Activities

The integration of The Playboy Club at Bloomingdale's also included roving female waitstaff dressed as bunnies.

For the promotion, NBC and Bloomingdale's created a mobile app, where shoppers can take photos of themselves beside digital versions of the actors from the TV shows.

Bloomingdale's also provided activities for men in its store, hosting a skee ball competition that gave away a pair of tickets to the Brooklyn Bowl.

Ronnie Spector was just one of the performers for Bergdorf Goodman's live revue in its Fifth Avenue windows. The singer, once part of 1960s girl group the Ronettes, entertained the crowd with "Be My Baby."

The booths at Opening Ceremony's carnival represented the different designer lines and brands the shop carries, including Alexander Wang.

Opening Ceremony also promoted a new collection produced in collaboration with Walt Disney Pictures that celebrates the November release of The Muppets movie.

On Thursday morning, Saks Fifth Avenue announced it would hold a surprise performance by Joe Jonas. The event, which drew some 400 screaming fans to the store's seventh floor, was hosted in partnership with designer Simon Spurr.

In addition to Fashion's Night Out, Levi's celebrated its new 34th Street store and brought in indie-pop band Fun to entertain guests. Food and drinks were passed by servers, who matched the shop's barnlike design by wearing denim overalls.

Outside its Fifth Avenue store, Sephora set up small tented displays attractively dressed in pink rose coverings, with staff offering people passing by the chance to smell and take home a sample of Escada's new fragrance.

The carnival-style setup was a trend that pervaded many Fashion's Night Out efforts, including the one from Popchips. Set on the pedestrian plaza at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue, the offering included a bouncy castle, fun-house mirrors, and a juggler.

Naturally, Popchips used its pop-up to promote its products, and shoppers swarmed the site to grab free snacks.

Maybelline, one of the sponsors of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, set up a large lounge in the meatpacking district's Gansevoort Plaza, where shoppers could pick up free T-shirts designed by Patricia Field and record videos to send to their social media accounts.

French skin-care company Votre Vu had a pop-up lounge in the meatpacking district where passersby could don costumes and have their photo taken in front of a step-and-repeat, or they could get beauty treatments in the brand's "Vu-lin Rouge" Airstream trailer.

As a nod to its latest title, Brazilian Style by Armand Limnander, Assouline brought samba dancers and caipirinhas to its Plaza boutique.

New Jersey pastry shop Rispoli provided tasty lobster tails at Odin New York's event, which also included a takeoff on the Price Is Right game Plinko.

Beverly Hills brought back its four-story Ferris wheel on Rodeo Drive, which was closed to traffic as thousands of visitors meandered through the street and its dozens of participating high-end retailers.

The view from the Ferris wheel included some of about 15 food trucks that served guests on the closed Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, as well as entertainment and experiences available on the shopping street.

The large runway show, which took place in the mall's center court, showed off fall lines from the new luxury wing of tenants. 

The band Cults performed at the 3.1 Phillip Lim boutique on Robertson, and KCRW's Dan Wilcox served as DJ.

The Christian Louboutin boutique on Robertson offered hair services by Frederic Fekkai and lashes by Make Up Forever.

Paul Frank took over a space on Beverly Boulevard for its exuberant, on-brand event, where guests got henna and glitter tattoos, scooped up candy at the bar, and listened to beats from DJ Taryn Manning.

Westfield Topanga’s celebration of Fashion’s Night Out included fashion shows, live entertainment, a raffle, a cooking demo, and an appearance by Tori Spelling. 

Musicians Jordan Snow, Cameron Galpin, and Tubby Love performed an alfresco set on Newbury Street, which was closed off to traffic for the first time in 15 years.

Models walked a red carpet at the Stephanie's on Newbury runway show, where Mayor Thomas Menino and actresses from The Fighter sipped champagne and mingled with guests.

At Ray-Ban, silver-suited waiters passed pink martinis and Hershey's Kisses.

At the Taj Hotel's private fashion show, guests got chilled Ketel One vodka martinis.

Models greeted guests at Tiffany's Studio 54-themed bash, which promoted the brand's new '70s-inspired jewelry collection.

Hundreds of balloons were handed out in-store and to passersby at Marni, each decorated with a decal mimicking the brand's silk scarf designs from its winter 2011 collection.

