The most crowded Thursday late-night-shopping night of the year is by far the annual Vogue Fashion Night Out, held from 5-10pm at Pitt Street Westfield to Martin Place on September 4, 2014.
”A global Vogue initiative, this one-night-only shopping extravaganza is Sydney’s largest retail event, attracting more shoppers than the Boxing Day sales!”
To be frank, I’m not too sure about the “more shoppers than Boxing Day sales” part is accurate, but it is indeed one of Sydney’s biggest shopping evenings. But how did this year’s night out compare to previous years? Let me walk you through it.
The weather was really nice at 5pm (although I didn’t get there until 6:30pmish) and then it started to sprinkle a little.. so the first half of the evening was nice. I made my way from Wynyard, briefly stopping at Martin Place.
There were a few things going on: a British double decker where you could enjoy some drinks and nibbles, a lovely flower display where you could take Polaroids, a tent to try on foundation, and a series of food trucks with plenty of space around to have a sit and chat.
I must admit the lines were shorter than expected, but as always, lines are always never ending. What I really like about Martin Place was that it was less crowded and cluttered, everything there was beautifully displayed. The food trucks looked a little out of place but there was plenty of room for people to eat.
Walking on Pitt Street towards Westfield, there was obviously a bigger crowd. The big bright light bulbs on either end of Pitt Street welcomed everyone and were probably the Instagram landmark of the night.
Ok, I just want to give a heads up that I am no superwoman and did not go into every single store to check out the sales. Below is just a select few shops I came across that were worthy of mention.
– H&M made a classy appearance with their exclusive store. I can’t wait til next month when it comes to Macquarie Centre!! #northwestpride
– Sportsgirl lived up to its expectations, with drinks, photobooth, nail art station and music! It’s pretty much the same every year so you’ll know where to get the party started!
– Review took a unique approach in interpreting what life-size poster looks like. Two women dressed in really cute dresses shared high tea with shoppers! #nailedit
– I forget which clothes shop this was in Westfield but they had the most gorgeous orange and yellow arrangement of flowers with jars and jars of candy! It was definitely my favourite!
– Sambag had a fancy ice cream cart and let me tell you there was a reaaaaallly long line for it! I guess the scoopers were quite slow and paced it out but it would’ve helped if the line was inside the store so customers could have a look at their products?
– Swarovski had the best dressed man and women. Let me call them golden mermaids handing out chocolate.. heaven in a nutshell!
.. whoops, lets segment to a bit of stuff happening on the stage…
– Vogue did an amazing job with the bright pink globes that look like Christmas decorations. I must admit, I actually kinda love it but the line was horrendously too long for a photo opportunity! It was starting to sprinkle too..
– Mimco was being a bit fun with these gaming machines!
Very unexpectingly popular but I can see the novelty in them. I also got a bar of chocolate wondering around the store! #winning
– Secrets Shhh is a jewelry shop and the lovely harp mesmerised us inside. How beautiful. I’m wondering how they got it in the store! #sillyme
Looking around this year, I must say that there weren’t as many people as previous years. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the timing, but nevertheless I always have a brilliant time coming here and checking out all the sales. It’s sales bonanza but I still wouldn’t say it would’ve been busier than a Boxing Day sale…
Rating Review: (1-5, with 5 being exceptional)
Event (VFNO14): 4/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Value: 3.5/5
Would I recommend going to Vogue Fashion Night Out? Love to shop? Love a sale? This is the event for you! Shopping is not just about looking for clothes, it’s about the whole experience- from the time you step into the store, to the moment you leave.
Highlight: I liked how some of the stores thought outside of the box. I remember last year I was absolutely sick of cake cake cake, lollies, lollies, chocolate, chocolate, sugar, sugar. Sometimes simple is best and even doing nail art is fun. I must say, savory/real food does help. I also liked how stores like H&M studio was designed so that it could still run if it was raining. Vogue was the same as well!
Suggestion of improvement: Sometimes its great getting lost and stumbling upon treasures you would never normally find! What I would’ve liked more is probably signs directing us to where shops are, or even a program telling us what time and where fashion shows were. It’s always a question and everyone wants to get involved!
Official hashtag: #VFNO
Link: http://www.vogue.com.au/fno
Angela Bee
The Walking Advertisement 