Features

We are currently in the midst of yet another Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week and we don’t want it to end. People may argue about whether Paris, Milan or elsewhere is the true fashion capital of the world, but there is no doubt that for this week at least New York is the global center of all things fashion.

Fashion Week only happens twice a year, so you need to make the most of it when it finally comes around. If you are a fashionista there is no better time to splurge and enjoy yourself to the maximum degree. So what’s the best way to get the most from your New York Fashion Week? By doing it like the models do of course!

Today we will be showing you three ways in which you can live the model lifestyle during Fashion Week. From skinny martinis to style emergencies, make this your best one yet!

1. Take a ride on the Glambulance

Yes, you read that correctly. Cynthia Rowley has launched a Glambulance to come to the rescue when those unexpected style crises occur during Fashion Week. This one launched during the fantastically frenetic Fashion’s Night Out last Thursday and was at Columbus Circle again on Friday.

Fashion’s Night Out can get pretty intense and is known for being tough on the heels and the hair, so instead of paramedics and defibrillators, the magnificently-monikered Glambulance hosts a hairstylist, world famous make-up artist Mickey Williams and the best in fashion first-aid. Their custom kits feature, among much else, Rowley-designed band-aids embossed with gold chains, sequins, and lace. Only at New York Fashion Week will you find something so wonderfully bizarre as this!

2. “Skinny Sipping” 

As at any other big-time event, hundreds of groups and companies will be looking to get as much publicity for themselves as possible at this New York Fashion Week. The good news for you is that great deals bring companies good PR, so you can take advantage and party like a princess for less.

One brand making a particularly concerted publicity push is Voli Light Vodka. It’s easy to see why; alcohol that won’t affect your ability to fit into that slinky dress? Perfect! According to themselves, “Voli Light Vodkas are the world’s first line of low calorie flavored vodka.” Voli is made with natural ingredients that are blended to create refreshing, light flavors, including Lyte (original), Raspberry Cocoa, Espresso Vanilla, Orange Vanilla, and Lemon.

Voli Light Vodkas have 25 to 40 percent fewer calories than most other vodka drinks, and each cocktail featured during Fashion Week will have no more than 81 calories. According to the people at Voli, their drink has enough flavor to eliminate the need for a high sugar content. You can get “skinny sipping” during Voli’s Fashion Week launch at a number of top events where Voli will be the featured drink, such as the Douglas Hannant Pink Presentation were you can cool down with a Voli Pink Lemonade.

3. Pampered partying

Now that we’ve whetted your appetite for some Fashion Week fun times, you’ve got to hear about Goodness. That’s the name of the new “pop-up restaurant and technology friendly hub” that supermodel Elettra Wiedemann (daughter of Isabella Rossellini, grand-daughter of Ingrid Bergman and face of Lancome) launched this New York Fashion Week. It is situated across the street from Lincoln Center where many of the best events are going down.

If you want to do Fashion Week like a supermodel, there’s probably no better place to live it up than at a restaurant designed by an actual supermodel! Seemingly aimed at the morning-after-the-night-before crowd (who may or may not have consumed a little too many light vodkas), Goodness is open from Sunday onwards for breakfast and lunch, providing healthy and delicious appetizers , entrees and desserts from the city’s hottest chefs to help you kick off what will hopefully be yet another great fashion-filled day.

If you’re wondering what the “technology friendly” aspect entails, it pretty much means that Goodness is one big wifi hotspot, so you can check in with The Vogue City while you eat and drink like the hottest models do! Reservations are available through their website goodnessbadness.com and on GiltCity.com.

Have a great Mercedes Benz Fashion Week!

On the eve of FNO, fashion lovers from all over flock to NYC for the third year in a row. There they are swept away amongst the synchronized chaos that only some of our favorite designers could cause. It is the night that all teenagers, adults, women, men and boys in drag could walk on Upper East Side and visit any store that they desire, without the pressure to make a purchase. On this special night, the city is filled with invisible glitter that makes everyone sparkle as sheer fashion euphoria consumes them.

For one night only, Mulberry, Searle, and BCBG by Max Azria do not discriminate against the window shoppers who stare at clothes dreamily. Instead, stores celebrate shoppers and visitors by giving them a taste of the glitz and glamor.

