There are 180 New York fashion shows on Vogue.com’s review schedule. One hundred and eighty! Still, all anyone can talk about around here is Kanye West’s Yeezy show. He’s booked Madison Square Garden. He’s simultaneously releasing his new album, Waves. He’s tweeting looks from the collection! It’s going to be H-U-G-E. But even if he was back in the basement space of a Chelsea art gallery, like last September, he’d still be the biggest thing at New York Fashion Week.

The one name on this season’s calendar that comes close to Kanye’s? Rihanna’s. Bad Gal RiRi is taking to the runway for her new collaboration with Puma on Friday evening, as it happens about two weeks after her own new album, Anti, was released.

These are savvy moves by multitasking musicians who face pressures of their own to succeed in a constantly shifting marketplace. But how does a fresh-out-of-grad-school designer, or even one with a track record (like industry vet Ralph Rucci, who’s staging a comeback this season), compete with headline-makers like Kanye and Rihanna?

One thing superstar designers haven’t done is slow down the steady stream of newcomers. Our 180-shows-and-counting stat is proof of that. But I’m down on the celebrification of New York Fashion Week nonetheless.

The A-listers and their A-list budgets have simply raised the stakes too high. And it’s not just the mega celebs whom up-and-comers have to worry about these days. Mega brands like Burberry and YSL have turned their fashion shows into mini concerts. Hedi Slimaneis staging a system-disrupting Saint Laurent rock show in his adopted hometown of L.A. tomorrow, and a retinue of emerging acts is billed to play. The dozen or so labels presenting here in New York are likely to get short shrift amid the blanket Saint Laurent coverage.

Yes, it’s a two-way street; publications like mine need celebrities as much as, or more than, they need us. And the burden is indeed on fashion pubs and our retailer peers to sniff out new talent. But is there room on the sales floors and e-comm sites for unfamiliar, untested labels when shoppers have grown accustomed to “name in lights” designers? Do up-and-comers like Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta of Eckhaus Latta or Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk of Area—two NYFW contenders—have a chance at Alexander Wanglevels of awareness and success? Could they be our next HBA? I worry.