First day in the tents and Fashion Week sponsor Mercedes-Benz is hosting a "trunk show" of "historic luggage curated by Saks Fifth Avenue." I actually got shushed by the organizer because I was laughing with some other journalists during the press conference over which fashion editors we know who might also qualify as "historic luggage."

Then -- a kiss from the woman of the hour, IMG Senior Vice President Fern Mallis, who actually runs the whole shebang. (And not just the fashion-y air kiss thing either. We're talking a full on-the-lips smooch. (Actually, that was probably a fashion foul on my part.)

So, I say to her: "Fern! Now that you're a big TV star (you've seen her on Bravo's "The Fashion Show" with Isaac Mizrahi), how have you changed? Do you fire someone every morning? Come into work and throw your fur over an assistant?"

"Oh, you know better, that's not me," she protested. "No, I've been too busy. Right after this Fashion Week ends I have to go to India [where IMG also produces the fashion week]."

Her Fashion Week survival tips include: Flat shoes "for the Bryant Park cobblestones;" plenty of hydration "and we have a new water sponsor, O.N.E., it's Tetra Pak-ed so it's very environmentally conscious," and about four hours of sleep a night.

And the juiciest rumor to find its way into my notebook on the first day: The building that houses the long-struggling Barney's department store, the Madison Avenue monument to conspicuous consumption, is being eyed to become a Nordstrom. Actually, according to my source, more than just eyed -- more like having its measurements taken. Stay tuned!