fashion's night out!

Fashion's Night Out (FNO) was an amazing event for the public - which hyped up the city even more for Mercedes Benz NY Spring 2011 Fashion Week. The one-night celebration was dreamed up by Anna Wintour to lure shoppers into stores and revive the flagging fashion industry. Running only for its second time on Friday, September 10th , FNO fanned out to 100 cities around the country, and 16 countries planned their own versions.

The city was packed with fashionistas, and eager shoppers - making their way around the city to shop and visit their favourite stores, meet top designers and get pictures with many celebrities.

With my camera fully charged, my roommate, Jeanette and I began our FNO at 5:00pm at Macy's at Herald Square. After meeting the amazing soul singer, Joss Stone, and getting a few shots of Train and Tommy Hilfiger - we then moved on to Bergdorf Goodman, where there were hundreds of people lined up outside to see Victoria Beckham and Mary J. Blige. We wandered Bergdorf's browsing the lines of the top designers, mingled with fellow shoppers/browsers, and enjoyed free beverages and amazing blueberry frozen yogurt - yummm! Making our way out of Bergdorf's we ran into crazy fans awaiting to get a snapshot of Sarah Jessica Parker. On our way down in the elevator, we stood next to the flawless, Kelly Rutherford, Lily van der Woodsen from the TV series Gossip Girl. While being flustered by the fans and using the elevator as an escape, I have Kelly Rutherford on one side of me and Jeanette on the other side mouthing 'Get a picture of her!"...There was absolutely no way I was going to take my enormous camera and literally point it in her face. So although there is know picture evidence of this encounter, take my word - she is flawless! From Bergdorf Goodman's we made our way to Barney's where Mary - Kate and Ashley were making an appearance, and judging a karaoke contest - alongside the Proenza Schouler boys. So after a long and regretful wait, we got our snapshots of the girls and left the madness at Barneys. With only an hour left of FNO we wandered in and out of stores - Michael Kors, DKNY, Longchamp, and more - and danced, mingled, and loaded up on the last free goodies, cocktails, and glasses of champagne.

All and all our night was pretty eventful, but much was missed. There are so many things going on and are scattered all around NY. You really have to set your game plan at the beginning of the night and pick and choose your best route. With all the hype that came out of this crazy event - CBS aired a special on Fashion Night Out on Tuesday September 14th. Vogue.com has the full episode right here: http://bit.ly/bH4IRu

Anna Wintour was on CBS The Early Show the morning after to talk about this year's FNO. Check out her interview here: http://bit.ly/aPwACw

enjoy: FREE rice bowls, swamp water, vintage stores, and magic.

The adventure of my fall 2010 exchange at the Fashion Institute of Technology has started off very well. I'm going into my fourth week of living in NYC - I'm still adjusting to the fact that I'm 'living in NYC'. Located right on FIT campus, at W 27th Street and 7th. Ave. is mi casa. A small two-bedroom apartment shared between 3 other girls. Although the kitchen is quite small and we can't all sit at the table together - the bedrooms are a decent size. And the view from my bedroom window is awesome - the Empire State building in clear sight.

I'm on a mission to see and experience as much as I can before this exchange is over. That is where the To Do/To See List comes in. The roomies and I have a list - that continues to grow each day - where we have made note of the particular things we would like to do and see before my departure. On the list we have: see a ballet, statue of liberty, brooklyn/brooklyn bridge, the Harlem Market, skating at the Rockefeller Center, the Macy's Parade, the Young Designers Market, ride the mechanical bull at Johnny Utah's, the Plaza, and much much more.

On top of that to do list, we have a bulletin board slowly being covered with business cards of places we have come across throughout our exploring of nyc and would like to return to.

Even thought the list of things To Do/To See continues to grow, the list of things we have enjoyed is also coming to along.

Pocha 32 crazy ceiling decor.

Koreatown (on West 32nd St, between Broadway and 5th Ave.) has become a favorite spot. Originally we came across the restaurant, Pocha 32 - a whole in the wall in Koreatown where the decor is quirky and you can get $1 rice bowls. But last weekend my roommate, Jeanette, and I found a place (I'll get back with the name soon) that serves FREE rice - perfect for a student's budget. So since our rice was free we decided to split a bottle of 'smooth & fragrant' Sake with a side of 'lots of lemon'.

Brother Jimmy's - swamp water is a must. A delicious alcoholic beverage served in a large fish bowl. Yummy!

Vintage stores - the flea markets and vintage shopping here is awesome. My bedroom wall is slowly being decorated with old postcards from the vintage shops I have come across.

Magic - A horse that I had the pleasure of meeting - he has quite the personality and loved the camera.