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Birmingham Native Lives For New York's Fashion Week

NEW YORK (WWJ) - It's Fashion Week in New York -- which brings the glitz and the glamour of next season's fashion to the runway.

WWJ's Laura Bonnell talked with one Michigan native who made it to the Big Apple years ago -- and has seen the good and the bad about Fashion Week.

Growing up in Birmingham, Mary Alice Stephenson always knew she was going to be in fashion.

Mary Alice Stephenson
Mary Alice Stephenson (Facebook Photo)

Known by all the fashion moguls, Stephenson is a style and beauty expert. She's been in New York for 20 years now -- attending Fashion Week, after Fashion Week.

"This is a chance for designers to show fashion as an art form in a lot of ways and that's really exciting," she said.

The down side, Stephenson said, is there hasn't been much diversity over the years.

"There should be more than one black girl on the runway, my God, it should be at least 50-50. There should be every ethnicity on the runway and the models shouldn't be so thin. Last season at Fashion Week, I literally had a model pass out in my arms," she said.

Stephenson said fashion really is a great industry, change just needs to come a little quicker.

Get complete Fashion Week coverage on our sister site, CBSNewYork.com.

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