Fashion's Night Out reaches Atlanta

Surrounded by Atlanta style-setters including jodphur-wearing pop singer Janelle Monae, Project Runway contestant Mychael Knight and former NBA star Kevin Willis, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed announced Monday that  the city will be part of a worldwide fashion promotion event called Fashion’s Night Out.

On Sept. 10, clothing stores and boutiques around the metro area will hold concerts, pour drinks, host games and other activities in hopes of bringing shoppers out to stores.

Speaking at City Hall, a natty-looking Reed, decked out in a dark Tom Ford suit and silver-blue tie, said, “We will be playing host to thousands of shoppers, including me.” Reed said he planned to be seen at Neiman Marcus, “where I’ve done some damage before.”

Fashion’s Night Out is co-sponsored by Vogue, the city of New York and others, and premiered last year with 800 stores participating in New York City alone. Atlanta petitioned to be part of the event last year but was denied.

In the September issue of the magazine, Vogue’s editor Anna Wintour mentions Atlanta among a handful of U.S. cities as centers of fashion, a designation that ought to make the city happy, said Knight, sporting a tan two-button suit and open-necked turquoise shirt.

“Wait until I get my first time being mentioned in Vogue magazine,” Knight said. “I’ll be on top of this building screaming to the world.”

Kevin Knaus, a coordinator of a similar, smaller event last year, and professor of fashion marketing at SCAD, said the idea is to “get the consumers out to the stores.”