As you walk between the streets on the Upper East Side the festivities are endless, and the chances of spotting a celebrity becomes even greater. Although people’s main motive is to support fashion, most can admit they have tiny bit of eagerness to see Nikki Minaj at YSL, Sarah Jessica Parker at Saks Fifth Avenue – and perhaps too much eagerness for Justin Bieber at Dolce & Gabbana.

Every store bears a welcoming sign that says “FNO discounts” and “FNO Celebration,” inviting everyone that passes inside. Mulberry is scattered with fun vendors like body painting, nail painting, tarot card readings and a full stocked bar. Down further on Madison Avenue Searle is pumping with dance music and giving out hamburgers from the notorious Pop Burgers. And over on Fifth Avenue, BCBG is giving out cocktails and offering the first 100 guest who buy their new perfume a signed bottle by Max Azria himself.

There is an aroma of chatter and excitement that you can smell protruding from every store, drawing in crowds of girls locked arm in arm dressed in their favorite designers. Although the streets are crowded, there is no sense of hostility as people bump into one another and rush through swarms of crowds. It is as if everyone is somehow connected by this common thread of fashion, and that is what makes the night so magical.

Which makes us wonder, over here at Vogue City, does fashion truly cause happiness? Everyone is aware of the clishe that all women like to shop, but there is an emotional part of fashion that some people do not understand. Fashion connects people from all over the world and gives them a sense of belonging. No matter whom you are or what you do, whether your home sitting in an office or out on the runway, your appreciation for fashion is a universal understanding. This is why each year Gucci, Bergdorf Goodman and the 100 other retailers in NYC offer you a day filled of excitement and glamor, because fashion appreciates you too!

By Ashley Caputo

The smell of popcorn wafted throughout the cobblestone streets of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District last night during the 3rd annual Fashion’s Night Out – an evening of champagne soaked, in-store parties helmed by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. Spinning plates and pitchy music was the first visual fashion advocates saw as they made their way to the Meatpacking District. Popchip’s enticed all to visit their very own carnival with the help of celebrity Vanessa Hudgens handing out free bags of their salty chips, with your run of the mill carny counters and prizes inside. The theme trickled in to nearby designer stores, who their own soirees, handing out hand spun cotton candy and freshly popped popcorn (how do they get that smell out of the clothes?). Across town the Ace Hotel and Opening Ceremony played host to a campy, town carnival-esque street fair where water gun races and baseball tosses made young hipsters nostalgic for a time not so long ago as they gleefully won stuffed animals.

The masquerade of Fashion’s Night Out seemed to take over the world Thursday evening, stores globally partaking in the action while putting their own spin on the opportunity to lore in shoppers. Online chain stores such as Gap and American Apparel offered nighttime discount deals ending at midnight. But is that what Fashion’s Night Out is about? “The Big Sale”? It seems people have confused the original intention of the night, unless we never had it straight to begin with.

“It’s one big party,” Ashley Morrissey, an employee of New York University, explained, “you dress up with your girlfriends and sip free cocktails as you store hop and gawk at fashion and celebrities, all the while entering the raffles with the hope of scoring some designer wear.” In the Meatpacking District “party” certainly was the theme. The street was loaded with young professionals, glammed up and looking for the store that supplied the strongest cocktail and tastiest finger food. Stella McCartney on 14th held an “Invite Only” event that The Vogue City was lucky enough to attend. Guest DJ and fashionista Alexa Chung mingled with other big names such as Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes, Elettra Wiedemann and Bam Margera. The small, intimate crowd sipped mojitos and posed in the photo booth, enjoying the space before the crowds were let in later in the evening. An exclusive Stella Fashion’s Night Out bracelet was for sale but other than that no shopping was taking place whatsoever, no one even seemed to realize they were leaning up against racks of designer clothing. However, sales girls were sure to speak to every individual, urging them to fill out an information card to drop in the bowl for the prize drawing of a signed, limited edition Stella McCartney tee shirt.

