fashion's night out

I've been counting down the days since Fashion's Night Out 2011. Well, that's a lie. It kind of snuck up on me. Thankfully, I had enough to time to scour the FNO website and compile a map of all the fun SoHo locations we should hit. This year, I think I repeated free drinks to Kurt enough times to convince him to join Jenn, Christine, and me.

I tried to scout some guy friendly stores, so while the ladies stood in line to see Christian Siriano (which they did and I am jealous), Kurt and I browsed the Wolverine Company pop up store nearby.

Kurt was uneasy as we drank Michigan beer and marveled at all the gorgeous Michigan products. We eventually talked to the store manager who couldn't have been nicer. He told us all about the pop-up store and how most of the furnishings came from a defunct factory in MI, and I decided that retail design sounded like a very fun niche of architecture/interior design to enter into. Then, as we were leaving, Kurt's Ohio patch on his bag caught the eye of an older guy with the shop. I was afraid we were going to be exposed in enemy territory until we chatted with the guy and found out he is from the exact same region of Ohio as Kurt. The world shrank as they swapped stories from the motherland. I can't escape those Buckeyes!

Our next stop was Poppy. The boutique has some adorable stuff and their theme for the evening was "Beer for Boys" so I figured it would be Kurt friendly. They served hot dogs and Brooklyn Brewery. What's not to like?

It has always been a solid stop on our FNO tours. I might plan to camp out here a little longer in 2013.

Kurt, in the comments, can you please tell your tale about being photographed for an Asian teen magazine? Please?!?!

Our next stop was Saturdays. I vaguely know of the shop through their collaboration with J.Crew. I think it is a t-shirt/surf/coffee shop.

We were a little late and missed the booze. All they had left from the sangria was the alcohol soaked fruit. We snacked on that for a little while and glanced at the backyard before moving on to greener pastures.

Next, we stopped by Kate Spade (granted, a very not guy-friendly stop) in time to see Brad Goreski and Deborah Lloyd compete in Pictionary. 

It was cute and fun, but we didn't spot any drinks or snacks :( so we hit the pavement again.

We swung by the Frye Company. Last year, they had a really fun party complete with PBR, but this year it was very quiet. I still entered their raffle to win a free pair of boots though! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

We wandered aimlessly for a while, and I was afraid we had struck out for the night. My entire year of talking up Fashion's Night Out was looking like false advertising because lots of stores were closing up early for the night! The streets were crowded with people and annoying to navigate. We decided to walk one more block of West Broadway before heading to the train, defeated.

That's when we came across the Woolite Party! I guess they had set up a pop-up "shop" for the evening complete with music, snacks, booze, and coupons! We could not stop laughing that one of the most happening parties (that we actually cared visit, we weren't about to stand in a line) was a laundry detergent party! Hilarious.

Hope in FNO is renewed!

I'm such a stalker, but check out the pair of shoes in the center of the frame. I have NO idea how she walks in those. I wish I had gotten more outfit pictures from the evening. The fashionistas were out in full force!

Hooray for FNO! It was a little shaky in the middle, but we ended up having a blast. I'm working on a strategic plan for 2013. I'll keep you all posted :)