Today is the last day of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Spring 2012. It has been a whirlwind week of beautiful people, fabulous fashion, and VIP exclusive exclusiveness.

Only, thanks to social media, New York Fashion Week is not so exclusive anymore.

Livestream of Theysken's Theory show

Live Streaming (YouTube, Facebook, Brand Sites)
What two years ago may have been the exception is now the norm. I counted more than 30 designers live streaming their shows, and have seen reports upwards of 50, including one of my favorites, Theysken’s Theory.

Another example is Marc Jacobs. His collection is live streaming tonight at 7 p.m. Central.

Oscar De La Renta Tumblr

Tumblr
The blogger platform Tumblr has become a hotspot for the fashion community. Tumblr sent more than 20 fashion bloggers to NYFW, and the designers are leveraging this platform as well.

Oscar de la Renta presented his spring 2012 collection at odlrlive.tumblr.com. The site displays, in real time, any photos that have been uploaded to Tumblr with the tag #odlrlive. Photos are from bloggers, reporters, models or people viewing the live stream at home.

Man Repeller Instagram

Instagram
Launched in October 2010, Instagram has more than nine million users. Instagram was another hot platform at NSFW. Leandra Medine of the popular (and entertaining) blog The Man Repeller used Instagram to share images of the runways from shows she attended. You can follow her in Instagram at @manrepeller.

@WWD Tweet

Twitter
Of course, EVERYONE, fashion press, bloggers, designers, models, show attendees and the rest of the world are all contributing their 140 character observations and reviews.

Twitter hosted @nyfw, featuring models, stylists, and designers tweeting from backstage at the hottest shows, including model @cocorocha and Marie Claire fashion director and Project Runway judge @ninagarcia.

One of my favorite #nyfw follows is @WWD, which offers gems such as, “Lindsey Lohan just threw a full drink at a boy at V magazine party who dared to snap her pic #nyfw.”

As long as we’re talking Fashion Week, we should take a moment to discuss the fashion. I concur with a New York Times reporter’s assessment of the three key items shown for spring 2012 being a sport garment (ugh, did I really see something resembling biker shorts at the Lacoste show?), a soft below-the-knee dress (like Rodarte’s), and a jacket (I love a good fitted blazer with a t-shirt and skinny jeans a la French Vogue editor Emmanuelle Alt).

So, while social media enabled me to feel in a way like I was really there…I really wasn’t. I still got a pang of jealousy when my pal emailed me from the Tibi show Tuesday. Maybe next year.