Heather Wagner hits the streets to report on the fuss, fun and finery of Fashion Week.
The fashion world is like one big junior high school—if the cool kids are doing it, everybody does it. So when queen bee Anna Wintour decreed that, on September 10, stores should stay open late, luring skittish consumers with free champagne, hors d’ouvres, and in-store celebrity appearances, everybody—over 800 retailers—got on board.
The result was the inaugural Fashion’s Night Out on September 10. Your humble correspondent at ReadyMade pulled on her ankle boots, black dress, and fashion game face (bored/haughty/mildly puzzled) and headed out into the New York night to investigate this “global celebration of fashion” first-hand.
First stop was Barneys’ Madison Avenue flagship. I bypassed both the $700 ties and this grim line for champagne:
And headed up to the 5th floor, where designer and southern stitching goddess Natalie Chanin (of Alabama Chanin) led an instructional “sewing circle”, surrounded by her eponymous collection of handmade dresses and separates.
“You have to love your thread”, she said, and showed us how to make the perfect double knot.
Further up on the 8th floor, I found Barneys’ nod to eco-friendly fashion. Loomstate artists busily hand-painted the official Fashion’s Night Out T-Shirt and sold totes and scarves dyed with organic vegetables. Ken Greene of the Hudson Valley Seed Library, was also on hand selling packets of locally grown seed—graced with custom artwork.
This is Ken’s dog, Kale.
Next was a visit with potter, designer, and lifestyle guru Jonathan Adler, on the 9th floor, where he gamely threw one-of-a-kind pottery for the crowd. “The great thing about being a craftsperson, as opposed to an artist is that it doesn’t have to be perfect,” he said, as a (perfect) vessel emerged in his hands. “You can always make another.”
Time to head back down to the 7th floor, Barneys’ CO-OP, where the unmistakable thuds of a DJ meant only one thing: Alexander Wang, purveyor of Gothic-inspired couture party dresses, was in the house! Here, we were invited to “Walk like a model for Alex and meet his surprise model guests’’, Natasha Poly, and Magdalena Frackowiak.
Suddenly I started to feel uneasy, abetted, no doubt, by a sense of creeping resentment from the Barneys’ staff, who clearly would rather be elsewhere on a Thursday than working overtime for model-gawking freeloaders (indeed I saw very few shopping bags leave the store).
I decided it was time to move downtown to SoHo and Opening Ceremony, the famed concept store where, rumor had it, there was going to be an awesome block party and catering from Momofuku Milk Bar and DJ sets by Vampire Weekend and exclusive trunk show pieces from Rodarte, Band of Outsiders and Proenza Schouler! But…
It was a mob scene. An au courant mob scene, yes, but too formidable to navigate. Instead I slipped half a block down to Dunderdon, a Swedish label with a clean, functional aesthetic, mirrored in the shop’s pleasingly minimalist décor.
Plus, they gave customers a shot of Wild Turkey with purchase.
To Williamsburg! Sir is a lovely Parisian-inspired cabinet-of-curiosities-style boutique on Bedford, featuring designer Joanna Baum’s handmade silk dresses in custom colors. The toile-inspired wrapping paper was a nice touch.
Indie chanteuse Lia Ices performed in the storefront of the tiny shop, wearing one of Joanna’s silk dresses. Usually the “plaintive female singer/songwriter” is my least favorite musical form but Lia’s depth and vocal talent was unmistakable, and genuinely moving. I think some people were in tears.
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