No one could really tell or advise you how to handle Fashion’s Night Out in New York, especially since this was only the second year and radically different from last year’s inaugural celebration.

The event certainly dwarfed any of the fashion events I attended, including the Fashion & Design Festival in Montreal. Practically the entire city of New York, visitors and residence alike were decked out in their most fashionable outfits, high heels galore and people crowding the streets to attend more than 100 locations around the city.

My first stop was to go to Jil Sander’s new bridge line “Jil Sander Navy” with special guest appearance by French illustrator Garance Doré, who had shot the campaigns for the line. The Navy line will replace the one from Uniqlo in order to cater to middle class consumers. The collection mainly consisted of near pure CMYK intensity of Magenta, Cyan, White, and Bright Orange. This season’s collection was more sporty with a few shift dresses, and sports jackets with adjustable ties. Some of the white shorts had some interesting textures, thus not your typical run of the mill pieces, it was a nice breezy collection for spring. I loved the store layout at Jil Sander, with pure white walls and floors, and featureless white mannequins, they really made the clothes pop out.

When Garance finally arrived, with her fellow fashion beau – Scott Schuman, she was totally glammed up and was much more beautiful in person than I had anticipated. I was actually expecting that cool laid back French look, but was greeted with a more sleeked back look and stunning red lips. She’s friendly, girly and still is overwhelmed by the attention she gets for her work, so I find her to be very humble. When I asked her about how she approached the shoot for the campaign, she said that because she’s a newcomer to New York (having moved there recently), she was afraid of losing that sense of “lost in the city” approach and wanted to reflect that in her photos. No doubt her photos had a Sartorialist feel to them, the difference being she would catch people in a moment rather than have them pose for the photo.

Scott Schuman was another blogger I had anticipated in meeting, but his aura exhuded professionalism, and I was a little star struck, so I didn’t quite know what to ask him. So I asked something related to Garance, like how she got into photography and he said that he gave her her first camera. That was really sweet! He discussed the busy schedule they had ahead of them and expressed their interest to travel to smaller fashion weeks in other countries, since the bigger ones are sort of a “been there done that”. I found this to be kind of particular since it seems that when you’re a nobody, you want to be the superstar, but when you’re the superstar, you want to go back to being low key. Isn’t it strange?

Overall, I was glad to meet them, but at the same time they had other people to talk to, it wasn’t quite full at Jil Sander, but it was enough to make Garance feel like she did reach out to a few at least. Good for her.

While at Jil Sander I had chatted up with Jason, a fan of Jil Sander and Garance’s work. We had a good friendly chemistry for strangers and ended up hanging out together for the rest of the evening. It was one of those serendipitous New York moments, where a stranger can make you pass the time so much faster. I followed him to Ralph Lauren, where it was the total opposite of Jil Sander, packed halfway into the open street. Vogue’s Editor at Large, Andre Leon Talley made an appearance to introduce Grammy-nominated singer, Janelle Monae (a singer I’ve never heard of). Her opening song, “Sincerely Jane” blew me away. She was referenced by Andre as the “Marlene Dietrich” of our time, with a fitted tuxedo look, a look she said she paid tribute to her parents, people who put on a uniform for a living. Her performance though brief, was electrifying and her dance moves had the crowd going wild.

The party at Chanel in Soho was blocking traffic nearly in all directions, it was virtually impossible to go in. At Reiss, supermodel Coco Rocha posed in front of an English red telephone booth they installed inside the store (Rimmel London was a co-sponsor of the event).

By 10pm I was exhausted. I had been up since 4:30am that day and had been pretty much on the go non-stop. Being in New York gives you tons of energy but at the same time drains you twice as much.

Given that I don’t go to New York City too often, this particular trip had me lured to Soho. I’ve never been in the popular places of NY for lack of information since there’s just so much about New York that it’s difficult to cover in short trips. But like all bloggers, I went on Google Maps’ Street View to get an idea of what Soho looked like. Honestly, it was even better than I had imagined it to be!

