Models at New York Fashion Week are facing an even more competitive environment as many designers continue to down-size and opt for cheaper presentations over runway shows, said Marques Nolan, an agent for Code Model Management.

Model Emily Fox, backstage before the Academy of Arts runway show, said designers are holding less castings making it even more competitive than usual to get modeling work.   It has also become more common for models to be paid in clothes rather than money, she said.

Another model, Alice Gibb, said she was told last minute she wouldn’t be needed for a show she had been booked for.

Fans of “Sex and the City” rejoice — Patricia Field, stylist for the hit television series and movie, has created a clothing collection based on the wardrobes of characters Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte.

And Field says breaking to the closets of the “Sex and the City” ladies won’t break your bank. Prices range from $39 to about $200. “You don’t have to get a mortgage to afford them,” she told Reuters . “Money doesn’t make style.”

Field showcased her Destination Style New York collection, which will be available on the Home Shopping Network, at a catwalk show during New York Fashion Week.

“Sex and the City” chronicled the lives of four single women living in New York City and ended in 2004 but returned with a blockbuster hit movie this year. For six seasons American women tuned into HBO to see what Carrie, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, and her friends were  wearing, from expensive Manolo Blahnik sling-back shoes to apparel from high-end designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier.

(Reporting by Jan Paschal; picture: Fabrizio Bensch, Reuters)