What We Learned At Fashion’s Night Out

Does skinny equal pretty? Will carrying a Louis mask one’s fatness? These are the questions that streamed through my mind while shop hopping on the windy Thursday evening that was the world’s inaugural Fashion’s Night Out. The evening was a mass effort to get Americans out to celebrate fashion week and swipe the plastic. We are in a bad state when Vogue forces Anna Wintour to go to a mall in Queens.

But, Americans are shoppers, if nothing else. Most of our output as a nation comes from consumer spending. Translation: 70% of our output (GDP) comes from what Americans consume, not what other nations buy from us. It’s pretty scary but it is part of what makes America the land of opportunities, the place where any invention might make the average individual a household name with 10 homes.

A few realizations from the evening:
-Free is better than paid.
-An open velvet rope is better than a commoner’s queue.
-Designer and mass differ because of three things: brand, material and tailoring.
-Socializing is necessary for career trajectory.
-Mini champagne bottles and mini cupcakes are always a winning party option.
-Bergdorf Goodman better secure crowd control experts for next year.
-If retailers actually want consumers to consume more than the free drinks next year, they better concoct loyalty and free gift programs.

And now, for the report. On that evening, our first stop was to meet Benefit Co-Founder Jane Ford at the Sephora in Times Square. She is one of a kind, a strong, witty no bullshit woman, our favorite kind! We bombarded her with a series of questions on tough topics such as cosmetics regulation and the tween market. Her candid responses showed great strength and character. To the first question, her response was something along the lines of regulation is a bitch, because a global company must meet the regulations of every place it is sold. First the United States, then Europe and then Asia. It complicates the process by detailing what is allowed to be used in products in what nations. Your food is less regulated than cosmetics, Ford added. When queried about the tween market, she thoroughly impressed us. An easy target with allowance in hand, the youth of America are heavily marketed to but Ford said she won’t even give a makeover without an adult present. “They shouldn’t be spending their money on lip gloss,” said Ford. It’s about education at that age, she added. Still, our favorite thing about Benefit is that their products make you a better you, NOT a different you. Applause, applause, applause.

After our chat with Ford, one the company’s San Francisco-based makeup artists gave us a clean face and a light smoky eye, largely thanks to Badgal pencil. Brush it on the lid until it resembles a drunken eye job, start blending with a brush. Up and out, he said. Two motions are required!

Makeup improved, glam factor up, we departed for Bergdorf Goodman where we wish there’d been crowd control, a red carpet roped off and heaters. The place was a mad house. Zac Posen, the Olsen Twins and the promise of Victoria Beckham was too much. The place was at capacity, with probably a hundred gals piled on Fifth Avenue, awaiting entry as the overwhelmed doorman wielded his imaginary sword. So we popped across the street to the men’s store, where the bartender/aspiring model casually chatted while we pined for a glass of white. Perusing the golf-like attire in the nearly empty store, we admired the leather-down blend winter coats before heading to DKNY on Madison to see NY Observer Playground Editor Lyss Stern and expecting model Karolina Kurkova.

There we learned models are models because they are fabulously tall and beautiful and love posing for the camera. I think she trumped all preggers women as the most beautiful pregnant woman I’ve ever seen. Wearing four-inch ankle boots and a black dress with a belt to create an empire waste, she seemed at least 6’ tall and was happy to take pictures with all her fans. Lyss was sweet and enthusiastic too and has a natural beauty that is quite rare for the UES crowd that often seem permanently stoic thanks to their dermatologists. Plus, how many Uptown moms are down-to-earth enough to dance shoeless with children, while tons of video and camera wielding attendees and media folks watch? A mother of two and entrepreneur (Divamoms.com), she told us the first issue of the Observer’s parenting pub took five months to assemble. The cover is none other than Weeds star and local mommy Mary-Louise Parker.

Finally, after perusing the parties on Fifth—Chanel, Louis Vuitton—and passing on more C-list white wine, we heading for party hosted by Website The Luxury Spot, the media presence of party planner, socialite, mother and publicist Bryce Gruber. Yes, she is all that at 25 years old. The media mogul in training that turned down a spot on The Housewives of New York produced a party that attracted—wait for this—a crowd with straight men. God knows we love our gay men and we all love to be a fag hag, but sometimes us straight girls need some eye candy and men with shag potential. That’s where The Luxury Spot comes in. At Aspen Social Club, we sipped a “Basil Fizz” thanks to liquor sponsor Basil Hayden. The crowd was quite mixed and the spot proved a great party venue, with many nooks and rooms, great attention to detail from the walls to the ceilings, and convenient access from the 49th street subway station.

Thumbs up to all the party planners and retailers for a great evening. We hope your receipts were satisfactory. As for us, we are headed downtown to check out the Target pop-up store. Anna Sui on a budget sounds dreamy right about now.