Anna Wintour shows off new front-row favourite

Is Roger Federer no longer the must-have accessory for New York's queen of fashion? Two days after the tennis player's shock exit from the US Open - the first time in six years he has not reached the final - it seems Federer's longtime supporter Anna Wintour has dropped him for a new favourite sportsman to take to New York fashion week.
 
In past years it has been Federer who has invariably accompanied Wintour to the catwalk collections, making the pair's friendship the subject of speculation at every New York fashion week. But at Monday's high-profile show for Tommy Hilfiger's 25th Anniversary the US Vogue editor-in-chief had a new athlete in tow: basketballer Amare Stoudemire.
 
Attending his first-ever proper designer show, the 6ft 10in New York Knicks player sat beside Wintour in what envious fashion industry observers call the 'power seat' - the front row spot beside the all-powerful editor.
 
Sitting among an A-list line-up that included Mad Men's Christina Hendricks and singer-actress Jennifer Lopez,  Wintour (above left) and Stoudemire (centre) laughed and chatted before the show, occasionally allowing Vogue's European Editor at Large, Hamish Bowles (right), in on the conversation.
 
Federer, who spoke recently about how Wintour gives him fashion advice, was nowhere to be seen, despite his empty diary following his surprise loss at Saturday's semi-final to Novak Djokovic.
 
Without wishing to spoil a good story, it is possible that it was Tommy Hilfiger, and not Wintour, who invited Stoudemire to the show. According to the Guardian, the designer deliberately placed him beside the Vogue editor, in order to send "a strong message [that] the Hilfiger heritage is as much about athleticism and macho American maleness as hemlines and fabrics". ·