Fashion's Night Out

On September 10 a global celebration of fashion took place to help promote retail, attempt to restore consumer confidence and to celebrate fashion. In various fashion capitals and other cities around the world, designers, models, and celebrities came out to select retail stores and shoppers came out to meet them and be a part of this event. Even if retail sales didn't rise as much as desired, it did bring people out and made the evening a bit more fun. After all, people can shop anytime.

This celebration was the brain child of Anna Wintour, Editor in Chief of Vogue magazine, and it coincides with the start of New York Fashion Week. For Fashion's Night Out, retail stores were asked to stay open till 11pm to accomodate the evening's events and celebration. I wanted to see one of these extravaganza evenings so I went to Neiman Marcus in Chevy Chase, DC. Guests were able to go through a walk of fame game, have make-up put on them, get their picture taken, watch performers pose, listen to tunes spun by DJ's, have appetizers, champagne with orange juice, and of course...browse around and shop. By the end of the night, our finances and optimism may not have shifted much, but perhaps people will come away knowing that what we put on is not as important as what we think and feel about ourselves.