For anyone wondering what the organizers of Fashion's Night Out could do to trump last year's epic shopping event, here's a start: The organizers are planning a 200-model strong fashion show to bring runway fashion to the masses on September 7, a few days shy of the shopping night extravaganza's second iteration on September 10.
The event organizers are calling it the "largest public fashion show in New York City's history": a 200-model runway show set to be attended by nearly 1,500 guests in New York Fashion Week's new home as of September, Lincoln Center. Tickets for the event will be open to the public and sold at Lincoln Center over the summer, with some proceeds benefitting the New York City AIDS Fund.
The runway show is clearly an effort to connect the fashion industry gathering in September with what's actually selling in the stores: The clothing modeled during the show will be the best of Fall 2010 (as chosen by Vogue, of course), whereas September's fashion week offerings will cover Spring 2011 (a calendar that's slowly becoming as dizzying for the industry as for the layman).
"We felt it is important for people see what wonderful fashion will be in stores at that moment," said Vogue editor in chief, Anna Wintour, in a prepared statement. In the press release sent out yesterday, CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg added: "We feel this is an unprecedented opportunity for the fashion industry to connect with the consumer in a fun and meaningful way."
Though last year's edition of Fashion's Night Out was an absolute blitz of celebrities, fashion insiders, and overall shopping mayhem, this year's celebration might be even more impressive: For one, CBS is planning to air a FNO special covering the planning of the event and the final product (airing September 15), and for another, the event has arranged for an entire series of limited-edition FNO T-shirts (whereas last year there was really only one option). Considering the even itself is still a little less than five months away, the potential for enen more planned stunts to be announced is pretty strong.
