Samantha Cameron, Asprey managing director Paddy Byng and Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman at the Asprey party © PA Photos
By Dolly Jones
MAKEOVERS and must-haves, fashion and festivities, carnival and
costumes, bloggers and buyers, celebrities and celebrations -
Vogue's Fashion Night Out had London alive with activity
tonight, a balmy evening that made it feel like summer's final
fling before the fashion industry knuckles down to a month of
international spring/summer
2012 collections - and everyone else looks forward to autumn,
preferably with at least one or two wardrobe additions acquired
tonight to make it that little bit more tantalising.
SEE WHO WAS WEARING WHAT AT THE PARTIES
A balmy evening that made it feel like summer's
final fling
Far more than just a shopathon, though, this event - now in its
third year - has become a spectacle that is as much about music,
food, creative party ideas and fun as it is about the serious
business of retail - Rupert
Sanderson threw a full-on, Seventies-themed roller disco in his
Bruton Place store;
Charlotte Dellal was hand-painting shoes in hers; Jonathan
Saunders and Erdem
were customising the Rob Ryan-illustrated FNO T-shirts in Harvey
Nicks; there were manicures in Smythson; face painting, fortune
telling and Alice Gold on the decks in Mulberry;
Mary Charteris and The Big Pink's Robbie Furze (who chose
tonight to announce their engagement - congratulations!), were
-DJ-ing in All Saints (once she'd finished her
VogueTV presenting stint);
Liberty Ross playing in Dior (Madonna's Like A Prayer
was her opener); Browns founder
Mrs Burstein - dignified and smiling as ever in plum-coloured
Lanvin with a Missoni scarf - Alice Temperley and Matthew
Williamson were in store meeting, greeting and styling their fans
("There's no such thing as not being 'in season' when you love a
piece of clothing," was Mrs B's mantra); Lola Lennox was DJ-ing in
Gap on Oxford Street; Johnny Borrell DJ-ing with Florence & The
Machine guitarist Rob Ackroyd at Juicy Couture; Coach took the
opportunity to open its first London flagship store with Gwyneth
Paltrow there as their star guest, followed by David Gandy who
was surrounded by his signature gaggle of swooning girls; and
Roland Mouret was marking his 50th birthday ("the last
of five parties to celebrate it," he told us "I feel part of
the club now I'm 50."), in Mount Street.
The streets were filled with thousands of people in their
highest heels and most glad of rags in the hope of being caught on
VogueTV or snapped by our team of
street chic photographers; queuing up to bowl with Hermes
bangles in a horsebox outside the Bond Street store; posing for all
they were worth with Anya Hindmarch handbags to try and win one
(see all the photos on VOGUE.COM later on), or simply looking out
for the high calibre of celebrities who were just as keen for a
piece of the action: Samantha
Cameron popped in to Vogue's opening party at Asprey;
Emma Thompson was spotted on South Molton Street; Daisy Lowe,
Henry
Holland, Pixie Geldof, Cara Delevingne, Holly Valance, Erin
O'Connor (in Hermes accessorised with Asprey),
Jade Parfitt and Jacquetta Wheeler (both in Louis Vuitton),
were all out and about too, as was
Lulu Kennedy (in Michael van der Horst and Nicholas Kirkwood
for Roksanda shoes with a Simone Rocha Perspex clutch) - with her
Lulu & Co crew in tow, before they converged at Liberty which
had thrown a Honolulu (geddit?)-themed Hawaiian party for her.
Live music vibrated through Mayfair until well after 10pm -
Yasmin and Kyla La Grange gave open air performances and a choir of
children from KidsCo, for whom all this is a fundraiser - brought
the shopping to a momentary standstill, before they sprang into
break dancing action later on; Wolf Gang played live in Burberry
and Livia
Firth and Laura Bailey
co-hosted a dance off, no less, in Stella McCartney.
"I love Fashion's Night Out because I can shop and drink at the
same time," joked Henry Holland. "And I do actually shop - tonight
I'm saving myself for Liberty and I'm going to buy some Lulu&Co
for my mum."
For Matthew Williamson it's about much more than sales figures.
"It's a proper celebration of British fashion and it's about brand
building and having fun with people who have a keen interest in
fashion," he told us. "Though having said that, I have just sold a
dress to someone I thought would be an unlikely buyer - so we're
capturing new customers too."
"We don't sell many shoes on Fashion's Night Out because we make
it pretty bloody difficult for people to buy anything," admitted Rupert
Sanderson as he climbed off the dancefloor after bopping with
Mary Charteris. "Mainly because we've filled the store with
slightly drunk people on roller skates - but it might inspire a
collection of its own I suppose - Rupert Sanderson roller skates…
that's a thought."
"It's a great way to celebrate British retail, especially with
this fear of the second stage of the global economic meltdown,"
said Alice
Temperley, whose husband Lars was DJ-ing as she chatted with
her customers in Selfridges. "It's lovely to meet everybody and
it's great to be here - it makes so much sense for the stores and
for the shoppers."
No expense was spared and there's really no excuse
not to join in
For sustenance, there were Hakkasan canapés in Diane Von
Furstenberg, Haagen Dazs miniatures in Matthew Williamson, Innocent
smoothie vans in Bruton Street, ice creams and Champagne on South
Molton Street, Little Red Sole cocktails at Christian
Louboutin and hundreds of cup cakes and teacups of Champagne at
Roland Mouret - no expense was spared and there's really no excuse
not to join in.
CLICK HERE TO
VISIT THE OFFICIAL FASHION'S NIGHT OUT WEBSITE