Fashion’s Night Out on the calendar for 2010

Fashion’s Night Out on the calendar for 2010
Associated Press, 10.28.09, 08:01 PM EDT

NEW YORK —

Fashion’s Night Out is coming back next year.

Organizers, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, have declared September’s shopping-as-entertainment event on the first day of New York Fashion Week a success, and are seeking to make it bigger next year.

Although there was some private industry grumbling back then and there are no sales figures for the night, NYC & Company, the city’s marketing arm, said it expects most stores to do it again, and others to join. Out of 543 retailers sent a post-event survey by the city, 31 percent returned it; of those 168 respondents, 83 percent said they’d probably sign up for 2010.

ShopperTrak, an independent reporter of consumer traffic, estimated a 50 percent jump in retail foot traffic as stores held cocktail parties, offered makeovers, and hosted meet-and-greets with celebrities and designers. Oscar de la Renta invited Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler and Barbara Walters to his store for a sing-along, and Bergdorf Goodman had a cook-off hosted by Padma Lakshmi of “Top Chef.”

Plans are also in the works to resume sister events in other cities, including London, Paris, Tokyo, Milan and Beijing.

“Thousands of New Yorkers attended the events in all five boroughs, supporting the city’s retail and fashion industries and helping a worthwhile cause,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

That cause was to generate excitement in spending money and restore consumer confidence, and to raise funds for The National September 11 Memorial and Museum and a clothing drive for the NYC AIDS Fund, which has been tapped as a beneficiary next year.

Fashion’s Night Out is scheduled for Sept. 9.