Happenings: Fashion Night Out

Thursday was the beginning of Fashion Week and also marked the first ever NY Fashion Night Out. With fall-like temperatures in the 60's, it was a perfect night to be gallivanting around the city admiring the art of fashion...and do a little shopping. Stores stayed open late throughout the city, baiting fashionistas with cocktails and hors d'oeurves, live-DJs, freebies, limited edition items and celebrity appearances. Everywhere you went, crowds and lines of fashionably dressed men and women twittered with excitement.

Miss Fashion, our navigator for the evening, and I met at Opening Ceremony a few minutes before they opened at 6 pm. Already the sidewalk was crowded with fans. As soon as the doors opened, the crowd milling about rushed through the door, ostensibly to grab some of the limited edition items (as displayed in this convertible parked outside the store).Outside the store, this adorable Hearts Challenger ice cream truck (they opened in June 2009 and can be found around the city, but also rented for parties) sold ice cream on a stick, as well as candy and toys, from all over the world. I had green tea mochi ice cream.
Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen was giving out free samples of its very original ice cream flavors - I had earl grey ice cream. Very tasty. Miss Fashion had ginger.Momofuku Milk had a treat "Thai" truck (get it?) from which they were selling ties (you had to pay inside however) and giving out very tasty, very buttery Thai tea and mango cookies.

Miss Fashion got a limited edition Rodarte t-shirt, Kurt Cobain tote and notebook. I bought a fabulous Opening Ceremony dress. By the time we left, shopping bags in tow, there was a long line of people waiting to get in.Next stop: Bergdorf Goodman. We were naively thinking we could catch the Olsen Twins bartending, but by the time we got there, the line wrapped around the block into oblivion. The people at the end of the line were facing at least a two-hour wait. Not worth it. On to Madison Avenue.Charlize Theron was supposed to be at Dior, signing copies of the September Issue of Vogue with her face on the cover. Again, there was a line when we got there, but it seemed to moving pretty quickly. We soon found out whey. Charlize had finished her appearance and been escorted out the back. She's gone, we heard people whisper throughout the crowd. Nonetheless, a big crowd in the store anyway, all oriented to the back room. What were people were waiting for? A mystery still. By the time we walked out five minutes later, the line had dispersed.Other stops: Chanel - where you could design your own Chanel bag and have a Hollywood make-up artist make you over.Louis Vuitton, where we ate a couple tasty hors d'oeuvres and Miss Fashion bought a fabulous pair of pants!
Burberry, where had shared a glass of champagne.

Happy, we had dinner at one of my favorite midtown clutch restaurants - Menchanko-Tei on 55th St between 5th and 6th Ave- for perfect bowls of Hakata Ramen (half portions) and rice balls. Yum!

Stuff I've Learned: It's worth your while to be "Fashion Week"-literate

We're five days into the Fashion Week, my friends, and yet again, I find myself obsessing over clothes I cannot afford. Like this amazing ruffled gown in today's Carolina Herrera collection! Oh, the beauty! And the pain!

Why do I spend hours on Style.com or NYT or WWD flipping through slide after slide? I'm not one of these girls who lives and breathe fashion, who can rattle off the names of the hottest designers and provide critiques of their past four collections (if that many had been had) without blinking an eye, who'd rather forego food and utilities than a pair of Louboutin shoes...in short, someone who actually gets invited to Fashion Week! So why is it that twice a year, I can't help but get a little crazy?

The thing is I, like many New Yorkers, didn't give a crap for many years. So what changed? A combination of circumstances:

1. I stopped being a grad student and started earning money, which meant I could afford to buy some of the clothes, or at least the clothes inspired by the clothes, I see in Fashion Week. And when you're in the work force, dressing well is an easy way to communicate that you're a> conscientious, b> someone who's got it together. And let's face it, when someone comes to work in a beautiful outfit, you can't help but pay attention to said person, even if you're crazy jealous.
   
