Anna Wintour giveth and Anna Wintour taketh away: Fashion's Night Out, the annual nighttime party/sale started in 2009 to help bring the the fashion industry out of the recession, was put to rest yesterday. At least in the U.S., regular people are no longer welcome to shop, drink and occasionally trash an Audi with their favorite retailers. Europeans and other non-Americans, though? They can keep on keeping on.
According to organizers the problem wasn't unruly shoppers turning quiet neighborhoods into "zoos" so much as it was about money. "The sponsors of the event—Vogue, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, and NYC & Co.—made the joint decision to go on hiatus so retailers and designers can focus their budgets on projects that are more in line with their specific objectives, rather than a big event on one night in September."
While we're sure that the cost of the events (which we hear didn't actually make very much money) is a factor, we're also pretty sure the bad headlines and neighborhood relations had something to do with the decision for Vogue & Co. to drop the ball. Because otherwise why would the event get to live on elsewhere? 19 countries will still be able to enjoy late-night sales and free cocktails this year, including Thailand and the Ukraine, which will be hosting FNO for the first time.
So let's all pour one out for FNO in NYC and watch the incident that arguably ended the whole thing one more time for the road:
