Fashion

Fashion’s Night Out is Canceled. What’s That Mean For Bloggers?
By: Jennine Jacob

Fashion’s Night Out. The crowds, the celebrities, the blogger events…

If you’ve ever had a chance to go to Fashion’s Night Out, it’s quite a show. Since 2009, every year stores try to one up themselves from the previous year from giant robot “bloggers” to Coco Rocha and Zac Posen flash mobs, and seemingly every year it just got more crowded.  Since I’m not really much of a crowd person, I generally made an appearance at a shop I liked, then mosied on home taking back streets and alley ways, then watched everything from Twitter and Instagram. Feeling like I was missing out, but missing out from my own doing, which wasn’t so bad.

Bloggers benefited a lot from Fashion’s Night Out. For the beginners, it was an opportunity to cover events without having been invited…. For established bloggers, it was an opportunity to host events and generate income for the season.

Bloggers benefited a lot from Fashion’s Night Out. For the beginners, it was an opportunity to cover events without having been invited. To get access to the favorite stores and take photos without security guards trying to throw you out. For medium bloggers it was great to meet up with your blogger friends and cruise around and get free drinks and have fun being invited to parties. For established bloggers, it was an opportunity to host events and generate income for the season. It seemed like any blogger who had somehow “made it” did FNO events, from Tavi, Manrepeller, and HonestlyWTF… it was the perfect way to bridge the gap between the digital voyeurs and the bridge and tunnel crowd.

(The Glamourai at the True Religion FNO event)

The problem was, and always had been that Fashion’s Night Out for all it’s grandiosity failed to make money for the the retailers, however as stated in WWD, it was more about creating engagement, and to reinvigorate the shopping industry. That said, if it had made money for the retailers, they would not opt to discontinue it.

I wonder if the cancellation of Fashion’s Night Out will make the September New York Fashion Week more subdued. Part of me felt like some of the antics that went on in previous years were connected to Fashion’s Night Out. That said, bloggers have been benefiting from this for the last four seasons and perhaps that means the opportunities will change for live events in the coming season.