“The goal is to have each of you return as consumers. Tonight is about landing new customers, not the sale,” a Moschino employee explained as she took my email donned raffle ticket for a leather Moschino bag. I sipped a blood orange cocktail as I gawked at Cyndi Lauper and observed absolutely no one shopping, taking notice to a thumping bass and screaming guitar riffs. The culprit? The store Vince, offering a live performance that drew in a packed house that spilled out onto their faux grass sidewalk. Just then the intention of FNO was quite clear. There is a silent competition between retailers – who can throw the best party and attract the largest crowd? The winner will in turn land the most emails since once they have you in their grasp you are assaulted with raffle tickets and thrown information cards with the promise of “free stuff.” Once filled out, voila! A potential new customer who is going receive weekly, perhaps daily, email blasts by their store. Even if you never plan on buying an article of clothing from them, you might consider it when you see an announcement of a 40% off sale in your inbox on Monday.

At the end of the day (or night in this case) Fashion’s Night Out is a win/win for retailers and consumers alike. “We,” the consumer, sip free drinks and enjoy a fun, original evening out with our friends while “They,” the retailer, attain email addresses from those who might never have set foot in their store otherwise, turning us into new customers without our knowledge. Until Monday that is when we groan over our clogged inbox. Intention revealed, goal achieved.

It is hardly news to anyone that the media as we once knew it is in a state of perpetual decline. Newspapers and magazines are struggling to stay afloat as everyone continues to turn their eyes away from the paper and toward their computer screens. And when their eyes go to those screens, they don’t immediately seek out the website of traditional media strongholds like the New York Times or Time magazine. No, they look for something different, something new – and so we have witnessed and participated in the rise of the blogger.

Blogs and bloggers have taken the place of newspapers and journalists in the lives of many. You could take the attitude that this is a good thing. After all, you no longer need a journalistic background to have your words read by millions and that makes for a more meritocratic system, ostensibly. If you’re good enough, people will read what you have to say – it’s as simple as that, right?

Maybe so, but what happens when you are indeed good enough, when you’re a blogger with a dedicated readership? Those who comprise the traditional media may not be an angelic bunch, but they are largely bound by a code of ethics whereby they will remain objective and refrain from making any endorsements for personal gain. But blogs and bloggers are subject to no such rules and in many cases they are young and easily impressionable. So what’s to stop them from being manipulated, indeed from allowing themselves to be manipulated?

In many cases this is exactly what happens. PR companies have long been the nemesis of the more ethically minded in the mainstream media, and now the temptresses have a whole new, vastly wider audience to sing their siren song to. With ever-more-refined subliminal techniques such as product placement becoming more and more prevalent, it’s becoming more and more difficult to ascertain when a product is being pitched to us covertly.

PR firms actively seek to choose suitable, established bloggers to help them with many of their marketing campaigns, as described in a recent article at sheposts.com. It’s as easy as looking up a blog on a ranking site like Alexa to see how many readers a blog has, then vetting the blog for ease of usability and to see if it matches with the aesthetic of the campaign they are seeking to promote.

PR professional Serena Matter describes her own approach: “I will focus my outreach efforts on the ‘tier 1’ bloggers I have found. Once I have finished outreach to those bloggers – and assuming I still have enough budget leftover – I will proceed with pitching tier 2 and tier 3 bloggers, as time and budget allows.”

If such practices were to take place in the regular news media there would be uproar. There is a difference between selling ad space and actively editorializing your content to skew a certain viewpoint for personal financial benefit, as many bloggers do.

Bear in mind that this kind of thing happens all the time. Maybe it didn’t hit me how serious this matter is until last week when I was looking for the best food for my beloved dog. I ran across a multitude of blogs, each promoting a certain brand. It all seemed a bit too coordinated for my liking and it soon became clear that the PR moguls were behind it.

How can one know the truth about a product anymore? Sure, it is undoubted that there are many upstanding blog writers out there who would refuse to partner up for a PR campaign, but for every one of those there is likely to be many multitudes more willing to take the easy money.

With no clear laws governing much online content as of yet, all we can do for now is reiterate: Be careful what you read. And, even more importantly, to our fellow bloggers out there: Be responsible and remember that your newfound power comes with great responsibilities.

By Mirela Gluck