On Friday night, I attended Macy’s Glamorama for the first time. The event raised $400,000 for Children’s Cancer Research Fund. Back when it was “Fash Bash” and I was reading Seventeen and lusting for Benetton sweaters, such sophisticated events were elusive. Several years and many fashion events later, and I was still ill-prepared for the event’s Wild West theme: the Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful. For weeks I asked myself: What would the Dixie Chicks wear? Although Joy Teiken was kind enough to offer me one of her divine dresses, a cowboy hat, mini dress, and riding boots felt more right for an event that featured country music’s rambunctious MuzikMafia.
What I hadn’t realized is that there aren’t really any rules at Glamorama. The attendees wore everything from denim to formalwear. The country music wasn’t really country (to my husband’s anti-twang relief). And the hour-long runway show merely kicked off a night of mingling with beautiful people. And I’m not referring to the models (none of whom were local); I have never seen so many gorgeous, well-dressed Minnesotans. Ever. It was a thrill and a source of endless entertainment long after the actual show had ended. Honorary event chair Mayor Ryback, for example, turned out in a slim charcoal suit, black shirt, and bolo tie. He was into it and he looked like a million bucks (thanks, in part, to Macy’s By Appointment). If anything, we need events like Glamorama as an excuse to dress up (or down), get a blow-out, try a smoky eye, and celebrate how cool we really are.
Despite its surprsing brevity, the runway show, which highlighted a handful of designers from New York Fashion Week, was the perfect fall preview. From the rich neutrals of Calvin Klein, metallics of Just Cavalli, leggings-and-frocks of Temperley, and hats, hats, hats of Marc Jacobs, it’s going to be a fabulously rich season for anyone who’s willing to take the fashion bull (or bucking bronco, as it were) by the horns.