I attended the first Fashion Night Out last year, and it was definitely busy, and buzzing with curiosity. The celebrities had fun, people shopped a bit, and reporters got the inside scoop. This year the intensity doubled. It seemed more of the public showed up, as if the secret was out.
My first stop was Henri Bendel’s at about 6:15 I arrived with my sister who is a make-up artist, checking out the scene for her own business. It was so crowded, we started on the first floor cosmetics, and realized instantly our credit cards could go back in our wallets, not much shopping was getting done in this scene. My sister found Mally Roncal celebrity make-up artist who we instantly had a photo opt with, she was super sweet and dazzled in a glam’d up dress. Next stop we had to check out the 4th floor salon, Olivia Palermo was on hand as part of an in store event special, $75 to look like your favorite red carpet star for the night. It included hair styling, make-up, playing dress up in a red carpet gown, slipping into a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes, styling by Olivia Palermo and you leave with your very own red carpet photo. Cute concept..not a bad price..young girls were swooning over the idea, as they headed to sign up, we headed back down stairs and out the door to the next stop.
We walked a few blocks over to Bergdorf, where I heard Nicole Ritchie and Tom Ford would be… thought, I’d like to get a quick interview with her or him about their lines. Well, the only line we got was one that resembled an amusement park one, snaking around the building. I looked at my sister, took a quick picture and said, “We are definitely not waiting in this.”
We crossed the street and proceeded to check out a few fabulous store windows, we were surprised by moving mannequins at Escada. One gorgeous girl was seated looking in a mirror as if applying her make-up, it was fantastic! Other models were out on the street to lure customers in, while Tiffany’s had a yellow carpet to walk inside their doors.
The sights were fun to see, I would have liked to be able to do a bit more shopping. Since fashion night out is all about creating more sales for designers, the large crowds seem to make it a bit hard. For the dedicated shopper looking for “the deals”, and the ladies looking for “girl’s night out” it is perfect!
Dawn Del Russo is a TV personality, fashion expert seen on National TV Better TV, Fox 5 NY, InStyle Magazine, Life and Style Magazine, US Weekly for her fashion and lifestyle tips and advice. She is the author of “101 Glam Girl Ways to an Ultra Chic Lifestyle”
