Aug. 28--On the front row of nearly every major New York runway show are fashion's elite: top editors from international magazines and newspapers, retail executives, television personalities and celebrities. Among them, a woman with a job that doesn't quite fit any of those categories, yet encompasses them all.

Constance White, the style director for eBay, is a striking, model-esque presence amid the likes of Vogue's Anna Wintour, "Project Runway's " Nina Garcia and tabloid superstar Victoria Beckham who attend New York Fashion Week shows. White also carries similar clout.

New York Fashion Week for spring 2009 kicks off next Friday. In the last decade, the semi-annual fashion shows have grown from an industry insider event to a global media spectacle where every consumer with Internet access can instantly read and see what takes place in venues around Manhattan every September and February. With multiple shows occurring from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. all over the city every day for eight days, more than 150 designers will present their collections for next spring and summer hoping for rave press reviews, large orders from retailers and requests for endorsements from A-list celebrities.

White, who was named eBay's fashion director in August of 2003, is on the invitation list of every major designer and the woman that the world's largest e-commerce marketplace relies upon to advise, strategize and speak on all matters related to fashion for the San Jose-based online auction site.

"My over-arching goal is to raise eBay's profile within the fashion business," said the New York resident. "My job is to be out and about with my ear to the ground for the buyers and sellers who come to eBay."

Succinct, perhaps, but it doesn't quite describe White's reach or her power in an industry that's often cutthroat, petty and slow to embrace technology. American high fashion can be insular, measuring importance by one's proximity to New York's apparel industry. White, 46, has helped put eBay and Silicon Valley on the radar of not only New York's cliquish fashion world but has made the fashion capitals of Paris, London and Milan take notice, too.

"Before Constance, eBay was primarily known for vintage and used clothing," said Wendy Sept, an eBay spokesperson. "Today, we are known as a place for high fashion and it's because of her."

White's fashion connections are built on two decades of covering style. Fresh out of New York University with a journalism degree and an interest in fashion and music, her first job was at industry trade journal Women's Wear Daily where she was assigned to cover the fur beat.