Ocean Drive magazine and Neiman Marcus Coral Gables Merrick Park created an in-store pop-up shop curated by editor in chief Suzy Buckley, with a photo booth and Bordeaux beauty bar.

TopShop and TopMan's morning fashion show took place at 10 a.m. outside the Michigan Avenue Store. Staffers arrived before 6 a.m. to begin setting up the alfresco runway.

Miley Cyrus posed with Arcadia Group owner Sir Philip Green at the opening of TopShop/TopMan on Michigan Avenue, the British retailer's first Chicago location.

Gilt City hosted an epicurean tasting area, where chefs from the Wit served duck two ways.

Vineyard Vines’ whale mascot greeted guests at the Wisconsin Avenue shop.

Gilt City’s fashion fortune-tellers read guest’s cards at the tented BrightestYoungThings.com lounge outside Dean & Deluca.

Less about celebrities and famous designers than years past, Henri Bendel's Fashion's Night Out event had the cast of Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity perform on a stage set up in the ground-floor atrium.

Zumanity performers also stood in the windows, interacting with passersby via a microphone.

Among the many offerings spread throughout Saks Fifth Avenue was a performance by the Blue Man Group.

A partnership with Crayola brought in artist Diem Chau to carve sculptures from oversize crayons, as well as a graffiti wall that customers could tag with their own messages.

The New York flagship of Saks also invited visitors to the store to play Wii fencing against U.S. Olympic fencer Tim Morehouse and his teammates.

Saks also had Fern Mallis, who broadcast interviews with famous faces like Oscar de la Renta (pictured, left) on her Fashion Insiders With Fern Mallis radio show for Sirius XM.

Ford trumped its position as the official ride of Fashion's Night Out with a pop-up at Gansevoort Plaza designed to highlight the style and sustainability of its Ford Fusion car. A retrofitted shipping container was turned into a boutique shop, with clothing items from eco-friendly designers Christopher Raeburn, Organic by John Patrick, and Rebecca Minkoff.

Two Ford Fusion cars positioned at the pop-up allowed consumers to check out the vehicles. Beside one, a digital screen allowed visitors to choose an outfit from Organic by John Patrick and pose for photos that could be shared digitally.

No stranger to pop-ups for Fashion's Night Out, Target introduced the latest round of partners for its Shops at Target program with a temporary store inside Highline Stages. And although it drew crowds, the promotion didn't see the same mayhem as last year's Missoni for Target shop.

Inside the Target pop-up, producer ExtraExtra carved out distinct spaces for each partner. The four shops were decorated in different styles and set up like miniature stores with racks and mannequin displays.

Store windows at 3.1 Phillip Lim grabbed passersby with comic-book-inspired designs, promoting the overarching theme of comic books, which inspired Lim's fall 2012 collection. An 18-page comic book was handed out in the store with a promotion to download the brand’s Agent 3.1 app, which unlocks hidden content and prizes in the comic.

Photographer Patrick McMullan (pictured, far left) hosted the festivities at the Madison Avenue DKNY store, pausing often to snap shots of guests.

Bergdorf Goodman and Tumblr provided hats, sunglasses, and other props for guests to use in photo booths provided by Bosco. The images were streamed on Tumblr.

Marc Jacobs partnered with New York magazine for Fashion's Night Out. To lure more people into the store, windows held mannequins wearing T-shirts that read, 'Don't just come for the free drinks,' as well as a prop-laden photo area that visitors could only get to if they walked through the store first.

Known for its brightly colored sweaters, the United Colors of Benetton looked to solidify that image with the "Art of Knit" pop-up it opened in SoHo. To decorate the 2,200-square-foot former garage, the fashion brand invited artists from Fabrica, its incubator in Milan, to create knit wall decor and installations. The most eye-catching was the series of sculptures created by Erik Ravelo, which had people-shaped wool pieces performing poses from the Kama Sutra.

Vogue's international editor at large, Hamish Bowles, curated the look of the Fifth Avenue Prada store. Filled with custom mannequins in purple outfits, the store also had Bowles sign autographs for fans.

Maybelline, the official makeup sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, held court in a tent set up in the meatpacking district. In addition to free makeovers, the cosmetics company used touch-screen kiosks to give away free beauty goodies.

The SoHo location of MAC was mobbed with fans who crowded into the space to see rapper Azealia Banks perform.

