THE FASH PACK

In September, Anna Wintour came up with a global initiative, Fashion's Night Out, to stimulate spending, which in turn would go towards easing the difficulties caused by the global economic downturn. Kicking off on the first night of New York Fashion Week, fashion savvy shoppers were treated to free drinks and canapes as well as appearances from a mixed bag of celebrities. Here in the UK, stores such as Burberry, Matches, DKNY and Browns amongst others, played host to the likes of Lily Allen, Marios Schwab, Jonathan Saunders, Richard Nicoll, Pixie Geldof and Daisy Lowe to name but a few.

Due to the success of the inaugural event, Mayor Bloomberg and Vogue will be bringing Fashion's Night Out back again next year from the 9th September 2010, onwards. Anna Wintour confirmed that, "We were absolutely bowled over by the response to Fashion's Night Out. It was only fifteen minutes after the event began and we were getting reports about lines around the block at stores throughout the city...It was wonderful to see people embrace this initiative, and we are thrilled that they wish it to return." We are thrilled too and have already started planning how we will be able to attend the celebrations in multiple cities next year. We've already begun the countdown- only 311 days to go!

Ruffian designers Brian Wolk and Claude Morais, whose clothes reveal a hip Victoriana aesthetic, will launch a Williamsburg-inspired collection under Macy's private label, Thread & Heirs, in March. Durand Guion, Macy's Men's Fashion Director said the two designers were an ideal choice for the capsule collection, even though they hadn't done menswear in five years.

If you're wondering whether the Brooklyn-hipster look seems a little off trend, let Wolk put you straight: "You know, they always say St. Tropez - everyone goes to St. Tropez to see what the next trend is going to be in fashion. In a weird way I think Williamsburg is kind of the St. Tropez of New York fashion," he told the Cut  at a preview of the line on Wednesday.

Words by: Jennifer Denby

Fashion forward pop icon Lady Gaga will be given the Stylemaker Award at tomorrow night's 13th annual Accessories Council Excellence Awards, to take place at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York. The ACE Awards, as they are commonly known, pay homages to individuals and groups that have made great strides in raising awareness of the accessories industry. And Lady Gaga, America's renowned accessories extrovert often snapped in an oversized hat or two, is the obvious choice.

Awards are given to designers, retailers, journalists, celebrities and emerging companies, and Gaga, who has stated that se is "very into fashion" and that it is "everything" to her, will be given the award by Marc Jacobs. Other honorees include Diane Von Furstenberg, Tomas Maier of Bottega Veneta, Blake Mycoskie of Tom's shoes, and Barbie, who will be this year's fashion icon.

Words by Jennifer Denby

For us Brits across the pond, it can be a nightmare trying to get hold of our favourite American brands without the seven-hour plus plane journey, right? Many brands stock exclusively to the US without options to ship to Britain, and if they do send our goodies to us, charge an extortionate postal rate. Bundle Box, however is providing the answers to our prayers.

Providing us with our own Stateside address, and buying on our behalf to avoid sites that don't accept British credit cards, it allows you to buy from many different American sites and bundle them all into a box of goodies, which will then be shipped to you within five to ten days. Perfect for Christmas shopping without the expensive trip to the Big Apple or LA, the more you bundle in your box, the better the shipping rate, and whilst some of the brands provided currently ship to the UK, there are savings to be had by buying from their hometown! The variety of brands available include 3.1. Phillip Lim, Forever 21 and Tory Burch, making the site a perfect place to do some early Christmas shopping. It's even free to register, so now we have no excuse not to look every inch the Gossip Girl this Winter.