Controversy Haunts Surtex

I'm sitting here watching, not ogling, okay ogling some foxy young women out in the Javits atrium stapling shit together and taping construction paper to large tabs that they hope will perform as a makeshift hanging system. They're obviously scrambling to get the Surtex displays of their textile designs together at the last minute. The Show itself was scrambling this year as the recession cut the bottom out of the exhibitor numbers. A few weeks ago they announced desperately that they were opening a section of the show called Design Next or Next Design, something like that, for young, emerging designers (like these girls wearing their underwear on the outside of their clothes) to showcase their work at a reduced rate. It's the reduced rate part that has pissed off a lot of the old-timers who paid full price for their booths. Me included, except I've got enough problems already without letting this particular injustice get me all bent out of shape. You gotta pick your battles is my attitude these days. So meanwhile I'll tastefully admire these gals in their tight black dresses with the underwear on the outside. They could also be from one of those English colleges whose textile programs have booths.