OMG it’s less than a month until
Fashion’s Night Out: Limited-edition products, celebrity appearances, fashion
editors, model sightings, famous designers ringing up your purchase, live music
and booze. It’s a citywide extravaganza. Although I’m still applying Chanel SPF
30 to my face, it’s time to think about the event that marks a change in the seasons,
regardless of the weather.
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| Anna Wintour and Natalie Massenet at Net-a-Porter's pop-up |
Fashion’s Night Out, or FNO as the
cognoscenti call it, is the kickoff to New York Fashion Week. Last year’s FNO
featured events in 18 countries, with more than 4,500 right here in the United
States. American Vogue, the Council
of Fashion Designers of America, NYC & Company and the City of New York originally
collaborated on the project to celebrate fashion, restore consumer confidence
after 9/11, and boost the industry. They thought they needed to put the fun
back into shopping.
FNO
has been marked on our family’s calendar since it began four years ago in 2009.
This year it will be held on September 6th from 6 to 11 pm.
The very first FNO my daughter was
a college intern at Teen Vogue magazine, which each year closes Bleecker Street
to hold a block party and fashion show. I got to meet her bosses, Teen Vogue
editors doing personal appearances in shops all around the party. There were
free sneakers and Taylor Momsen singing in little more than a man’s tailored
shirt, garters and stockings. It was all very glamorous, a little crazy, and all
night long, everyone had a drink in their hand.
The second year Natasha was
interning at Marie Claire magazine. We went back to the fun in the West Village
and traipsed from store to store, got a wicked photo of the two of us at Marc
Jacobs, ate cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery and watched the calamity of an entire
city coming out to get their party on at the same time. Many girls got their
high heels stuck in the cobblestones.
FNO is a little like New Year’s
Eve. It’s a citywide celebration that can get a little rowdy. On the cab ride
home that year, our taxi stopped for a red light on 57th Street and
a man opened the backseat door. He was so drunk he did not see that there was a
22-year old girl already in the seat, and he proceeded to sit down, on top of
her. She pushed him out of the cab and he offered something between an apology
and an explanation: “I just want to get home,” he slurred. Not glamorous.
Last year we were invited, as part
of the Hester Street Fair, to sell both our handmade, and curated line of
jewelry at Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue. We were positioned opposite the bank
of elevators on one of the upper floors and I vividly remember watching a sea
of women and girls stepping out of the elevator, coming towards us, all night
long. Like the waves on the seashore, they just kept rolling in.
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| Natasha Spedalle, owner of Wink and Flip, at Henri Bendel |
This
year, on August 1st, I realized we wanted to sell again on Fashion’s Night Out
and should get going on booking ourselves somewhere. Then it dawned on me.
“Let’s
do our own event!” I told Natasha.
“Where?” she asked, “in the living room?”
We’d
both overlooked the fact that by September 6th we will have our own pop-up
shop in the middle of the Urban Space Meatpacking market, in the middle of
NYC’s uber-fashionable Meatpacking district. Right next to, in fact, a DVF
store. Diane Von Furstenberg was one of the founders, along with Anna Wintour, of
Fashion’s Night Out. I later learned there are no less than 65 FNO events in
the Meatpacking district.
 |
| Diane Von Furstenberg at the 2011 Fashion's Night Out |
We
filled out the required forms, insurance certificates, got the many approvals and I am proud to say we will be listed as an official Fashion’s Night
Out event on the FNO web site. It will read:
Wink and Flip at UrbanSpace Meatpacking
437-51 West 13th Street, New
York NY 10014
Wink&Flip's
Fall Jewelry Preview and Macaron Parlour Treats, 6-8pm
Drop by
Wink and Flip for an evening of styling advice and shopping. Owner Natasha
Spedalle is toasting the night with Macaron Parlour macarons, her
limited-edition FNO necklace, and a 15% gift card good on a follow-up purchase
at W&F’s Meatpacking location, or on winkandflip.com.
Here
is the 15% off coupon Natasha designed:
Taylor
Momsen won’t be there, but we hope lots of curious shoppers might come by and
visit.
Last year FNP launced an app to simplify
planning the fashion-filled evening. Keep an eye out for that. Visit fashionsnightout.com for updates, and follow Fashion's Night
Out on Twitter and Facebook to stay informed. Proceeds from sales of
official FNO gear benefit the New York Community Trust's New York City AIDS
Fund.
Susan and Natasha
Wink and Flip
etsy.com/shop/winkandflip
1 comment:
Ooo, that's so exciting that you'll be doing your own event! Last year I was in the Meatpacking District and it was definitely a party! I may be in the same area again this year :)
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