Fashion’s Night Out is a brilliant way of bringing the excitement of Fashion Week to the masses of New York City. For those of us lacking invites to the biggest shows, the event provides a taste of what’s to come in the upcoming week and an opportunity to support a great charity (The New York City AIDS Fund in The New York Community Trust).
At first glance, the multitude of activities seemed a bit daunting. However, with the right group of friends and an adventurous attitude, it turned out to be one of my more memorable evenings in the city. A healthy combination of top-of-the line celebrities, high fashion, incredible food and flowing champagne was enough for any fan of the industry.
Two of my favorite New Yorkers and I started our evening out at Bergdorf Goodman and navigated our way in and out of some of the biggest stores on Fifth Avenue. From celebrity sightings of Grace Coddington and Dakota Fanning at Prada to numerous Audrey Hepburn’s dancing to Mark Ronson tunes at Tiffany’s, the 5th Avenue scene was very high class and well produced.
Following a trip to the calm and civilized land of 5th Avenue, my group headed out to Soho to meet up with more friends. It was a different story in Soho where lines extended around all venues and an attention-seeking Kanye West decided to walk around the neighborhood with his hundreds of admirers. Opting out of the chaos of bigger venues, we headed to Paul Smith and Penguin to successfully finish out the evening.
I hope that Fashion’s Night Out continues to be a staple of the Fall Fashion Week and would love it if they extended it to include February’s shows. It’d be interesting to replicate its success in other markets in the US and around the world. An evening of shopping and fashion translates well wherever you go.
I’m constantly amazed by the millions of iPhone applications that make life easier on a day-to-day basis. The latest that I’m enjoying is from The New York Times called “The Scoop,” which is a guide on what to eat, drink and do in New York City. Being somewhat of a newcomer to the Big Apple, the application is great for when I’m seeking out new venues for after work drinks or weekend adventures. It also helps professionally when I need to find the best places to take clients and editors without bugging my veteran NYC MMC colleagues.
The application is very simple. It’s broken down into four categories: restaurants, bars, events and things to do that are only in New York. The “Sifty Fifty” is the current 50 favorite New York restaurants from restaurant critic Sam Sifton. Pete Wells, the dining editor of The Times shares his current favorite bars in the “Top Shelf.” The paper lists out all of the top events for the upcoming week in “This Week.” Finally, “Only in New York” provides a bucket list of New York adventures from classic sights to offbeat outings.
I have already begun attacking the “Only in New York” list and am making it my goal to achieve at least five before I hit my one year anniversary as a New Yorker.
This weekend I took a trip out to the city of brotherly love to visit my brother Kevin. While there, I went on a unique tour within the City Center that I highly recommend to anyone visiting Philly.
Prior to visiting Philadelphia, I had never known that the city is the Mural Capital of the World. Once you make your way around, you can immediately feel its effects. The City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program is one of the nation’s largest public arts initiatives of its kind. Their mission is to engage in art education and community public art collaborations, and to increase public access to art.
The Mural Arts Program began in 1984 as a component of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, an effort to eradicate the graffiti crisis plaguing the city. Since the Mural Arts Program began, they have produced over 2,800 murals and educated over 20,000 underserved youth in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.
Due to its success, cities across the world are turning to Philadelphia to see how they can replicate the program for their own community…including Brooklyn.
I am amazed with how the community holds such pride in these impressive works of art. It gives the city a much cleaner and artistic presence that you don’t often get in many urban locations.
The Mural Arts Program offers weekly and daily public, guided and trolley tours that visit five neighborhoods (City Center, North, South, West Philadelphia and Broad Street).
