Fashion’s Night Out 2011: Louisville

I couldn’t make it to NYC for New York Fashion Week this time–the universe had more plans for me–but a part of Fashion Week came to Louisville and other locales throughout the nation: Fashion’s Night Out.

FNO Louisville was held in the East End at Oxmoor Center and at the Bakers at Mall St. Matthews. Lots of sales, food and entertainment were to be had this night.

As always, all images were taken by yours truly with the BlackBerry Curve 8350; if you want to repost, all you have to do is ask.

My outing began upon arriving at Mall St. Matthews after an arduous, traffic-laden bus ride from my apartment, whereupon I walked through the doors of the Forever 21 anchor, marveled at how big and shiny it was–and possibly recanting my stance on F21 due to my current finances–before exiting into the mall itself. After a small “Hello Cleveland” moment, I found the first stop on my FNO Louisville journey, Bakers.

It was a bit of a slow start, but you could get $10 USD off FNO-marked shoes like those on the table. The trends on the table included colour-blocking, wedges and “The ’70s,” which is funny since the ’90s are what’s on-trend now. Of course, the ’70s were on-trend then soooo… Inception?

After handing out the first of my business cards (recession version) to the sales staff, I picked up a drink at the DQ/Orange Julius, caught the next bus, and rolled under I-264 to Oxmoor Center, where the real party was.

And boy was I soon to be proven correct: Picked up a pamphlet featuring all the stores and restaurants involved, entered to win a $500 gift card, and made my way to the sample tables for…

And not just chicken, but also pizza from California Pizza Kitchen, wine from Elk Creek Vineyards, even tea from Teavana. Sbarro was also supposed to be there, but were oddly absent when I arrived at around 19h00 / 7 PM. At least there was Starbucks, though.

After stopping at Swarovski to enter to win a necklace and pick up a mini-bottle of water, I made my way to Sephora to get a mini-makeover, the kind Wendy Brandes would go for.

Then it was time for the highpoint of the evening, where I made my way down to Macy’s to obtain free samples and, maybe, find my fellow stylistanistas; I never did.

My first stop was the Lancôme counter to learn more about Visionnaire, but was absent of any staff; found out later it was due to a funeral involving one of the Lancôme staff. I then went over to my next stop at the Clinique counter to pick up a free sample of their Repairwear Laser Focus Foundation.

From there I paid a visit to Lush for a free sample (gonna smell like a Rock Star in the morning) and Dior for skin care goodies, which is where I met Dawn.

Dawn helped me find another free sample of foundation–Studio Gear, in this case–then taught me how to apply blush with Bobbi Brown blush–also got a sample of BB cream blush in a similar shade–and finally tested Visionnaire with her as well. And of course, she got a card.

It was then onward to Von Maur for some food samples and to enter more giveaways. While walking there, I came upon one trio of the Highland Chamber Players–the Players were performing in each wing of the mall–who began playing “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin as I approached. Fuck yeah y’all!

I would later learn those trees went up after Labor Day at the gift department in Von Maur. Anyway, I met another Dawn in the department with food samples from Godiva and some dips; the Godiva truffle was awesome.

This was my first Fashion’s Night Out, and my first one in Louisville as well. Can’t wait until next season.

Until then…

Tagged as: Bienvenue à Louisville, Fashion Week, Fashion's Night Out, Fashion's Night Out Louisville, FNO, FNO Louisville, Highland Chamber Players, Kentucky, Louisville, Mall St. Matthews, outfit post, Oxmoor Center, Oxmoor Center Fashion Council, style post