Daily Front Row

2010 September 8

Fountain of Joy

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Anna Wintour, Blake Lively, and Roger Federer
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(NEW YORK) Vogue's Fashion's Night Out runway show at Lincoln Center could have been a painfully long affair. After all, the event featured 150 models, 171 looks, a public seating, a mini concert by Pharell Williams, a front row featuring at least three dozen worthy notables, and more CBS cameras than found on most Paramount lots. But Anna Wintour wouldn’t have let the likes of Roger Federer and Si Newhouse sweat for three hours. This was a delightfully efficient affair during which Gisele, Naomi Campbell, Alessandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima, Sasha Pivovarova, and Lara Stone (among countless other leggy superstars) put on a dizzying, well orchestrated display that lasted exactly 14 minutes and commenced right on time. “Was this it?” wondered basketball superstar Amar'e Stoudemire right after the show. “I’m so new to this, so now I think I got a little bit spoiled too early.”

He wasn’t the only one. “I feel like this is like every girl’s dream, sitting in the middle of the fountain and watching pretty outfits go by,” said an excited Caroline Wozniacki, who, like Federer, took a night off from Flushing and the US Open for the night. “I’ve been trying to check the score of Venus’ match on the Blackberry,” added Serena Williams, while her older sister played at Arthur Ashe.

The familiar faces who mixed with very saavy ticket buyers ($45 went a long way last night) included Blake Lively, Jason Wu and Elettra Wiedemann, Alexander Wang, Tommy Hilfiger, Wendi Murdoch, Bee and Charlie Shaffer, Jeff Gordon, Julie Macklowe, Carolina Herrera,  Donna Karan, Keren Craig, Harvey Weinstein, David Yurman, and scores of others. “This is like a schoolyard reunion,” Michael Kors smiled as Julianne Moore, Grace Coddington, and others discussed summer tans.

Bar Refaeli was perhaps the only model sitting on the front row perch while her fellow supers did all the hard labor. “I wasn’t even supposed to be in the city,” she explained. “But I just flew in from Israel and rushed to see all the action.” Leighton Meester was one of the first to arrive and she immediately took in the Lincoln Center sights. “This is very humid and romantic,” she smiled. “I think we’re all thinking of jumping into that fountain.” A few seats away, Seth Meyers joked that his sartorial existence might have already peaked after appearing in Vogue’s September issue. “I’m on the sad, slippery slope,” he joked.

A lot of designers took time to tour the Lincoln Center surroundings. Diane von Furstenberg took in the tours of the actual venues, while Rag & Bone boys Marcus Wainwright and David Neville rode around the square on a gold cart. “This is such an amazing accomplishment for us,” noted Francisco Costa. “I think there’s a definite sense of newness here.” Baz Luhrmann agreed. “There’s a definite spirit of something that’s grand and theatrical here,” said the director. “This is looking like it is going to be out of this world amazing!”
VALENTINE UHOVSKI