Live streaming at NY fashion week opens up the front row for all

If your tickets to the shows at the New York Lincoln Center were lost in the post, you will be able to watch in a virtually ringside seat, by logging on to dedicated sites such as Firstcomesfashion.com. This website has been hailed by its founder Judy Licht as proof that "Fashion week has gone from elitist to socialist". Once registered, users can watch around 30 of the New York catwalk shows on the site in real time.

Designers are also going to lengths to ensure that their collections are debuted to wide audiences; Hot on the heels of Alexander McQueen and Burberry, whose most recent shows were streamed online, Alexander Wang will stream and project his show onto sites around Lower Manhattan, while Betsey Johnson will present her catwalk show as well as pre-show backstage footage on her website at betseyjohnson.com- giving online audiences an even greater insight than her actual one.

Meanwhile, facebook fans of designers including Calvin Klein will be able to watch runway footage on their fanpages, and discuss what they see with other users. Online audiences might miss out on the thrill of the real experience, but they also get to avoid wardrobe scrutiny, and the strict rationing of canapés; which may be no bad thing.