Fashion's Night Out 2012 - King of Prussia Mall, PA

Hey there, loves and happy Thursday evening! Tonight was Fashion's Night Out and I decided to head out to King of Prussia Mall to see what was going on. They had different sections set up throughout both sides of the mall, the Court and the Plaza, with photo booths, food samplings, wine & beer tastings, raffles, and more. Many stores participated in the event, offering discounts on purchases and free gifts and/or bags with qualifying purchase.

The night was phenomenal, in theory. It's a rough economy so why not host a free event with samples of local foods & drinks, raffles, and discounts and I get that. However, when I think of fashion's night out, I don't think of food; I think of clothes, bags, makeup, and hair ... all in the upcoming season's colors and looks. Why wasn't there a small runway in one of the main areas (Lord & Taylor's Court, Nordstrom's Court, or Bloomingdales' Court)? They had little photo areas set up without anyone really around for people to have their own picture taken and an area with random "models" candidly having their photos taken.

To me, it just seemed a little "thrown together". It felt like there wasn't a whole lot of planning into it. Fashion's Night Out should focus on the looks of Fall and Winter, showing us mall-goers how to piece together the looks of the seasons, encouraging us to take advantage of the sales in store. It felt as if it was a food & drink sampling event with some discounts in store to convince you to shop while you were there. Not really the point of a Fashion's Night Out. Essentially, unless you were planning on spending money, it wasn't really worth the drive out. Many stores offered discounts of 15% or free gifts and/or bags with a $100 purchase, not exactly a killer deal. Most stores have daily sales and/or coupons offering at least 15% off and free gifts become a lot less enticing when you have to spend $100.

Overall, I was really disappointed. King of Prussia Mall usually pulls out all the stops for their events. I mean simply decorating the mall for the holidays seems to have more effort put into it. I've attended Nordstrom's beauty events before and that store alone puts on a runway show of upcoming seasonal looks and lessons and then offers pre-made appointments at all the makeup counters to have your makeup done. You do have to purchase tickets for this event, generally $15, but that $15 essentially acts as a voucher towards a purchase from your makeover. That is a FAR better deal and superior as far as quality of the event.

Next time, KOP, take some tips from Nordtrom's events planners before you plan another Fashion's Night Out!

Above is the food sampling in the Court. Williams-Sonoma was raffling a KitchenAid hand mixer, but had a full sized stand mixer on display. Little misleading?!