Fashion Week Beyond the Runway: A Fifth Avenue Flagship and a Design Museum
During Fashion Week the runway shows stay invite-only, but two Manhattan landmarks put the season's design within public reach.
🗺️ Two Fashion Stops on the Midtown Grid
🛍️ Saks Fifth Avenue: The Flagship Windows
Saks Fifth Avenue holds down the block at 611 Fifth Avenue, across from St. Patrick's Cathedral, and its street-level windows are a Fashion Week attraction in their own right. Browse the main floor and the windows for free, then move up through the designer collections at your own pace. The store carries a 4.4 rating from more than 6,900 visitors. Hours run Monday through Saturday, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, and Sunday, 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM.
🎨 Museum of Arts and Design: Fashion as Craft
The Museum of Arts and Design sits on Columbus Circle, where its galleries treat jewelry, textiles, and fashion as craft rather than product. Come Wednesday, when the galleries stay open until 8:00 PM instead of the usual early-evening close. The museum carries a 4.2 rating from more than 1,900 visitors. Galleries open Tuesday through Sunday, with Wednesday running 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM and Monday closed.
🚶 Linking Fifth Avenue to Columbus Circle
The two stops sit about three-quarters of a mile apart, a 15-minute walk from Fifth Avenue up to Columbus Circle. Start at Saks in the late morning for the windows and the main floor, then finish at the museum for its Wednesday evening hours. One is a working flagship, the other a museum, and together they frame Fashion Week as both commerce and craft.