It’s like being on Montreal’s Plateau except with 1000 times the number of stores to shop from. I was in shopping heaven.The streets aren’t too wide, there’s stylish people at every corner it’s ridiculous. I can see why Scott Schuman finds so many people to photograph around these corners. Soho is definitely the most fashionable district I’ve encountered so far. 5^th Avenue? That’s just for show. Nobody shops there. They’re all in Soho, talking with friends, stopping by at a café for a healthy (affordable) sandwich and boutiques that are inviting, not daunting.

I had passed by the Chanel store and they had already set up a huge screen that take up the length of a large terrasse. And there’s a surprise, keep reading!

It didn’t take long for me to find the store I hadn’t expected to come across: Reiss. My first brush with this UK brand was in Washington D.C. a couple of years ago and fell in love with a  strapless plaid dress with built in corset. So I had to into Reiss and see what they had. Of course, so many choices, I could only buy one thing. I reached out for this light lilac wool coat and the sales person, a tall, sleek, black man with an English accent said to me “That’s our best selling coat in the store”. How nice. But I live in Canada, our winters are nothing to be trifled with, that coat wasn’t going to get me through the season. I saw these nice front end leather pants (apparently also a best seller accord to Black Brit) but alas, did not have my size. However, there was another person who brought me a couple of selections.

I tried on 3 pairs of pants: one of a thick wool/viscose material, another of viscose/cotton, and one pair with an elastic waistband (I didn’t pick that one).

The elastic waistband was said to be a UK 4 size or size 0, and normally I fit into those sizes, but this had to be much smaller because the pant legs would not fit over my calves! How skinny do I have to be?? Anyway, I didn’t bother trying that one on since I was too big for it, and tried the others. The thick pants were ok, but a little too snug on the tummy. The viscose/cotton pair had some nice textured details on the sides with a paneling on the knees with seamless front zip pockets. The effect kind of made me look like I had leggings on, but not quite tight enough to be leggings. I preened in the mirror. When I preen, it means a must buy.

Reiss pants: Made in Turkey, Dry Clean Only.

Note that Reiss has also a lot of clothes made in China, some better built than others. There were only 2 structured dresses that I thought were up to snuff for quality, but the rest was sort of left to be desired. So be forwarned!

While I was trying on my pants, I overhead a conversation between Reiss employees gushing that Karl Lagerfeld would make an appearance at the Chanel store in Soho for Fashion’s Night Out. Had I not heard this conversation, I wouldn’t have changed my plans for tonight, but I will definitely make a trip back to Soho to see the Kaiser in the flesh. He’s like the Pope of Fashion.

I’ll probably be hanging out more in Soho than going to the department stores. I’d still make an efford to go to the Ace Hotel to see Open Ceremony’s flea market.

I stopped in the hip Kid Robot store, a store that specializes in vinyl toys known as Dunny (rabbit-like) and Munny (human-like). I couldn’t help but buy myself a cute little pull zipper character ($3.95).

I also stopped by A Bathing Ape pop up shop, with special collaboration with Hello Kitty right around the corner. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to take photos of the shop at all. True to Bape culture, you had to ring a doorbell in order to be let in. It was much smaller than I had anticipated and wasn’t quite sure if the store would make any sales considering the few items they sold. However, I’m still amazed by the quality of their t-shirts and hoodies, I’ve never touched anything like them. They’re like premium quality t-shirts and hoodies, and I’m not talking about designs on the clothes, it’s the materials themselves that really shine for me. I was tempted for a split second, but I think I should save my money for my real trip to Japan in the Spring.

And now dear readers, I must get ready for Fashion’s Night Out!

As many of you know by now, the event that’s the most talked about during New York Fashion Week is Fashion’s Night Out. As a second year run, this event has grown to colossal proportions, just looking at the list of events happening that night is mind boggling. So in order to sift through the events, I came across Fashionista’s Top 10 List of Events that they would be checking out. The top 4 are events I would be definitely consider, but the rest is meh.