To celebrate the opening of its stateside store, Moods of Norway hosted a "Really, Really Blond Party" at which all attendees were given blond wigs to get the classic Norwegian look. Food included bite-size waffles and jam, while cocktails made of ginger beer, lime juice, and vodka were served in copper mugs.

Laundry detergent brand Woolite opened a boutique to tout its new campaign and products to the fashion-focused crowds. Inside the SoHo space, chandeliers looked like washing lines and washing machines formed the front of the bar.

To provide more information about the detergents, Woolite's pop-up had an interactive display where visitors could touch the cap of a bottle and have information pop up in a bubble projected onto the surface of the table.

As a nod to its British heritage, Ted Baker London parked a food truck outside its Fifth Avenue store and doled out free fish-and-chips to the first 100 visitors.

In the windows of its store, Rogan had an acrobat on a trampoline flip and bounce for the crowd.

Beverly Center was once again the center of Fashion's Night Out action in Los Angeles, where Pretty Little Liars star Lucy Hale hosted a fashion show. The event, produced by Stoelt Productions, had a tiered stage and an enormous LED screen to showcase the looks on the runway.

Paul Frank hosted a pop-up on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. The theme was "neon native," and the look was trippy decor and bright colors everywhere. Kinetic Lighting bathed the space in neon colors, using battery-operated fixtures in the temporary venue, which was outfitted with little power.

In keeping with the "neon native" motif, dreamcatchers—hand-strung by staffers—hung overhead at the Paul Frank pop-up, neon tumbleweeds from Green Set decked the floor, and neon-painted cow skulls sat atop the bar. A photo booth offered props in line with the theme, and a candy bar offered sweets from apothecary jars.

Holt Renfrew celebrated its 175th anniversary with a "Hot in the City" birthday bash outside the store. Staffers passed out balloons and glow sticks in the brand’s signature magenta, and projections covered the storefront. Diet Coke was on site and, in honor of Holt’s anniversary, created a magenta bottle just for the occasion.

Sponsor Grey Goose doled out three flavors of specialty punch at Fashion's Night Out Georgetown's V.I.P. party.

Outside Dean & Deluca, the Brightest Young Things lounge was set up in a tent decorated with chandeliers and draping. A DJ spun tunes from a booth in the rear.

At M29 Lifestyle in Washington, guests cracked open fortune cookies that held coupons for varying percentages off purchases that night.

At Neiman Marcus Orlando, principal dancers from the Orlando Ballet posed in evening wear in a makeshift studio set up on the store's second floor. Six local fashion photographers from Snap! Orlando took turns taking photos of the dancers.

In a multifaceted partnership with NBC, Bloomingdale's built elaborate sets modeled after TV shows in its store windows. Filled with live actors, the displays showcased four shows set to premiere this fall, including The Playboy Club. The cross promotion between the entertainment network and department store goes beyond Fashion's Night Out, designed to promote the shows throughout September.

Other department stores also had engaging window displays, using the sizable real estate to exhibit celebrity appearances and unusual entertainment. Bergdorf Goodman tapped Chip Duckett of Spin Cycle to curate its efforts, which included a wide range of performances.

Bergdorf Goodman also had plenty of activities inside, including a designer dog show, musical performances, and the "BG Wheel of Fashion," where shoppers could buy a ticket and the spin the wheel for a chance to win prizes. Robert Verdi (pictured, right) was on hand to encourage guests to stop by.

Although the live performance by Kelly Rowland was canceled, Macy's Herald Square store still played host to singer Joss Stone, accompanied by designer Tommy Hilfiger.

In addition to musical talent and designers, Macy's also brought in its culinary partners. Chef Marc Forgione and Travel Channel host Andrew Zimmern held court in the department store's lower level, where they doled out tips for entertaining.

Among the many activities at Lord & Taylor was a station where F.I.T. students drew fashionable sketches of guests.

Fashion students also participated in the Fashion's Night Out effort from Dylan's Candy Bar and Rockport, in which they were challenged to design candy versions of Rockport’s Janae Pump for women and Day 2 Night Wingtip for men, using some of the 7,000 candies found at the store.

Consumers could get creative at the candy store by decorating their own cookies.

Mattel brand Barbie took over several double-decker CitySights buses, offering free rides to revelers while they traveled between neighborhoods. Aboard the bus, each seat held a dress-up box with a Barbie and some clothes.

