Fashion’s Night Out

The last few weeks have been filled with events and times that I will remember for a long time.

I’ve always wanted to be in New York City for Fashion Week. Always as in, as long as I’ve known about it. I used to spend hours making scrapbooks out of magazine clippings from the stacks of fashion mags that I hoarded during high school. I would fantasize that some day, I would be there in some capacity whether I was styling the models, taking photos or actually designing the clothes on the runway.

Once I left fashion school and started working at a law firm, I more or less kissed those dreams goodbye. Perhaps I wasn’t as motivated as I once had been to be in the fashion world, though I know that it was the lure of other, less tangible things that distracted me.

I never expected to be attending Fashion Week in NYC as a wife of a dental school student and stay at home mother of two toddlers. It simply wasn’t on my radar any longer.

So you can imagine, when the opportunity arose to immerse myself in Fashion Week as a contributing editor over at StyleMom.com, I jumped at the chance. More like lept out of my skin at the chance.

The week started on September 10th, when I covered the Kid’s Fashion Show, petiteParade at the Metropolitan Pavillion. That night there was a lot of buzz all around the city about events for Fashion’s Night Out. Similar events are held all around the world, but New York City is the hub. I decided to head down to SoHo by myself and see what the hype was all about.

The streets were packed with all kinds of fashionistas. Young people decked out in everything from fishnet stockings and red platinum pumps, to the real characters with stuffed animals sewn onto head pieces. Everything you can imagine.

I was headed to the party at Chanel when I was distracted by a large crowd at the Piperlime store. Rachel Zoe was there and the buzz was wrapped around the block. After snapping a quick photo, I started talking to a woman who was also there by herself, for the same reasons I was (mostly because it simply isn’t an option not to attend if you live in NYC and haven’t ever been).

We stood there a minute longer and then decided to head over to Chanel together. We ended up getting into a party at the Burton store and never left. The dj was great, and it was nearly totally void of the egos that we would have seen at Chanel. It was so. much. fun. We ended up talking with Spike Mendelsohn and Marcel Vigneron of Top Chef seasons 4 and season 2, respectively. Apparently they couldn’t have their photos taken, as they were under embargo due to taping the Top Chef: All Stars during the same time. I’m a huge Top Chef fan, so this made the night that much more fantastic for me.

Considering the word “party” just isn’t in my vocabulary any longer unless it’s associated with birthdays and cartoon characters, I think I did alright. I’ll admit that I felt like a complete mommy-rookie, but it was fun nevertheless.

Pabst Blue Ribbon was flowing freely at Burton

Best photo of Spike that I could get.

I stepped out of my comfort zone by venturing down into the craziness alone and ended up having an amazing night. It was such a fantastic experience. One that could only really be described as true to New York City, and appropriately kicked off my first Fashion Week.

In case you are wondering what I wore, this is me with Dr. Yakini Etheridge and Alicia Harper at petiteParade earlier on in the evening. I wore All Saints to every show at fashion week.