Gratis champagne at Lord & Taylor / the adorable cupcakes from the Glamour Treats Truck

The highly anticipated Fashion’s Night Out event that took over New York City Thursday night flashed by in a flurry of shopping, champagne, and models. Follow my journey around Manhattan for the evening.

A still from Jasmin Shokrian's video / courtesy of the designer

I started off the night at Jasmin Shokrian’s video screening of her Draft No. 17 collection. Her latest designs, which will span four seasons, are based on the concept of a slip dress turned into tops, dresses, skirts, etc. Each piece is inspired by the influential ladies in her life. A part of each woman’s spirit, as experienced by Jasmin, is encapsulated in fabric and formed into a garment. The video showcased the actual women that had triggered the collection including actress China Chow, painters Rebecca Morris and Jennifer Rochlin, and fashion designer Mary Ping.

Next it was off to the Meatpacking District to see what else FNO had to offer. Ikea was kind enough to set up a lounge in the middle of the cobblestone streets to offer fashionista girls a place to rest their heels (or at least that was my take on it).

The massive crowds at Tory Burch and Theory

We popped into Theory and it was jam-packed. I’m not sure that people could have even looked at merchandise because there were so many live mannequins crowding the floor. One girl bragged that she bought a jacket (which she was already donning) just so she could get a glass of free champagne.

Along the way to Tory Burch, we spotted the Treats Truck that was sponsored by Glamour magazine and helped ourselves to free cupcakes. How cute!! - “Live for Glamour.”

Tory Burch was overflowing with people both outside and inside. That is probably because Tory Burch teamed up with La Esquina and set up an outdoor taqueria outside her storefront. They dished out free grilled corn and quesadillas all night!! Tory also offered buckets of free Fiji water in addition to the alcoholic beverages inside.

We then headed up to Lord & Taylor for the Vogue event. Liberal amounts of alcohol were being passed out on all floors of this department store and it was definitely necessary. Turns out bigger is not always better because the event seemed basically empty as it was dispersed all throughout the store.

Then we decided to check out Sean John. This was the only event that had a velvet-rope with boys and girls lining up dutifully behind it, hoping to get in. Luckily we had a piece of gum, offered it to the “bouncer”, and stepped right in. The store was packed and everyone was rocking their urban attire (which includes wearing sunglasses at night). The deejay was playing hip-hop hits and some orange drink (most likely mixed with Ciroc) was being served at the bar.

Metal mesh necklace and denim leggings at BCBG

Afterwards, we stepped next door to BCBG and finally did a little shopping! I found this gorgeous Metal Mesh necklace that wears like a glamorous bandana. BCBG also offered a fun array of ponte riding pants and denim leggings.

And with that, let Fashion Week commence!

Tags: BCBG, champagne, cupcakes, Fashion's Night Out, Glamour, Ikea, Jasmin Shokrian, Lord & Taylor, Mary Ping, Sean John, shopping, Theory, Tory Burch, Vogue.

Inside the Dossier shop

the Dossier shop in Fort Greene, Brooklyn / Zac Posen's alligator Dossier tote bag

Skye: Yeah, the idea in the beginning was to sort of create a forum for creative people. The first issue in particular is lots of people we know and friends of family. As we have continued the magazine we have expanded beyond that. A lot of contributors now are people we don’t know or people who have come to us and a lot of people we profile are also people we don’t personally know.

Who is the most exciting person who has come and approached you about a submitting a peice?

Skye: While we were working on the first issue, we were discussing with a friend of a friend about what we were doing and all of a sudden Zac Posen came to us with a story that he had styled to see if it was something we would be interested in. Obviously we were super interested and Zac is now a contributing editor for the magazine.

Do you see a reflection of the magazine in the store?

Skye: Oh, yes definitely. Because it is a really small space, we focus on very high end vintage and young local designers. In starting the store, we have been able to get to know a lot of those designers. Samantha Pleet, for example, contributed to this coming issue of the magazine. Jewelry designer Pamela Love is also a contributing editor the magazine. So a lot of the people who have contributed to the store are also a part of the magazine.

