Ruth Finley and ‘Calendar Girl’: Without Her, There Couldn’t Have Been NYC Fashion Week

Sadly, concerns about the regrowth of COVID-19 infections has begun to have an impact on cultural and community plans for this autumn.

The much-loved Fall Festival in Salisbury, Conn., has been postponed until 2022.

The Berkshire International Film Festival, also known as BIFF, is neither canceled nor postponed — but its organizers announced last week that this year’s festival will be presented “virtually,” not in person. 

The BIFF film roster is heavily weighted toward documentary films, although there are a few “narratives” (which all feel a little like documentaries anyway).

There are also short films, and everyone loves shorts, right?

There’s a very diverse selection, something for every interest. 

There is a thoughtful exploration of transgender identity in a film (“No Ordinary Man”) about the jazz musician Billy Tipton, a woman masquerading as a man to find her/his place in the jazz world.

There is a film about parents trying to allow  their children more freedom to play and learn (“Chasing Childhood”). 

“The Art of Don Gummer” is a look into the world of the sculptor who lives and works in Salisbury, Conn.

There are films about social justice, about cooking, about athletics, about dating. There are two films about the world of fashion. One is a fictional or narrative film about a young Greek man who opens a fashion atelier in Athens.

This is the one
I’ll be watching first

The other fashion film is “Calendar Girl,” about Ruth Finley and the fascinating story of her brilliant invention, the Fashion Calendar.

Anyone who’s ever tried to organize a fundraising event or large party knows how frustrating it can be to find a date when there isn’t another such party or event, one that is likely to steal away your guests and/or donors.

This problem is multiplied exponentially twice a year in New York City when fashion houses large, small and tiny try to schedule their fashion shows during the annual fashion week. It was Finley who not only created the calender (THE calendar) that everyone uses — but she also convinced everyone in a business that prizes individuality to sign on to and respect the calendar. 

Think of the power dynamics among the advertisers, the fashion editors and OMG the models. 

Everyone wants that year’s It Girl models to be in their shows. Not only do the fashion designers need a system for their runway event; the models’ bookers also need to know who is doing which show when — and where. 

While many of the shows nowadays are held at Bryant Park in midtown, there were many years when shows were held uptown, for the big companies; and way downtown for the newer, edgier designers. 

If everyone wanted Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford in their shows, they had to figure out travel time for those star models from uptown to downtown and back again (and anyone who has ever tried to travel around Manhattan at any time of day knows how slow and unpredictable the trip can be — even if you’re in a stretch limousine and have 12-foot long legs).

It was Ruth Finley’s Fashion Calendar that made it all possible. It took some of the melodrama out of a business that is already powered as much by drama as by glamour. 

Only Virtual Passes are offered this year for Berkshire International Film Festival. They are currently on sale and will be until they sell out. 

They can be found at www.biffma.eventive.org/passes/buy. The $150 Virtual Pass offers screening of all the BIFF films, with the exception of the animated shorts.