On Thursday, September 8, 2011; once the sun set, glamorous fashionistas (and fashionistos!) across the globe descended upon some of the chicest and most exclusive department stores and boutiques for the third-annual Fashion’s Night Out. The brain-child of Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, Fashion’s Night Out started in 2009 and has since grown to encompass over 250 cities in the United States alone and over 1000 stores participated in New York City.
NYU students share their experiences participating in Fashion’s Night Out and the stores they visited and the adventures they embarked upon:
“I was working Fashion’s Night Out but I still had a blast! As I walked around (more like squeezed along) the streets of SoHo, I was captivated by the flashy displays, glamorous outfits, and the blasting music. There’s nothing else in the world like FNO!” – Elaine Hong
“This was only my second experience venturing out into the city for FNO, but it was most definitely worthwhile. The uptown area on 5th avenue made each store into quite the exciting venue, hosting many well-dressed fashionistas, models and designers, all while blasting runway-type music to excite the crowd. I explored Tiffany’s, caught a glimpse and photo of Nicki Minaj, and just generally had a fantastic night exploring the city with my friends!” – Emma Whitmyre
“I went to Macy’s in Herald Square with a group of girlfriends. The store is HUGE – it spans several blocks and has eleven floors! – so we traveled up and down the escalators to see Miss Jay, Anna Dello Russo, and Rachel Roy, among others. It was cool to be so close to celebrities and we loved seeing everyone in the store decked out in their finest, but to be honest, our favorite part of the night was heading to a Korean restaurant for chicken wings at the end of the night! FNO was a great event, but being with friends was what made it extra special.” – Hannah Orenstein
“I learned to get to stores and events early!” – Jillian Vasquez
“Fashion’s Night Out is the only time of the year when it’s completely acceptable and justified to obsessively stalk celebrities like Nicki Minaj. It’s a lot of fun, but very busy and it can get overwhelming!” – Lauren Kinch
“EPIC Motion Dance Company, a hip-hop and urban dance company based here in Manhattan, was asked by a shoe retail company, Nine West, to create a flash mob dance performance. With that, several of our artistic directors choreographed a piece to Katy B’s “Katy on a Mission,” recruiting nearly 100 dancers to perform in supporting Nine West’s Runway Relief Program. It’s the 2nd year of the program, which raises funds and awareness for FTBC – Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. It was an incredible experience getting all these passionate dancers together to create a really awesome piece in front of the Nine West store at Rockefeller Center!” – Michelle Lee