It’s time out for Fashion’s Night Out in US

Held every September since 2009 ahead of the spring-summer New York fashion week collections, Fashion’s Night Out was launched at the peak of the Great Recession to get penny-pinching fashionistas back in a buying mood.

In time it grew to 500-plus cities in the United States, plus 30 overseas, with stores reinventing themselves as party venues where shoppers could suss out the latest trends and mingle with designers, models and celebrities.

“After four exciting and successful years, Fashion’s Night Out will go on hiatus in the United States in 2013, in order to enable retailers to channel their resources to other priorities,” said a statement from the organizers.

“The event will still be held in select international cities,” it added.

Supported by Vogue magazine and the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the last incarnation of Fashion’s Night Out saw more than 700 stores stay open late in New York alone.