2. As a continuation of point #1, I know it's a cliche, but in this town (more so than LA), people care more about what you wear. There's no hiding in your car! In NYC, from the moment you step out of your apartment, you're on display, and that means hundreds of times a day people are sizing you up, just based on your appearance. Sound unfair? Tough! It's NY. So, you can either be one of those people who learns not to care (good for you--you're more well-adjusted than most), or you can start thinking more seriously about what you're putting on in the morning...or the evening.
3. Even if you can't afford Gucci & Prada, the fact is with the fashion industry being as diverse as it is today (read: H&M, UniQlo and Target on the low end all the way up through Club Monaco & BR, department store labels and beyond) come Spring 2009, you WILL find something in your price range that meets standards of fashion as defined by this week's Fashion Week. So you should do your homework. This doesn't mean you should be slavishly devoted to trends; just informed.
   
4. It's darn fun. This is art, people, and it's just like us New Yorkers to embrace any form it's in, whether silk, satin, cotton, leather, feathered or fur. In fact, don't just stop with New York. The party continues to Europe! Miss Fashion, in fact, favors Paris and Milan's fashion weeks.
5. Some people are turned off by the pieces that seem impractical--the "I would never wear that" phenomenon. But one thing to realize is what looks "crazy" this year is often what the general public is wearing a couple years out. Also, designers aren't stupid- they know their customers probably won't buy their most outlandish outfits--not even the Richie Nicole Ritchies. They tone down their runway pieces for retail production, so don't let that stop you from appreciating their art.
   
6. And finally, after a while, with your sense of fashion honed through successive fashion weeks, chances are you'll make styling choices that will help you "pass" more easily for a New Yorker.
   

All this is just my way of saying fashion's one of this cities greatest pleasures, so don't be intimidated. Whatever her financial circumstances, a girl can dream.

Stuff I've Learned: Sneakers Are a No-No

On Saturday, I went to Woodbury Commons Outlets with Miss Fashion, a friend who I would call a fashionista, except that suggest she's a snob about fashion and really, she's very nice. Not Devil Wears Prada at all...except for the wearing Prada part. In fact, she wore the above pictured 4-inch Prada heels all day on Saturday - and we were shopping from 9 am to 7 or 8 pm or so. I, myself, never leave the house in flats or running shoes, unless I'm doing actual running, but I figured, outlet stores, lots of walking, sensible shoes needed. So I wore these cute new ballet flats I have, but still by end of day, I had a bloody heal and my metatarsals felt like they were going to snap off. Suffice it to say, around 3 pm or so, I wished I had thwarted fashion and just worn sneakers. I envy Miss Fashion. As I limped back to the car with my loot on my flat feet, she was still strutting those Prada heels.

Which brings me to my point: it's hard work keeping up in NYC, much harder than in LA. Here, if you want to be a stylish Manhattan girl (I can't speak for the other boroughs), you've got to keep up! From what I've noticed, this means, well...

a> Not wearing athletic shoes of any kind when walking the city. Doing so runs the risk of being mistaken for a tourist. Being a Manhattan girl means suffering...that's what those bunion surgery ads on the subway are for.
b> Keeping up with the seasons...fashion seasons, that is. Even if you only buy a few key pieces a season, you must be informed...and ideally, you're informed a year ahead, from having stalked the designer collections hot off the Fashion Week runways on Style.com.
c> Middlebrow, alas, doesn't cut it. I'm not saying there's not a lot of girls walking around in BR, FCUK, and H&M, but let's face it, if you only shop at those stores, you're wardrobe is going to be a bit cookie-cutter. Don't tell me you've never seen some girl wearing the same BR dress as you! There's this immense pressure to step it up, to integrate a few "real" designer pieces into your wardrobe...that means dropping $300-1000 on a shift dress this season...so later, you can throw your H&M scarf around it and have people marvel at your resourcefulness. Don't believe me, check out the Sartorialist or Altamira.
d> Same goes for bags and accessories. You think they can't tell you're carrying a Canal Street LV knock-off, but they can. Other brands with no cache: Coach, Dooney & Burke, Kenneth Cole, anything you get at JC Penney's...
e> Even if you think the trend is ugly, seeing all the pretty girls wearing it warps your brain into thinking you want it too...e.g., Ugg boots, ponchos, flip flops, sack dresses in past seasons, and this season, floor-length floral muu-muu-style dresses

Yes, dear hearts, it's enough to break the bank and break your heart to think of even keeping up. This is why I'm beginning to think if you're not filthy rich, preternaturally spiritual or just blissfully ignorant, you're always going to be a bit dissatisfied living in the city...No matter how fabulous your wardrobe is, there's always next season, waiting to kick your ass. Enjoy the summer!