Shiny and New

The largest party to cap off Fashion Week was Tommy Hilfiger's splashy unveiling of his sprawling global flagship store on Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street. Held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday evening, the event drew a who's who—of those left in town anyway—including Alicia Keys, Russel Simmons, Anna Wintour, January Jones, Naomi Watts, Mary-Louise Parker, and Emily Blunt.

Produced by Tommy Hilfiger’s vice president of special events, PJ Reynolds, in conjunction with OBO’s Campbell Bromberg, the event was relatively bare-bones in terms of decor, relying instead on lighting to highlight the four-story 22,000-square-foot space. “We wanted to embrace the store as designed so that guests could enjoy the atmosphere and get a feel for the store itself,” said Reynolds.

Olivier Cheng provided the evening’s menu of passed hors d’oeuvres—tiny truffled shrimp tacos, open-faced lobster B.L.T.s—as well as the 70 servers who were identically styled and groomed by the Tommy team.

Originally set for 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., the party was scaled back for several reasons—among them that the pristine store was more likely to stay shiny and new during a two-hour cocktail party. Added Reynolds, “We wanted to celebrate the opening before our fashion show so that guests could relax and enjoy the store before heading to the tents. We also didn’t want to keep everyone up late after a long Fashion Week.”

Following two hours of music by DJ Cassidy and cocktails served from at least one bar on each of the five floors, the 500-plus guests began spilling out onto the street, where they hopped into chauffeured cars or hailed cabs and headed south to Bryant Park for the designer's 8 p.m. show.