Simon Fashion Now Fall 2012 arrived at Stanford Shopping Center on September 21 and 22 to celebrate mall shopping. Partnering with various retail brands available at the beautiful outdoor mall, special in-store offers and runway shows were held to drum up Fall 2012 excitements and entice customers to shop looks they see fresh off of the runway.
Sounds similar to Fashion Night Out? Yes, but one that’s tailored to mall shopping. Simon Fashion Now program originated from Indianapolis and it has been producing mall shopping events for the past 5 years. Each Fall and Spring seasons, the core production team goes from city to city to raise customer awareness of new collections in their favorite brands and shop immediately. This Fall season, Simon Fashion Now tours starting from Houston, TX on September 6 – 8, then goes to Palo Alto, CA, Boca Raton, FL, White Plains, NY, Garden City, NY, and finally Charlotte, NC on October 19 – 20.
Jacque Ellis (far right) showing Fall 2012’s trends
One of the Simon Group representatives is Jacque Ellis, who on Saturday morning gives us the scoop of the latest Fall 2012 trends that are going down the runway. The leather look / leather details, burgundy pieces, cape, fur, and sequins are some of the details that are identified with Simon Fashion Now Fall 2012 trendy looks.
That Saturday, September 22, the Stanford Shopping Center outdoor mall had great amount of foot traffic (as it normally is the case for weekends) and beautiful weather. People signed up to get VIP access to the runway shows at 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm, gift bags, and chances to win Simon Gift Cards and various prizes at the Center Pavilion area.
(From left to right) Designs from Samantha Armann, Lia Larrea, and Chad Leal
The 5 judges (from 7×7 as well as local radio personalities) were impressed of these students’ skills, want to try the looks on personally, – clearly the get-it-off-of-the-runway concept works! – and excited to see more works from student designers. Ultimately, Chad took 3rd place, Samantha 2nd, and Lia took first place. It was almost a no-brainer; Lia’s design elicited the clearly audible gasp from the judges when they first laid eyes on the dreamy but tough dress.
The 1pm fashion show featured looks from Bloomingdale’s. The models’ hair were styled by Hair International and make-up by Macy’s. Refined looks with deep color, graphic pants, leather, and sequins. Click once on the image below to expand the whole Bloomingdale’s fashion show album, see if your wish list (or recent purchases) is featured there:
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The 2pm fashion show featured looks from Macy’s, which emphasizes more playful looks with patterns and bright colors. Click once on the image below to expand the whole Macy’s fashion show album and once again contemplate on your wish list / recent purchases :)
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We did not stay for the 3pm fashion show (featuring looks from Coldwater Creek, White House | Black Market, Tommy Bahama, and Cache, among others), but we got to see four fashionistas (in two teams of two) play “Ready, Set Style!” at 2:30pm. Each team had to dress up a model (starting out with just jeans and a tank top) to a full look in two minutes. Whichever team got the most applause, wins.
As you can see from the picture on the right, the final looks were both great, but it was the leopard-print-hat and blue-blazer combination that won the most audience applause. But in actuality, all four ladies won Simon gift cards (yay!).
In retrospect, I admire the Simon Fashion Now Fall 2012 production. The event went on smoothly, the models were great, the whole production value reflected how professionally good the whole team crew is. How they get time off in the midst of their hectic schedule, I don’t know. But these people really know what they’re doing and continuously refine what they’re doing to make the next event better. They want customers to be able to respond and relate to seamlessly, regardless of budget points and make sure everyone is included by showing varieties of looks. Kudos to the production team!! Be safe for the rest of the tour and we’ll see you back in Spring 2013.
So, have you done your Fall 2012 shopping yet? Go to my Facebook page to see Behind the Scenes as well as my favorite looks and models from this event :)
Until next time,
Musank