Art books and carnival masks / A vintage Saks Fifth Avenue cocktail dress

Tell us a little bit about how you three gals who are also friends work together.

Skye: I think our tastes and interests are definitely different. Katherine is a real vintage fanatic so she takes care of the vintage aspect of the store. Because I work in fashion as a photographer, I help bring in the new clothes and also get a lot of the photo books that are in the store. The third partner of the magazine, Molly, does the ad sales of the magazine. Molly also comes out of the art world, so she gets a lot of the amazing, esoteric art books that we have. The store is like a mix/mesh of all of our different interests.

Do you feel any pressure?

Skye: This is the fourth issue of the magazine, so we don’t really feel as much pressure with it as we do with the store. I remember after the first issue of the magazine came out we were like, “We have to do that again?” And it’s the same thing now with the store – we came out, we did spring, everything was great, we got a great response, and now we are like “We have to switch everything out for fall and do it all again?”

What has owning a shop taught you?

Skye: I think we are learning a lot as we go along. Really our goal for the store is to just put things that we think are interesting and for the most part that has been working out so far. I mean we’ve definitely had some surprises in terms of things that we’ve been like, “I was sure that someone would buy that,” especially with some of the beautiful vintage pieces. Or certain pieces of jewelry - we’re like, “That’s so weird that this is still here.” But we are learning more about our customer as we go.

Has the customer mutated much from what you had expected?

Skye: We do a kind of artsy, fashiony, mish-mosh magazine so we get a lot of artsy, fashiony, mish-mosh people. I guess, the only people that we didn’t, for whatever reason, that we hadn’t thought about – were students from Pratt…which seems silly that we didn’t think about that. But we do get a lot of customers from Pratt.

If you could choose one item in the store to keep, what would it be and why?

Skye: I love this Pamela Love claw cuff. It is amazing. And I love this necklace designed by Aesa.

Aesa necklace and Pamela Love Claw Cuff

Tell us a little bit about your tote project.

Skye: We did a project last year where we gave our tote bags - just the basic bags that we use for our store with our logo on it – to various artists and designers to customize. We had lots of different people, musicians, artists, stylists, and it was pretty cool what people chose to do. We got about 200 of them back and they were on sale through our website.

Scorpio pillow (and other signs) available only at Dossier

Say hello to Skye and her partners at the Dossier store located in Fort Greene, Brooklyn at 244 DeKalb Avenue or visit them virtually here. The fourth issue should be appearing within the next three weeks. Pre-order your copy here or be on the lookout at your local newsstands.

All photos by The Totam

Tags: Brooklyn, Brooklyn shops, Dossier, Fort Greene, Pamela Love, Samantha Pleet, vintage clothing, Zac Posen.

Partygoers outside of Oak in Williamsburg

A ‘zine party held at Oak NYC’s Williamsburg, Brooklyn store was the perfect way to start the weekend last Friday night. Fake Orange, a smallish flip book style ‘zine of xeroxed artwork held an art show of a dozen or so rising artists in the back room, while music was provided by DJ Japanster (spinning Depeche Mode and Talking Heads). Edward Gorey-esque illustrations of odd amorphous creatures by Megan Galante hung near Ellen Frances‘ curious black and white photography and graphics. Projections of a fashion shoot flickered above the makeshift bar which served champagne to an overflowing room of guests. Oak which is known for its tightly curated clothing and accessories by Alexander Wang, Acne, and a long roster of other indie designers proved their adeptness at blending fashion with art and music as exhibited at this multimedia event.

Photography and graphics by Ellen Frances

Fake Orange's artwork held court in the back room.

Copies of the Fake Orange zine

Projections and champagne

Lots of black clothing at the Oak Williamsburg outpost

Oak is located at 208 North 8th St in Brooklyn, NY.

Tags: Acne, Alexander Wang, art, art show, champagne, Ellen Frances, Fake Orange, Oak NYC, Photography, shopping, Williamsburg.