Fashion Week’s travel theme!


Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is moving — this is the final year of tents in Bryant Park — so it’s the perfect season for a travel theme.

No, we’re not just talking about having a couple of cars in the foyer of the tents (though there are both a Mercedes-Benz 2010 E63 AMG and a 2010 E550 Coupe); this year there are fabulous luggage displays and even the outside of the tents are decorated with a suitcase theme (above).

We had a quick chat with spokesperson and current L’Oreal model Dayle Haddon (pictured in the gallery) about Mercedes-Benz’s collaboration with Modelinia.com and Narcisco Rodriguez to bring the worlds of fashion and travel together. The display they’ve curated looks at the way fashion and the automotive industries have “traveled together” over the years, and features items from one of New York’s leading vintage fashion resources, Southpaw.

“They [fashion and travel] have tremendous crossover. If something gets sleeker in one area, it can influence the other,” Haddon commented. “They both make the world smaller.” Haddon also noted that she was donating her earnings for the unveiling of the travel exhibit to Unicef (in particular the Believe in Zero campaign, which aims to keep children from dying of preventable causes), for whom she’s an ambassador — which we think is pretty cool.

Check out our gallery for a sneak peek inside the tents during a busy day at Bryant Park.
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W Hotels team up with Barneys for Fashion Week

Part of the hooplah of Fashion’s Night Out included the unveiling of some fabulous Fashion Week-themed displays at the W Hotel in Union Square.

This was not only to celebrate Fashion Week, but a collaboration between W Hotels and Barneys stores. Through October, W guests in cities where there are Barneys locations will receive exclusive perks like complimentary bellinis and discounts when they shop at Barneys New York and Barneys Co Op stores.

Simon Doonan, Creative Director of Barneys New York and Eva Ziegler, Global Brand Leader W Hotels Worldwide (pictured together, above) were on hand to provide commentary.

I asked Doonan about why Barneys wanted to team up with W. “Well, this is a very happy collaboration because Barneys and the W Hotels are very compatible in their outlook — because they believe in style, they believe in humor, they believe in a little bit of hedonism,” he replied. “We both like to take that “New York sizzle’ and take it on the road.”

Zielger later added that W wanted to “show the outside world our passion for fashion.”

Check out the festivities below — including celeb appearances and Doonan’s tips for having a great Fashion Week!
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