Celebs in The Front Row at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week Fall 2013

Word on the street this season has been that not too many celebs have been attending the shows at Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week Fall 2013. There could be many reasons for this. One of them could be that everyone who is anyone with street style these days could look at themselves as a celeb. The second is because so many shows are livestreaming, it’s just not as effective to have a celeb in the front row for an exclusive crowd. Third, the celebs are not getting paid as much as they would have been in the past to attend a show, because the fashion bloggers and other street style “fashion celebs” are just as important. So who HAS attended the shows this season? Alas, its been a core group of B-listers and C-listers, with just a smidge of A-lister status with the likes of Brooke Shields, Drew Barrymore, Julianne Moore, Jada Pinkett-Smith and Christian Ricci. Stars like Katherine McPhee and Molly Sims have tried to make their way up the A-lister ladder, but haven’t done all that great of a job — although I’m pretty impressed with McPhee’s style capabilities of late. Well, we still haven’t hit the big shows yet — as I write this: Oscar de la Renta has yet to go on, plus Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, and Marc Jacobs’ self-named brand are coming up — and hopefully the celeb quotient will go up. In the meantime, here are the celebs we’ve spotted at the shows and how they’ve dressed:

Ashlee Simpson has attended many fashion shows this season in New York — making many ask the question — what she has she been doing up to this point? The younger Simpson hasn’t put out a record in years and has been so off the radar, many didn’t even recognize her at the runways or thought she was her older sister Jessica Simpson. Nevertheless, Ashlee was well-dressed at all the shows she attended (Rebecca Minkoff, Richard Chai, Derek Lam, Wildfox, and more) playing up both the designer’s key elements and her personal funky sense of style. My favorite look was her bold skirt, jacket, and bag at Rebecca Minkoff.

Actress Drew Barrymore has recently had a baby. She hasn’t done a movie in a while, but she still counts as A-lister in our books. Still, she’s not the kind of person to show up at fashion shows, so everyone was pleasantly surprised when she turned up at the Rag & Bone runway. Drew sipped on a beer at her seat and looked adorably cool, if that’s even impossible, in her fedora and baggy shirt. And since the Rag & Bone designers are on a mission to dress the cool girls — it looks they’ve accomplished their goal.

As Katy Perry’s date at the 2013 Grammys, Allison Williams didn’t have too much time to hang around New York City for the shows. Yet somehow she still made time to look graphically chic in the front row at the Jason Wu show during NYFW.

Also looking graphically chic, though twice Williams’ age — actress Angela Bassett in the front row at the Tracy Reese show.

Ashley Greene in white at Donna Karan’s show. We never miss seeing her in the front row, as she has been the past few seasons as the spokesmodel of the brand. By the way, this pic doesn’t do the dress justice. It has a sexy open back! Bold in black at shows like Jill Stuart and Jenny Packham were celebs Katherine Heigl, and Zoe Kravitz, daughter of Lenny Kravitz.

Jaime King made an appearance at more than one runway show, showcasing elegant and trendy style at every attendance whether it was a bold dress at Kate Spade, an urban look at Rebecca Minkoff, or all over print elsewhere.

Here’s a celeb trend we never expected to see at New York Fashion Week! But it makes sense since it was also all over the red carpet this season!

Dark Blue

Perhaps the favorite fashion week front row spotting — Heidi Klum and Brooke Shields coming out for amfAR chairman and designer Kenneth Cole’s first time showcasing a full show on the runway in over 7 years! Still wondering more celebs didn’t show up to this MAJOR event, but we’ll take these two!

Coming up…a roundup of more celebs that made their mark in the front row at New York Fashion Week, including Vanessa Hudgens, Christina Ricci, Victoria Jutsice, Shailene Woodley, Matt Damon, and more! –Simona Kogan Photos: People, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Daily News