Friday, September 10th, 2010:  For Fashion’s Night Out 2010, I decided to venture downtown to Soho and the West Village, back to my typical stomping grounds for shopping.  I started off at the “Black Carnival” on Bond Street where they had various tents set up.  The festivities were scheduled to start at 6:00, but even when I arrived at 6:30, there were just a few stragglers roaming about.

That means I had first pick on the rolls from BondSt Sushi, and first try at the sake bottle ring toss!  For $1, you get 5 rings that you toss to get around sake bottles, with different colored bottles representing different prizes, included a cocktail at the BondSt Lounge.

And SOMEHOW, I was just standing there taking photos and giving my friends directios to me, when I look up and see Adrian Grenier of Entourage walk by!!  Everyone around me, including myself, stopped talking and just watched him casually stroll by with a friend.  What a gorrrrrgous man!

One of the things that lured me there was the promise of Luke’s Lobster, but alas, they were nowhere to be seen.  Fortunately, CHRISTINEATS was giving out samples of their signature caramel and had cookies, chocolates, and other treats for sale.  OAK New York had photobooths set up where you could dress up in some of their stranger clothing and have their photographer take a photo of you, along with a (temporary) tattoo station.

All this was happening right outside of the United Nude store on Bond Street, who was also hosting their own Fashion’s Night Out event with PAPER Magazine. They were serving up Belvedere and Izze drinks, with music by The Chainsmokers against a background of lovely shoes.

At first glance, their shoes and boots seem “normal,” but then upon closer inspection you see that most of them had a crazy heel or funky detailing (check more in our image gallery below).  I probably would fall over in any number of them, but these purple pumps above I may actually be able to pull off!

After some chit-chat, I didn’t really want to leave the great United Nude party, but I decided to see what the rest of Soho was about on FNO.  Making my way down Broadway, there was a clusterfuck of people outside the Victoria’s Secret PINK Soho store, as noted here:

Jesus Christ, no, thank you.  And the Piperlime pop-up was just as bad that I didn’t even want to get near the intersection.

Continuing the journey down Mercer Street, we passed by the Agent Provocateur store which caught the attention of many passerbys with the sexy live model in the window display.

Hottt.  If buying super expensive lingerie would guarantee to make me look that great, I would make the investment immediately.

We then backtracked to Bloomingdale’s (honestly because we just really had to pee), and outside was a Marc by Marc Jacobs truck!  Following the food truck craze going on now, they were selling jewelry and accessories right there on the street for some on-the-go fashion fun.

We then trekked to the 3.1 Phillip Lim + Rag & Bone, but the only eventful thing was that I saw some of my co-workers there.  There were some real food trucks serving up delicious smelling burgers and fries, but the lines were much too long for me to deal with.

Next I headed over to the Paul Smith store with the promise that Seth Meyers of SNL would be there – but alas, my hopes were dashes and he was not there (or maybe I had just missed him).  I had hear earlier via Twitter that he was over in Rockefeller Center with Anna Wintour for QVC so I figured it wasn’t going to happen, but I still had hope!

Uneventful as the last 2 stops were, we then wandered over to the West Village for the ASOS and Teen Vogue FNO block party – and it was OVER.  What?!  It was 9:00 pm and they were just about finished taking everything down, even though it was supposed to go through 11:00 pm.  Hmmm…

But all was not lost, as there were still a lot of stores inviting people in around the neighborhood.  So I stopped by Cynthia Rowley where they mirrored the outside of their store, and shoppers could pose and take photos with models.

Lastly, I wandered by the Brooks Brothers store where they had live male models in the windows.  I thought the guy on the right had a pretty awesome obnoxiously striped suit on, but he was chatting with another model so I couldn’t get a great look.  And the guy on the left, as per the photo above, was clearly staring me down.  Not sure if he was posing for my photo or pissed off at me.

All in all, I had a fun time wandering around Soho and the West Village, but when it comes to actual shopping, it was just way to crowded and overwhelming to do anything.  Especially when it comes down to the over publicized, over-rated brand name events, don’t expect a leisurely time.  I had the best time at the Black Carnival/United Nude + PAPER Mag events, but it’s hard to find something that’s under the radar with fun activities.  And of course, the highlight of the night was the unexpected sighting of studly Adrian Grenier.

Until next year!

Yours,
Von