Fashion's Night Out: A Must Attend !

I have recently become obsessed with the event, Fashion Night Out. However, it has been brought to my attention that some people are not exactly sure what fashion's night out is, so that's why I am here.

Now you see on SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 until 11 p.m stores across the country will be open late in order to celebrate fashion and to get people motivated to shop.

Now stores, designers, and top magazine editors are pulling out all the stops to get people shopping during this unprecedented occasion. High Profile, A-List Fashion Celebrities ( and entertainment celebrities) will be sprinkled throughout the stores in New York in order to encourage people to spend, spend, spend. I don't know about you, I was on board just hearing about the vague details, but allow me to get specific as to what is really going down.

ok check out this vid first:


So you see how many people are on board. I mean seriously if Anna Wintour wants something done, it gets done and it gets done well.

So the list of stores participating in NYC is intense, 700 to be exact. I mean, you name it and they are in. But why wouldn't you be in, every serious fashionista is saving up all her pennies to attend this event... including me!

Ok so the best part is the participants. Not only are mostly all of the designers coming out, but Michelle Obama is said to make an appearance. I mean that is just the icing on the cake for me.

Anna Wintour will start off this shindig form the Macy's in Queens where she will be signing t-shirts.

Some 'must-go-to-stores' are:

• Rag & Bone who will be giving out Free beer on Christopher street
• H&M in Herald Square will allow you to go to a stylist get an outfit and then get your picture taken by a celeb. photographer and have projected on a billboard
• Kirna Zabete will have people like Narciso Rodriguez, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler, Thakoon Panichgul, Jason Wu, and Peter Som and here you will be able to get a Wu sketch... omg
• Juicy Couture is bringing in Hamish Bowles ( Vogue uk editor)
• Chanel on Spring Street will be giving away free mini-manicures and celeb. appearances by Alexa Chung. On east 57th street you can create your own Chanel bag which has never been dont before while enjoying champagne.
• Bergdorf Goodman will have Andre Leon Talley hosting a fashion game show with teams led by Donna Karan, Linda Fargo and Robert Verdi There will be a cook off with Cynthia Rowley, Zac Posen will be selling paintings, Alexander Wang will stop by and Isaac Mizrahi will have a talk. OMG... i just died
• Alice and Olivia will be holding Fashion Week Model Auditions
• Opening Ceremonies will have designers from Fendi, Rodarte, and Band of Outsiders
• Barneys will have Mary Kate and Ashley bartending, lessons from Isabel Toledo and Alexandar Wang for runway lessons.
• Tory Burch ( a Penn alum) will have a dj and bbq in addition to photographers taking pictures of her guests
• Oscar de la Renta will be singing at his Madison Avenue Boutique
• Manolo Blanik will be at his shop in midtown
• Billionaire Boys Club will have its own Pharrell working the register
• Henri Bendal will have Eric Daman styling customers
• JCPenny in Manhattan Mall will bring in Cindy Crawford and offer customers a chance to appear in a photo shoot with her
• Club Monaco at the Soho location will have free black and white cupcakes and will serve champagne to customers
• Guiseppe Zanotti will be at his store deejaying and turning his store into a party
• Zara will be offering up champagne to its customers and giving them a sneak preview of their new line offering FNO participants first dibs
• Tracy Reese's store will have stylists, complimentary hairstylists, mani/pedi, make up application and much more
• Gucci will be giving out limited edition FNO t-shirts

Do I really need to continue ? Honestly every store is giving away champagne and having a party. There will be free food, discounts and important people.... doesn't that sound like the high life. But seriously, I am getting butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it . Like what to wear... where to go. It's insanity. I hate to say it , but I kinda like this better than fashion week!! Anna is truly amazing.

See now the dilemma i have is whether to pay my September rent, or spend it all on fashion night out.. it would be supporting a good cause right because a good chunk of the money is being donated. However it is a bummer that there aren't THAT many discounts going on, but hey we don't have to buy everything do we?!?


This opportunity will be an awesome way to meet the people behind they labels that you adore.

Ok so if you are not in NY, places alllll over the world will be participating especially in UK, Greece, Italy, France, India and much more places.

Don't forget to check donate clothing to the Official Borough Clothing Drive Drop off on September 12.

