2011 Fashion’s Night Out on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California Was a Huge Success.

Last night Rodeo Drive was the place to be with close to 10,000 visitor’s from all over the world coming to enjoy the Rodeo Drive Fashion’s Night Out event. Originally the brainchild of Anna Wintour editor of Vogue Magazine, Fashion’s Night Out was started in New York and now has become a worldwide event.

The Rodeo Drive Committee put on a stunning event, closing down the three block stretch of Rodeo Drive from Wilshire Boulevard to little Santa Monica for the evening and creating a carnival type atmosphere for everyone from all walks of life to enjoy. From the wealthy Beverly Hills Fashionistas to the families from all around bringing their children to just have some fun during a beautiful early fall evening. The iconic Ferris Wheel was there where you could enjoy the view of Rodeo Drive and Beverly Hills from 60 feet up in the air, with free rides with proof of purchase from one of the participating boutiques.

Performers from Cirque de Soleil’s Iris, included flamethrowers, stilt walkers and characters from the show roaming the street and even giving the kids hanging swing rides. There were close to 100 in-store events with numerous private cocktail parties and free-flowing champagne at some of the top Luxury Boutiques for their top customers. We ourselves spent our time at the Bulgari event, Harry Winston, Van Cleef & Arpels, the Louis Vuitton Roof Top Terrace, the Chanel Party, Polo Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Valentino, Prada, Fendi, Michael Kors and Gucci. There were so many lovely parties and items to buy, just not enough time to go to every event.

Some of the highlights included the Fendi “Atelier Fendi” exhibition of images from the FW11 campaign shot by Karl Lagerfeld. The GUCCI showing of the limited edition FIAT “500 bu GUCCI”. Guests at the event also enjoyed, the free hair and makeup salon on the street, photo opportunities at the Van Clef & Arpels photo booth, the CHANEL free new nail shades event, and the Cirque de Soleil Flip Book Experience. There were seventeen gourmet food truck lining the street with everything from monster sliders at Me So Hungry, the Lobsta Truck, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Waffles De Liege, Breezy Freeze & Coolhaus.

Now I must admit, my party did not have the opportunity to enjoy any of these gourmet trucks as our group of locals all culminated towards the end of the evening at the base of Rodeo Drive the Four Season Beverly Regent Hotel for late cocktails, live music and dinner around 10 PM after our 3 hour tour up and down the street.

The Blvd restaurant at the hotel was absolutely jam-packed with revelers all chatting and talking about their purchases, the fun they had, seeing friends and gossiping about the nights events and the slew of outfits from the super chic Beverly Hills ladies in their fabulous designer clothes and jewels to the fashion forward younger set that came in the newest and latest cutting edge fashions to the families and tourists wearing jeans, tee-shirts and flip-flops.

I will say I think next time we might just plunk ourselves down at a table at the Luxe Hotel on Rodeo and sit and people watch for the whole evening. It was such an eclectic mix of people and fashion looks which made the whole evening a lot of fun. Hat’s off to the City of Beverly Hills and the Rodeo Drive Committee for continuing this fun event and stimulating more interest in fashion and shopping here in Beverly Hills. Considering Rodeo Drive accounts for approximately $360 million a year in retail sales, nearly $1 million a day, this is a very important street that we want to continue to promote to help stimulate the economy and look good while doing it.

My picks for the evening were a stunning gold & diamond brooch at Van Clef & Arpels for $135,000 a fabulous custom suit at Tom Ford for $5,200 with awesome alligator shoes for $9,200 and a suite of green alligator matching hard framed luggage at Prada.

Make sure to mark your calendar for next years event and a night of fun and fashion for the whole family.