Finally, Fashion's Night Out Is Over
After a very expensive four-year run, Fashion's Night Out is over (in the U.S.). Tastefully launched during the peak of the 2009 recession, FNO was initiated to encourage spending by setting up a DJ booth in a Victoria's Secret, giving you a glass of bad champagne, and steering you towards some designer-y clothes. By last year, FNO had spread to over 500 cities in the U.S. and 30 internationally.
The event's sponsors—Vogue (Anna Wintour specifically), the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and NYC & Co.—have canceled FNO in the U.S. for 2013. They note this will allow designs to focus their budgets on specific projects, rather than shelling out a pretty penny to host the event.
It was likely that FNO never brought back that much cash to the designers. According to Steven Kolb, chief executive officer of the CFDA:
"I don't think the success of it was measured only by numbers or money, but was really about engagement.…Everyone feels we had a great four years."
Event-goers (your cousin who just started at NYU, everyone in New Jersey), considered the evening more like a "big party" or a fashion magazine's idea of a very pricy street festival. As Women's Wear Daily mentions, it was also a chance to gawp at celebrities, "from Victoria Beckham to the Blue Man Group."
Never fear, FNO has not stalled its expansion. Fashion Night Out will launch in Thailand and Ukraine this year, in case you're heading there for Vacations, by Juicy Couture.