As part of Barbie's initiative, shoppers were encouraged to visit partner stores, including Alice & Olivia, Alexis Bittar, and Tracy Reese, and hunt for special displays of the doll. Each case was emblazoned with a QR code that, when scanned, entered consumers into a sweepstakes to win an outfit.

Ahead of Missoni for Target’s official national launch on September 13, the retailer debuted a pop-up shop to the public during Fashion’s Night Out. The line started early, and as a result of the overwhelming interest, the entire inventory was depleted before the end of the night, forcing the temporary store to close the first day of its three-day run.

Disco was the inspiration at Tiffany & Company's Fifth Avenue flagship and, in addition to disco balls and era-appropriate music from DJ Kiss, the jeweler placed a gold-painted performer in its windows to attract shoppers.

Unlike last year's bazaar, Opening Ceremony's effort brought a carnival to the streets outside its outpost at the Ace Hotel. The festive outdoor market was inspired by Argentina and included an appearance by Miss Piggy.

Popchips' carnival also offered free tarot card readings.

Across 14th Street from Popchips was Giorgio Armani's "Frames of Life" event, which allowed shoppers to try on the new eyewear collection and pose for photos taken by blogger and photographer Yvan Rodic. The images were also displayed on a large, street-facing LED screen.

Web-based store Shopbop fashioned a lounge in the meatpacking district where stylist Louise Roe interviewed designers and other stylists. To reach a wider audience, the interviews were live-streamed to a page on the retailer's Web site.

Scoop posted a DJ outside its meatpacking district store to spin tunes for the happy, lively crowd that gathered for a block party.

The Fragrance Foundation found a fun way to participate by placing flower carts around the city and handing out fragrant roses to the Fashion's Night Out revelers.

Nail polish brand Color Club refurbished an ice cream truck and used the vehicle to dole out its wares in the meatpacking district.

As a way to encourage shoppers to visit more than one of its stores, Hugo Boss was giving away tickets for a after-party to the first 100 people who checked in at all three of its downtown outposts using an app for Facebook Places.

Gap's mobile marketing stunt, dubbed the Pico de Gap truck, hit New York just in time for Fashion's Night Out. The promotion, which started on the West Coast in August, was created to celebrate creative director Rosella Giuliani's 1969 fall denim collection and offers discounts with every purchase of two tacos.

Teen Vogue's fashion fair and block party in the West Village showcased wares from sponsors Vans and Essie. On display was a special collection of Vans sneakers designed by the magazine's editors.

Teen Vogue offered free manicures from Essie at its block party, along with Arizona Iced Tea smoothies and popsicle bars.

In addition to an open bar, guests at Kate Spade were encouraged to sing karaoke in the storefront window.

Armed with their smartphones and iPads, many shoppers visited Net-a-porter's set up in SoHo, where they used the special Window Shop app to scan vinyl images to purchase designer goods.

The Coolhaus truck hit the spot during the heat wave in town, though we saw the night's longest line at the Lobsta Truck.

Following Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s welcome of the event to Los Angeles, Nicole Richie hosted the first of two runway fashion shows at the Beverly Center.

An arts-and-crafts activity called "Hanky Panky" gave people the chance to decorate purchased panties using lace, ribbons, and rosettes. An on-site seamstress finished sewing the design and bagged them for guests to take home.

Saks Fifth Avenue at Bal Harbour Shops set up a casino in the men's department with games like blackjack and roulette.

The high-tech PhotoMingle booth on the first floor of Saks Fifth Avenue let shoppers take a photo, write on it, and upload it to Facebook.

To promote its upcoming show The Playboy Club, NBC dispatched models in silky bunny suits, who posed with guests and passed out treats at Bloomingdale's. The show's actors Naturi Naughton and Wes Ramsey also attended the festivities.

Cosmetic company Lush threw a roller-disco-themed party with costumed employees and volunteers, shown here at the BrightestYoungThings.com lounge’s step-and-repeat.

Shoppers who showed their receipt with any purchase from a participating Georgetown merchant got free pedicab rides in the rainy weather.

Brides created toilet paper wedding dresses at the “Get Hitched in Georgetown” competition. The evening’s winner received a Georgetown wedding package with a designer wedding gown, cake, invitations, and waterfront reception.

Dancers from the Orlando Ballet performed at the barre in the men’s department.