Fashion’s Night Out. A glamorous night for all fashionistas and fake fashionistas alike to put on their high stilettos and ‘Sex and the City” inspired outfits and strut the town. With appearances made by models, designers, editors and all the big fashion stars showing up at retailers (city, national, and now worldwide) it’s a big party! Let’s not forget the free drinks, gift bags and great fashion. Best of all it’s free!
When it began in 2009, a year after the Great Recession started, Fashion’s Night Out was very helpful in jump starting retailers to make money by promoting spending. Founded by Vogue magazine and the Council of Fashion Deigners of America, the first one was very exciting and new. It was all the rave. The drinks were awesome, the music was good, and seeing stars from Soho to the Upper East Side helped everyone feel important.
Now that it has become so mainstream I feel that Fashion’s Night Out is a little played out .
I, especially working at Barneys New York, saw some of my favorite designers such as Alexander Wang and Philip Lim. Even Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen showed up to support their very profitable line “The Row”. It was amazing . The crowds were hectic, but it was very successful. The following years were pretty dope too (especially the ones I didn’t have to work) and pretty productive. Each year got progressively worse than the other. Now that it has become so mainstream I feel that Fashion’s Night Out is a little played out.
Perhaps I may be over it because from what I see, it’s not even a fashion event anymore. It’s just a day marking the beginning of Fashion Week where everyone from all five boroughs come out to Manhattan, dress up, go to stores to get free drinks, listen to music, and probably not even buy merchandise. New York City, the fashion capital of the world, isn’t even home to Fashion’s Night Out any longer.
I can go to a mall in Cleveland, Ohio and I bet it will probably read “Fashion’s Night Out! Come check us out!”. Let’s be real. People in Ohio don’t care that much of fashion, and if they did, they’d be coming to New York . By having this event spread out to so many places, it loses its exclusive stature and becomes cheesy. It’s somewhat similar to, I don’t know, having a red carpet event everywhere for everyone. While it may be nice and cool at first, the diamond usually loses it luster and just becomes a headache. Especially for retailers.
Some of my co-workers dread this day saying all of the “ghetto” people are going to come by dressing all flashy as if they can afford our pieces, and some of my fashion colleagues don’t even like attending events because it lost it’s exclusivity, if they ever had it. I worked Fashion’s Night Out this year at Barneys and even we didn’t have that much going on. No DJ, no fashion show, no designers. We were generous enough to have a special cocktail hour on the 8th floor and we sold the FNO shirts. The night itself did bring a generous amount of customers which helped our sales week.
Although Fashion’s Night Out is well perceived as a collective around the globe and it probably wont end, at least not anytime soon, I hope it will. I know I’m not one for this party anymore. Me, the biggest lover of fashion, just wants to grab fashion as a whole and take it away with me and hide it. Mine. No sharing. Like it’s my possession. Instead, I took myself home that night and watched the VMA’s. As if that was any better.
Fashion’s Night Out 2012 was held on September 6, 2012.
The event is now a global initiative held in over 18 countries.
Check out video of a FNO 2012 recap presented by American Vogue:
DZI: The Voice 