OMG it’s less than a month until Fashion’s Night Out: Limited-edition products, celebrity appearances, fashion editors, model sightings, famous designers ringing up your purchase, live music and booze. It’s a citywide extravaganza. Although I’m still applying Chanel SPF 30 to my face, it’s time to think about the event that marks a change in the seasons, regardless of the weather.

Anna Wintour and Natalie Massenet at Net-a-Porter's pop-up

Fashion’s Night Out, or FNO as the cognoscenti call it, is the kickoff to New York Fashion Week. Last year’s FNO featured events in 18 countries, with more than 4,500 right here in the United States. American Vogue, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, NYC & Company and the City of New York originally collaborated on the project to celebrate fashion, restore consumer confidence after 9/11, and boost the industry. They thought they needed to put the fun back into shopping.

FNO has been marked on our family’s calendar since it began four years ago in 2009. This year it will be held on September 6^th from 6 to 11 pm.

The very first FNO my daughter was a college intern at Teen Vogue magazine, which each year closes Bleecker Street to hold a block party and fashion show. I got to meet her bosses, Teen Vogue editors doing personal appearances in shops all around the party. There were free sneakers and Taylor Momsen singing in little more than a man’s tailored shirt, garters and stockings. It was all very glamorous, a little crazy, and all night long, everyone had a drink in their hand.

The second year Natasha was interning at Marie Claire magazine. We went back to the fun in the West Village and traipsed from store to store, got a wicked photo of the two of us at Marc Jacobs, ate cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery and watched the calamity of an entire city coming out to get their party on at the same time. Many girls got their high heels stuck in the cobblestones.

FNO is a little like New Year’s Eve. It’s a citywide celebration that can get a little rowdy. On the cab ride home that year, our taxi stopped for a red light on 57^th Street and a man opened the backseat door. He was so drunk he did not see that there was a 22-year old girl already in the seat, and he proceeded to sit down, on top of her. She pushed him out of the cab and he offered something between an apology and an explanation: “I just want to get home,” he slurred. Not glamorous.

Last year we were invited, as part of the Hester Street Fair, to sell both our handmade, and curated line of jewelry at Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue. We were positioned opposite the bank of elevators on one of the upper floors and I vividly remember watching a sea of women and girls stepping out of the elevator, coming towards us, all night long. Like the waves on the seashore, they just kept rolling in.

Natasha Spedalle, owner of Wink and Flip, at Henri Bendel

This year, on August 1st, I realized we wanted to sell again on Fashion’s Night Out and should get going on booking ourselves somewhere. Then it dawned on me.

“Let’s do our own event!” I told Natasha.

“Where?” she asked, “in the living room?”

We’d both overlooked the fact that by September 6^th we will have our own pop-up shop in the middle of the Urban Space Meatpacking market, in the middle of NYC’s uber-fashionable Meatpacking district. Right next to, in fact, a DVF store. Diane Von Furstenberg was one of the founders, along with Anna Wintour, of Fashion’s Night Out. I later learned there are no less than 65 FNO events in the Meatpacking district.

Diane Von Furstenberg at the 2011 Fashion's Night Out

We filled out the required forms, insurance certificates, got the many approvals and I am proud to say we will be listed as an official Fashion’s Night Out event on the FNO web site. It will read:

Wink and Flip at UrbanSpace Meatpacking

437-51 West 13th Street, New York NY 10014

Wink&Flip's Fall Jewelry Preview and Macaron Parlour Treats, 6-8pm

Drop by Wink and Flip for an evening of styling advice and shopping. Owner Natasha Spedalle is toasting the night with Macaron Parlour macarons, her limited-edition FNO necklace, and a 15% gift card good on a follow-up purchase at W&F’s Meatpacking location, or on winkandflip.com.

Here is the 15% off coupon Natasha designed:

Taylor Momsen won’t be there, but we hope lots of curious shoppers might come by and visit.

Last year FNP launced an app to simplify planning the fashion-filled evening. Keep an eye out for that. Visit fashionsnightout.com for updates, and follow Fashion's Night Out on Twitter and Facebook to stay informed. Proceeds from sales of official FNO gear benefit the New York Community Trust's New York City AIDS Fund.

Susan and Natasha
Wink and Flip
etsy.com/shop/winkandflip