their press-worthiness. Veteran designers are grandfathered into their time slots every year. This year’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week features designers from 10 different countries, but Neault says they must have some sort of team or business foundation in New York City in order to show there.

Eighty percent of the runway lighting, like these tracks shown here at the Stage, is completed a full week before the event begins. One of the most important tasks for Rob Strohmeir, whose company, Strohmeir Lighting, has been illuminating Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week since the 1980s, is pleasing both still photographers and videographers with the light balance in the room. Luckily, editing and adjusting the lighting in photos has gotten much easier since the ’80s. “Thank God for the digital camera,” Strohmeir says. “It has revolutionized a lot.”

No two shows can happen at the same time, so many press members and onlookers will find themselves shuffling from runway to runway. But lucky guests seated in the American Express Skybox, seen here from the Stage, get a sky-high view of all three runway venues without ever having to step out from behind the mirrored privacy windows. A separate staircase in the back of the venue leads these 20-25 VIP guests to the Skybox, and a glass of champagne greets them at the door.

The Studio can host 500 attendees for a show, making it the smallest of the three runway locations. Regardless of how large or small a show is, certain aspects of production must be in perfect harmony among all of the venues to ensure a smooth event. Eric Bechtel, general manager of sound company Audible Difference, says that his 10-person crew must coordinate between the different tents that are near each other to make sure only one is playing music at a time. They also must work closely with their next-door neighbors, the Metropolitan Opera and David H. Koch Theater, so that no sound from Fashion Week interferes with events going on there. Though Bechtel’s crew loads in three semi-trucks full of audio equipment a week in advance, he says they usually don’t receive the songs that will be playing for a runway show until two hours before it begins.

The Box is a presentation space for emerging designers to get their work in front of fashion’s elite. While a high-powered fashion editor may not be willing to sit down for a brand new designer’s runway show when they have many others to attend, they are much more likely to take a walk around the Box and scan the collection, showcased on stationery models. The floor in this space is re-painted every day to keep it looking glossy and fresh for the next designers. Similar refreshing techniques are used in the Studio, Stage and Theatre—the runways get a brand new canvas before every show, and the plastic doesn’t come off until minutes before it begins.
For a backstage look at MGM Mirage Events from Spin, click here.