Style Gets 7th Nod

Under an extensive 10-year pact, Style will become the official network of 7th on Sixth's Fashion Week, where designers from around the world unveil their spring and fall collections, officials said last week.

Style, a spinoff of E! Entertainment Television, closed a deal with 7th on Sixth and the Council of Fashion Designers of America that gives the network unlimited access to fashion previews starting with the spring-2001 collections. The organization 7th on Sixth produces the fashion shows in New York that introduce the new collections.

"For us, 7th on Sixth is the fashion Olympics," E! Networks CEO Mindy Herman said. "It's an obvious perfect fit. It will be an anchor for our network and a great promotional platform for designers and the CFDA. We will bring the fashion shows to people's homes across the country."

Model Paulina Porzikova has been recruited to host Style's coverage this month of the spring-2001 collections, the first initiative to fall under the new agreement.

Starting last Thursday though this Friday (Sept. 22), Style will cover the shows and parties from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. nightly.

The grand finale of the coverage will be Saturday (Sept. 23), when Style-which now has 7 million subscribers-airs a special on Fashion Week's brightest moments. The show will focus on the new trends and new stars that emerged during the weeklong fashion event.

E! will also present a nightly half-hour recap show devoted to Fashion Week, airing this week at 7 p.m.

During the week's festivities, Time Warner Cable of Manhattan will air a sneak preview of Style starting at 6 a.m. each day on its leased-access channel 35. That's to give New Yorkers a feel for the network, which is part of the digital package the operator is currently rolling out in the "Big Apple."