Going around Manhattan and trying to attend parties is a pretty tiresome job. If there’s one thing you have to consider is to know your limit. While Fashionista has a top 10, I’ve narrowed mine down to a Top 5. After all, some events will require a bit more of my time and there are only so many hours until FNO is done by 11pm (not to mention commute time).

1. Barneys – A slew of celebrities and designers will be at the flagship store on Madison Avenue with some oddball things happening like karaoke and ping pong. There will also be some unveiling of certain collections like the Oslen Twin’s first men’s collection. There will also be an unveiling of “Fashionista” the music video starring Coco Rocha, Manolo Blahnik will also make an appearance, and you can also knit with Wool and The Gang for charity. Bref, it’ll be a huge event no doubt.
2. Bergdof Goodman – Much of the same as Barneys but with different designers and celebrities like Tom Ford, Victoria Beckham, Jason Wu and Brian Atwood. You can also get “styled” and have your photo taken with your favorite designer. Adam Lippes is among those designers, so it would be kinda cool to have a photo and hopefully chat a bit since I probably won’t be able to make his show. More karaoke oddities ensue including a segment where Victoria will appear and Brian Atwood will be a DJ?
3. Opening Ceremony at Ace Hotel – There’ll be a Parisian styled flea market where a handful of designers will set up booths and offer items for under $100. Joseph Altuzarra, Alexander Wang and Rodarte will be among the designers present, so that should be interesting.
4. Jil Sander – There will be a cocktail with the popular blogger/illustrator Garance Doré herself. An exhibition of her illustration will also take place there so I think this will be a nice little event to attend and hopefully chat with her since I really love her illustrations.
5. Calvin Klein Collection – Bryan Adams will be performing (and I love Bryan Adams!), which isn’t surprising considering it’s not the first time he performs for CK. Back in 2003 at Fashion Rocks in London, he performed “The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me” for the brand, which I found rather fitting and fun. There will also be an exhibition of Bryan’s photographs as well.

There is an optional event that I wish I could attend but they’re simply too far off the Midtown map, which is the Diane von Furstenberg event with Refinery29.com. They’ve established a multimedia platformed shindig where shoppers can try on clothes, take pictures and share them on Facebook. For all the geekettes in us, it may be worth the detour.

Admittedly, all locations I’ve chosen will no doubt be incredibly crowded, especially at the department stores where several designers will show up. But the good thing about Fashion’s Night Out is having the free choice to choose when to leave. However for bloggers, these locations will be a boon for networking and picture taking.

*Please note that the events listed could be subject to change.

Now I feel like I have nothing to wear that night.

I had recently gone to New York city over Labor Day weekend, and it was hard to miss Fashion’s Night out as there were buses and monstrous billboard ads splashed across the urban landscape. For the occasion, over 700 stores will be open from 6pm to 11pm in New York, sprinkled with celebrities, musical performances and of course, shopping galore.

The event isn’t limited to New York only, it will simultaneously spread across Europe all the way to Japan. So if you’re lucky to find yourself into some of those fashion capitals tomorrow night, take advantage of it!

And what about Canada?

The Hudson Bay will also be partaking in Fashion’s Night Out tomorrow through their 7 The Bay flagship store across the country, according to CNW Group. The Bay’s CEO, Bonnie Brooks, states that the department store will be the only store in the country participating in the event. Montreal’s downtown flagship store is included in the list, although details of what each store will do isn’t really given except for a vague description: “…a variety of in-store events and exclusive vendor activities including makeovers and workshops, expert consultations, fashion shows, special gifts with purchase, prize raffles, music, food and drink, and an opportunity to meet designers and celebrity stylists.”

This is also to reiterate the fact that The Bay is really trying to lure shoppers back to its aisles by introducing new products and designers to the Fall lineup, and valiantly trying to put itself back onto the fashion map as it once did. For some reason, I’m also secretly rooting for them to be brought back into prominence, and give some real value to all that square footage of retail space.