Ugly Battle Brewing Over Fashion Week

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week could be burdened by a decidedly inelegant accessory during its inaugural run at Lincoln Center: a picket line.

In the run-up to New York Fashion Week's Sept. 9 opening, a dispute is brewing between IMG Fashion, which produces the biannual event; Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the union that oversees much of the stagehand and other theatrical labor used at the performing-arts complex; and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.