NYFW Chronicles: A Crazy, Lazy Fashion's Night Out at Macy's

When I realized that I would be in New York for this year's Fashion's Night Out, I eagerly mapped out every location that I would visit for what is now considered the biggest shopping celebration in the world.

Being overly ambitious and eager, I generated this map on the Fashion's Night Out website to help me determine my course of action.

I included every store from Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue to Manolo Blahnik and Coach. How I figured I could get to so many locations in a 3 - 4 hour time span is beyond me.

After all the strategic planning, the night began and ended at Macy's. This is due to the fact that A) it was the closest destination to my hotel, B) there was a boatload of celebrity and designer appearances and C) by the end of the night, my feet were aching and all I wanted to do was change into my flats and explore Times Square.


Here's what went down...

Raijean of Swa-Rai.com arrived at my hotel and indicated that she heard Rachel Roy was already at Macy's making her appearance. We agreed that we would ditch the idea of visiting the Target for Missoni popup shop first and instead headed straight to Macy's.

GREETED BY MODELS AND GOOD VIBES:
We arrived at Macy's and stumbled upon a crowd of people surrounding models who were wearing INC gear and snapping photos of all the onlookers. The DJ was pumping out upbeat vibes that had models and consumers dancing throughout the store.

I spotted this stylish chap in the aisle.

Don't you just love his Kente cloth bowtie and cummerbund? I would later find out that his name is Sureme and he works for Alvin Ailey.

RACHEL ROY AND AMAR'E STOUDEMIRE:

Rachel Roy and Amar'e Stoudemire were in the building to promote their newly launched collaboration collection. There was no opportunity to chat with either of them but I was able to snap a couple of photos.

After explaining to someone, "No. I don't mean Rachel RAY. It's Rachel ROY, the designer whose name is on all the signs in this section we're standing in", I realized that the frenzy may have been more for Amar'e than Rachel.

I did get a chance to check out the collection which appears to be targeted to Juniors. Here's my favorite look from the night.

CLAIRE OF FASHION BOMB DAILY:

I'm a fan of Claire Sulmers' blog Fashion Bomb Daily and was excited when I met her briefly at the IFB Conference.  We ran into each other again at Macy's, near the Rachel Roy department.

After chatting for a bit, she asked to photograph me and Raijean.  To our surprise, the photo shown below ended up on her website the following morning. SCORE! (click HERE for the entire article)

KELLY ROWLAND... OR LACK THEREOF:

We headed upstairs to catch a  glimpse of Kelly Rowland. The line for fans waiting to meet her was beginning to extend the length of the store.  With no intention of standing in line, I decided that I would be happy with just a photo. But after waiting a few minutes (at that point Kelly was already an hour late) AND receiving word that Anna Dello Russo was on the 2nd Floor, I bolted.

ANNA. DELLO. RUSSO.  #iDie:

Japanese Vogue fashion director Anna Dello Russo was at Macy's along with model Karolina Kurkova promoting the Fall/Winter I.N.C. collection for which she is guest editor. Due to the chaos, no one could get close to the fashion icon. But I managed to photograph both Anna and Karolina enjoying the evening's festivities, which also included a surprise appearance by Grammy award winning Hip Hop Violinist, Miri Ben Ari. Being that close to the woman whose style I greatly admire and whose closet I highly covet, was certainly the highlight of the night!

 

My crazy, lazy Fashion's Night Out at Macy's was a memorable experience. New York sure knows how to throw a shopping party!

Thinking, "THIS should be big enough to fit Anna in."

So how was your Fashion's Night Out? Did you find any great deals or meet any amazing celebrities or designers? Do tell!


Special thanks to hubby for tagging along and playing the part of paparazzi. I am grateful for his sacrifice, especially since I'm sure the Fashion's Night Out mania has left him scarred for life.