It's a schmooze moment. It's an Emily Post moment. Barely contained patience. Backstage, eight models are coiffed, dressed and ready. McFadden fingers her huge gold pin, nervously.
Cold rain pelts the tent top.
Another model, Katia, peruses Kybpek, a New York Russian-language newspaper. Three stylists deftly attach braids to the last head. A woman pops her head in the tent. The show starts at 10. We should be under way in five minutes or so.