If you want to be apart of the FNO by volunteering, click here. To keep up with participants follow FNO on twitter here they even respond.

Also if you are in Philadelphia, there is an Event called Shecky's Girls Night Out where you can experience a Fashion Night Out-esuqe atmosphere in one place. The guests are going to be un known/ undiscovered designers and beauty vendors. The event will be on September 29th - Oct 1 and will be in other cities such as New York, Chicago, ATL and many more. Check the website for more details.


If these events don't get u excited for fashion, you just might not be human!

MUAHH!!


UPDATE: Look at the shoes timberland made for Fashion's Night Out... I think I actually... might like them omg !!!

Puppet Maker to Celebrity Stylist: Aya T. Kanai

So my friend Phillip showed me pictures of the stylist, Aya but it wasn't until I looked at her website and her portfolio did I see really became intrigued. Honestly she is amazing. She reminds me of one of my favorite bloggers ( Style Bubble) with her quirky, off the wall style, mixing Japanese street fashion with American urban fashion. Which turns out to be a match made in heaven.


Aya was born and raising in Murray Hill, Manhattan. She went to school at Oberlin College and graduated with a double major in Visual Arts and Religion and a minor in East Asian Studies. From that point she took a road never traveled. She got interested in sculpture and began making puppets. With nothing to do with all her creations, she went into the field of performing puppetry. Her imagination grew. Soon after her graduation from college she won the Watson fellowship which allows 30 students to travel and pursue any field of study for a whole year. OMG where is the sign up sheet for that one-in-a-lifetime-opportunity?


With all the resources she had available she was able to travel to Poland, the Czech Republic, France, England, and Japan to study puppet theatre, didn't see that one coming huh ? After her year abroad she returned to NY to get involved in puppet life with performances for real audiences at La MaMa and St. Ann's Warehouse.

Though puppetry was a passion of hers , she became bored of the robotic lifestyle of performing 8 times per week. She realized that "you can have a passion about multiple interests, but it doesn’t need to be your paycheck.”


With that, she moved on to fashion which she believed was parallel to puppetry because in both professions you take a pile of nothing and bring it to life. And that, my friends, is what she does best.


She didn't come into fashion as a stranger, her mother is head of the Issey Miyake's New York office, so connections were already in the bag for her. However she doesn't really do the avante guard scene because she wants to do stories that she is interested in and that her readers will feel is relevant.

Once she got in as the fashion director at Nylon in 2004, she was running her own, personal, life sized puppet show with large teams of people, all the while making clothing come to life.


Let's Get Personal with Aya's stye:
Now at Teen Vogue, Aya dished to the Sartorialist about her own style. She considers her mother and grandmother her fashion icons, in addition to Pipi Longstocking ( I can see how that is relevant, men's shoes, mix-matched shocks, beat up dress, that all seems pretty relevant to Aya's style.) Her own personal style has a recipe: one part statement piece, on part quirky charming piece, and one part classic piece. She also admits to loving animals prints but she would never be caught wearing fleece. Aya expects herself to wear more white because it wouldn't get as dirty as it would in NYC.


While in LA she looks forward to supporting young designers, going to farmers markers, cooking, beach time, and exploring the the American west. Her favorite established designers include YSL, Chanel, Alexander Wand, Preen, Mulberry, Balenciaga, and Burberry Prorsum, just to name a few.

Bag by Alexandra Cassaniti

She goes against the grain because her favorite stylish movie is Ma Femme Est une Actrice where the character has one outfit, but Aya believes it was so perfect. Usually people name the generic Devil Wears Prada, Breakfast at Tiffany's, or Confessions of a Shopaholic. Stylish books she likes are Confessions of a Window Dresser and Excess: Fashion and the Underground 80's.


As Aya embarks on her new bi0coastal life style as the Senior Fashion Editor at Teen Vogue she enjoys crafts and sewing projects like quilting and applique. She is a master of mixing prints and dressing the best dressed of Hollywood's Elite. I highly suggest following her on Twitter at Twitter.com/ayakanai . Also check out her web page where she has her entire life's work. I have taken the liberty of posting a few of my favorite looks that she created.







New Segment: Links for Citation ( I go to Penn so I should know a thing or two about citing my sources. So, I am now going to make sure I don't forget to list them at the bottom of my posts in a section called LfC.)
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