DKNY Fashion's Night Out, Bond Street

You've got to hand it to American retailers - they do retail marketing and PR better then anybody. After all, they invented it. But it still makes me wonder as to why is it that the Americanos - supposedly puritanical and unhealthily obsessed with the body beautiful - rather then the Brits, still know how to throw a stonking, champagne and cocktail fueled party like no one else. What I'm talking about here is American super brand DKNY, which celebrated the New York inspired Fashion Night Out with Vogue Magazine on Thursday September 10 2009 with a DJ led party in their Bond Street store on that night.

Of course this is not a fashion blog, I leave that to the Northerner and her wonderful ReDesign for Life to work the superlatives on what's on trend this season. However as my experience tells me where fashion people go, drinks and parties are quick to follow, and this globally coordinated party event in DKNY stores across the world, saw the Bond Street shop turn into a funkier then funk, bar / club for the evening. Working in partnership with the uber-hip Bungalow 8 the DKNY crew hosted an evening that was meant to be about the clothes. I believe the UK Vogue editor was on hand to offer styling advice to anyone that looked like they needed it. However, you give 150, mostly women or gay men fashionistas free champagne and gin and vodka based cocktails for the evening. Throw in some DJ spun 80's tunes and what you get is a full on party, complete with dancing, shouting and flirting. This is why I love London. 

This is a weird blog to write in one sense in that DKNY is not a bar that I can recommend that you visit - it's a store that many of you probably will have been into. However for one night only it turned into Bungalow 8 on Bond Street and became one of, if not THE, place to be last week. I believe its what young people now regard as a 'pop up bar'.  So what I would say is try and get on the mailing list, which anyone can simply by shopping there. Just so you can get invited to the next bash. After all if an unfashionable fella like me can get invited, anyone can. And if you think I'm being falsely modest here, let me leave you with this thought. I was, without fail, the only person who the photographers did not want to snap. And only one person stopped to talk to me and give me a card - for styling advice. Enough said. Register now.