Daily Front Row

2009 February 14

Mercedes-Benz Dance Party

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Fern Mallis
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(NEW YORK) Last night had a list of parties as long as the show lineup, but what better way to celebrate the beginning of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week than with Mercedes-Benz? A shiny silver voiture was parked outside the Thompson LES hotel, signaling partygoer--as though the red carpet, flashing cameras, and sightings of chicsters from Yigal Azrouel and Katie Lee Joel weren’t enough--that Shang was the place to be. Décor inside was equal parts fashion and automotive: Mercedes-Benz Presents Designers like Red Carter and Kevan Hall had sketches hanging on the walls, and a hand-built Mercedes AMG engine took the center display.
 
Project Runway star Christian Siriano settled himself in one corner with his beau, while lovely ladies Michelle Trachtenberg and Brittany Snow made appearances. But it was IMG’s own Fern Mallis who held the crowd’s attention when she took the stage. “There’s so much talent and so much energy,” she said of the week ahead, before introducing The Virgins, the night’s headlining act. (She cracked a joke about the appropriateness of the band’s name on the eve of Valentine’s  Day). The band had the packed house singing and dancing until the wee hours—a fabulous start to the chicest of weeks.
EMILY GYBEN